Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Drawing circles around my head

I don't usually get confused by things. In any situation I always, always step back figuratively to observe, think and rethink and rethink before I could make any reasonable decisions. The more somebody pushed me into making a spontaneous decision the more recalcitrant I become.

But then there are people who draw circles around you to get you confused into making decisions you do not want to make. They drive you into a corner and challenge you either to bite their heads off or to just growl in utter frustration.

I entered the room where the House of Delegates convened, confident that I could perform well the duties my council set me to do even if I was just the third appointed member. But at the onset I and my president were at a disadvantaged. We do not have a copy and do not know anything about the election guidelines. My president and I were loathed to agree with some of the delegates about reading the guidelines first before starting the election because doing so would put either our previous president or another officer on the hot seat. So we decide to just wing it, confident we know enough of the Robert's Rules of Order to be effective as representative of our council.

But as it happened no Robert's Rules of Order nor any kind of rule was applied during the initial parts of the election. I challenge everyone to gainsay me. I was so confused by the noise and the voices simultaneously speaking that by the time the winning president was announced all I could do was say to myself, who the hell is she! Was she introduced to us? Did she stand up to be recognized?

I do not know her so I have nothing against her personally. I do not even have a candidate of my own but others have. If the people who nominated her were/are very confident of her capabilities and talent to lead the national council, why afraid to let her go head to head with another candidate? Why block another nomination with an over-hasty closing of nominations?

One nomination, one move to close and one move to second does not make it a plural vote.

I am off to read Robert's Rules of Order.