The heart of the matter...

Oct 06, 2004 13:57

In a recent post, ash93 suggested the creation of a position or committee within the OTO that would “hear, review, and make recommendations on grievances from members” of the MOE. ash93 states that the MOE members, when coming in conflict with those of the lovers or hermit triad often get the short end of the stick or the case gets whitewashed. ash93's solution is adding another layer to look out for the needs of the party of the lower grade, something like a MOE Advocate. That way even if the member out ranks the person by degree and/or position, they would have a person/group assisting. It is a very interesting idea, but one I fundamentally disagree with. The reasons are pretty straight forward. This position/group would simply be a response to a symptom and not an answer to the underlying problem of inconsistency in the application of fundamental principles and a lack of trust.

The OTO has a pretty elaborate scheme for addressing grievances; one that seems to get more and more of a workout every day. ash93’s point is that there is no transparency and issues often seem to “disappear” into the system. I think this is true to some degree and could be addressed. However there is a deeper issue that is not being recognized, a distinct lack of trust. ash93 or others who advocate something like this seem to miss that if they felt they could trust the powers that be, then they would not need someone looking out for the disadvantaged MOE member because there would be no disadvantaged MOE member. Instead of addressing the lack of trust, the heart of the problem, ash93 recommends a layer to add trustworthiness to the system. However, who’s to say that the new layer will be any more trustworthy than the existing positions if it too is not consistent on its principles?

Honor, virtue, self-control, helpfulness, dependability are principles that all members of the lovers and hermit triad are expected to have; in addition I also suggest integrity, honesty and trustworthiness. If these were present, and universally espoused and maintained, then I doubt ash93 would be complaining. The problem is that they are not universally upheld; they are not stressed by the Order, not visibly promoted and not the standard by which people are judged. I am not saying that they are not there; I think they are...sometimes. That is even more problematic. It is better to not have something then to tell people it is there and then for them to find out it is not! The inconsistency eats away at the foundation of trust.

Until there is a consistent, visible and demonstrated adherence to stated order principles, there will continue to be symptoms of the lack of trust and inappropriate conduct. If the order would consistently state and demonstrate that the principles are important, are not compromised and apply to everyone across the board, then the membership will be willing to trust the existing judicial system and look to remedy situations within the order. We do not have that now and the result is mistrust, as evidenced by suggestions like ash93’s or resignations (like sashatra's or burningblue's here) because people feel there is nothing they can do to remedy the situation within the order and are so alienated that they feel they have to leave.

The universal application of standard principles starts at the top. When will the OTO administration start to examine these issues and make positive change? When will it start acting according to principled behaviors? When will the administration start to rebuild the trust? I don’t know. Until it does people will continue to mistrust the higher-ups and routinely turn to leaving the order as they feel it is their only recourse to perceived injustices.

EDIT: Added correct link to burningblue per mendaxveritas giving me the valid URL.
Previous post Next post
Up