Involvement - Inspiration or Apathy?

by Joey Pettegrew

[Note: Joey Pettegrew is a member of our Lodge and spent two years in the Officer Corps as Esquire and Loyal Knight. Though he's transferred to the Fallon Lodge, he is maintaining an associate membership here. Joey has always had insightful observations on many elements of Elkdom and our Lodge.]

I'm sure that all members have heard the repeated calls for volunteers from several generations of officers and I'll also bet that many have considered joining in and helping out.

So why do we currently have so many commitees begging for members?

I have been told by several senior members and PER's that at one time in this Lodge's history, all commitees were well fleshed out and in fact, there were waiting lists to get on a commitee.

How could members be so excited about their Lodge?

As a relatively new member, I'm listening and learning about perhaps what has changed to cause this turnaround.

I have heard testimonies from new friends and old that they're not even going to volunteer... because at some time in their history at this Lodge they feel as if they got burned.

On the other hand, there are those who continue to consistantly serve this Lodge in whatever capacity they can.

Interestingly enough, these movers and shakers are also the ones who are inspired by the results of their actions and the satisfaction of producing some results.

Are these officers, commitee chairs and volunteers seeing some light at the end of the tunnel that others are not?

As a professional musician, I remember my first public performance and what a (seemingly to me) disaster it was.

It was the annual Christmas band performance at Hoover Elementary and my contribution was a French horn solo of "Cantique de Noel".

Now, this is a particularly challenging piece... let alone for a fourth-grader!

I was so disappointed that I refused to even go back to school for a couple of days!

But I continued to practice and perform all the way through my adult life and I have become comfortable and satisfied in my performances...even if I do make a mistake from time to time!

IMHO (in my humble opinion), there can be a few parallels drawn here.

We as members can all enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done regardless of how we feel about past disappointments.

So, if you have recently volunteered- CONGRATULATIONS!

Hope you feel good about it.

If you haven't, please reconsider your obligation and give it a try again.

We have so much talent available at our fingertips that all we need to do is reinspire and rekindle the flame.

I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

"The faults of our Members we write upon the sand, their virtues upon the tablets of love and memory."