Politics always leaves a bitter taste in one's mouth.
So a little background information about my house program.
Last semester our President rewrote the Charter. He was a very politically minded person (holds an international office with Circle K) and he wanted to see a well defined hierarchy of leadership positions within The Gallows.
Our charter had originally been set in place to officialize our program such that we could request funding from the school. Titles and positions never held much meaning, everyone was free to do as little or as much as they desired. The program runs itself.
Least it used to. Thats where the recent drama comes into play. The new charter outlines three leadership positions, President, Director and Treasurer. There is also a fourth position, Student Coordinator, which wasn't written into the charter as it's not strictly related to leadership within the program. So four positions.
As it turned out there where only four of us interested in those positions. In the end there was only one person nominated to each role. We never had an election and I took this to mean others felt there was no need.
So last week, acting as President, I sent out an email welcoming everyone to the new season and outlined who was responsible for what. First reply I get is from a house member who said I was in no position to declare myself president and she named another as the only one with any valid leadership position in the program, her tone was brash and very accusatory. This was unexpected and created a minor scuffle between myself and this aforementioned person. We sorted it out and determined that everything is as it should be, it was all just a misunderstanding. I was still the President.
Then I got in contact with the person who'd been nominated for the position of Director. In short he said he wasn't the Director, nor was I President. We'd never held an election and in accordance with our charter and no one can take office with out being elected into position. Yet more unexpected drama. Although this time he's calling for an election and if we are to stick with the charter he has every right to do so.
So I stepped down from my assumed role and everything is on hold till the start of the semester.
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Most of you who read this understand that I am not a very politicaly active person. Nor do I usually assert myself as a leader. I am very opinionated and tend to think that I am right, but rarely to I go around toting my views. I prefer to be passive in most matters and usually go for an advisatory role.
I nominated myself as President because I saw that it was not to be a political position but rather an organizational office. Also I wanted to step up and see what it was like to be leading instead of advising.
Personally I feel it is important that you step up at least once, it gives you a much better perspective on who you are and what it is you really want to be. Rather than simply saying you want something you come to an understanding of why you want it. Eg, I prefer to advise and having gone through this I now have a much better idea of why I have never wanted anything more.
I will still go for the office of President, but if elected out of office I will put up no fight. Really what im after at this point is ensuring that the program stays together and continues on to another year.
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I think I have finally been able to put this all behind me. There is nothing to be done about it now so there is no reason to stress over it. In fact there simply is no reason to get uptight about it at all. What happens happens.
I have been going through a lot lately and this is only part of the stress I have been enduring this past month. My health has suffered because of it and I need to be able to tell myself that this is something that really doesn't matter. I have enough to worry about as it is.
Last semester our President rewrote the Charter. He was a very politically minded person (holds an international office with Circle K) and he wanted to see a well defined hierarchy of leadership positions within The Gallows.
Our charter had originally been set in place to officialize our program such that we could request funding from the school. Titles and positions never held much meaning, everyone was free to do as little or as much as they desired. The program runs itself.
Least it used to. Thats where the recent drama comes into play. The new charter outlines three leadership positions, President, Director and Treasurer. There is also a fourth position, Student Coordinator, which wasn't written into the charter as it's not strictly related to leadership within the program. So four positions.
As it turned out there where only four of us interested in those positions. In the end there was only one person nominated to each role. We never had an election and I took this to mean others felt there was no need.
So last week, acting as President, I sent out an email welcoming everyone to the new season and outlined who was responsible for what. First reply I get is from a house member who said I was in no position to declare myself president and she named another as the only one with any valid leadership position in the program, her tone was brash and very accusatory. This was unexpected and created a minor scuffle between myself and this aforementioned person. We sorted it out and determined that everything is as it should be, it was all just a misunderstanding. I was still the President.
Then I got in contact with the person who'd been nominated for the position of Director. In short he said he wasn't the Director, nor was I President. We'd never held an election and in accordance with our charter and no one can take office with out being elected into position. Yet more unexpected drama. Although this time he's calling for an election and if we are to stick with the charter he has every right to do so.
So I stepped down from my assumed role and everything is on hold till the start of the semester.
-
Most of you who read this understand that I am not a very politicaly active person. Nor do I usually assert myself as a leader. I am very opinionated and tend to think that I am right, but rarely to I go around toting my views. I prefer to be passive in most matters and usually go for an advisatory role.
I nominated myself as President because I saw that it was not to be a political position but rather an organizational office. Also I wanted to step up and see what it was like to be leading instead of advising.
Personally I feel it is important that you step up at least once, it gives you a much better perspective on who you are and what it is you really want to be. Rather than simply saying you want something you come to an understanding of why you want it. Eg, I prefer to advise and having gone through this I now have a much better idea of why I have never wanted anything more.
I will still go for the office of President, but if elected out of office I will put up no fight. Really what im after at this point is ensuring that the program stays together and continues on to another year.
-
I think I have finally been able to put this all behind me. There is nothing to be done about it now so there is no reason to stress over it. In fact there simply is no reason to get uptight about it at all. What happens happens.
I have been going through a lot lately and this is only part of the stress I have been enduring this past month. My health has suffered because of it and I need to be able to tell myself that this is something that really doesn't matter. I have enough to worry about as it is.