You say tomato &
I say “tomaaato”
Guest Editorial
by Kappy Chermak, Ohio’s North Coast Jitterbug Connection
Have you experienced friction within your club? Guess what…Who hasn’t!
Why? Why does this always seem to happen? This is an easy question for me to answer. I can share with you my experience on this ugly subject. It starts because we are all individuals with our own ideas and “ideals”. It is when these things become your own “agenda” for the pursuit of your own goals that the, … “What’s best for the Club”, … gets lost and goes by the wayside.
When we started ONCJC we all were so excited! What fun it was going to be! It took no time at all for the problems to rear their ugly heads. The basis of the problems … “control”. We had to maintain control! No flexibility. It didn’t take long for even the charter members to be at odds. In fact, the first to go was half of the charter members before we were even a year old. Our By laws had to be set up so that no matter who was in office … the charter members would outnumber them in a voting situation, thus allowing us to maintain control and what “WE” wanted ONCJC to be.
FLEXIBILITY is the key word. Lack of flexibility and not being open to outside ideas will be the undoing of any organization in time. Yes, there are some people who are perfectly happy to just let you do it… but when that becomes the norm… when you are the one that makes all the final decisions it is “YOUR” club and when “you” are gone there will be no one to take “your” place and “your” club will disappear because “your” members will find another club because they have never had a vested interest in “yours“.
Lou and I didn’t want that for ONCJC. We felt that for this club to prosper it had to belong to its members. They pay the dues. We all had to be open to new ideas and change. We all had to be willing to let go and that was too much for other charter members to conceive. In fact, I was told by charter members as they were exiting that I had “murdered this club”! Yes, well if that is so…we died and went to heaven! Thank you. ONCJC isn’t where it is because of Lou or me. It is where it is because we were able to let go. It is where it is because of our membership.
ONCJC’s membership has reached new heights. Never before had we obtained 200 members until 2004 and we exceeded that in 2005. Our average attendance on Wednesdays is 80 to 90 members. In the past we were lucky to get 25 to 30.
It is hard to “back off” but the club is better for it. ONCJC runs itself through the dedication of its members. It is the membership that makes ONCJC… ONCJC.
The greatest club in “the north coast of Ohio”! I am confident that it will be around years after we are gone… and that is a good thing. That is what it is all about. Fellowship, friendship and dedication to the family.
Kappy Chermak, Charter member, past Secretary, past President and now just a happy member of ONCJC
P.S. I want you all to know that I harbor no ill feelings from the past events. No matter how hurtful it was at the time… Everything happens for a reason. It is what makes us strong and helps us to grow. Unfortunately, what transpired had to happen to get ONCJC where it is today. I truly wish the best to all involved. I hope that they are able to achieve their goal, to have a club that meets all their expectations and can put their bitterness behind them so they too can grow in a positive manner from the experience. That choice is theirs. I will never stand in their way. Bitterness only gets in the way of progress and is not good for ones health.
