Was I overly naive?

Hey Mama Mouse - thanks for your comments. Good to hear from you, too! Missed you, don'tcha know!

Your comments were very insightful, to say the least. I guess what happened to me was that I kinda sorta thought I'd found a volunteer organization made up of honest and forthright men and women who had the same goal of serving their community as I did! Those in whom I've found very dear friends are to be excluded from the following analysis of my predicament - thank goodness for you!

I believe what has happened is there are too many chiefs and not near enough Indians, if you know what I mean! And all the chiefs want to do is issue orders - which change in accordance with their moods or with the coming of inclement weather! First of all, I didn't know volunteers could be ORDERED to do anything, especially since it is crammed down our throats that WE ARE VOLUNTEERS! But, when it behooves these same chiefs, all of a sudden we are MILITARY.

Very few of these chiefs can be seen at any of the external missions (I know one sub-chief who is present for every one with his unit), but they know everything there is to know about how the mission should be run as a MILITARY UNIT, not how the mission should be run with a widely diverse volunteer group who work their butts off BECAUSE THEY WANT TO AND LIKE WHAT THEY ARE DOING, otherwise they wouldn't be where they are!!!

I can honestly say NOBODY has EVER issued me an ORDER in the two years I've served in this organization. Many requests have been made, with which I have been more than happy to comply. Directives come through the pipeline, however, in which it will be stated "we can't order our volunteers to do anything," and the very next sentence will state "we must follow orders or" .....! What are they gonna do if we don't comply? Take away our birthdays?

When a sniveling little pup who's nose is a different color than the rest of his face because of... well, you get the idea, I'm sure, has his own personal "clicque" of flunkies to report everything they either think they've seen and heard to some "chiefs" who believe his crap doesn't stink because he looks good in a uniform and can recite every regulation in the book, something is badly askew! Like my father used to say "Something smells rotten in Denmark, and it ain't just the fish." Yeah, book learning is wonderful, but putting it into practical use is another thing!! I believe if I were to take a poll of members, they all would say this particular individual hasn't done anything but talk a good game!

The organization grew by leaps and bounds and, all of a sudden, the chiefs didn't know what the heck to do! Might I just add here that the "dead" weight isn't at the bottom of the organization, either!!!

Yes, I'm getting along in years and there are some things that I just can't do anymore because of fear of breaking bones, but I give forth every effort to pull my weight whenever I am needed, wherever I am needed, and for however long I am needed. Everyone in my unit (with the exception of a very small minority) do the very same - plus!

Politics may be the reason for the change in mood, but I believe it can be put more to fear! Some of the troops are smarter than the chiefs are, work hard, strive for promotions, and guess what - they will be the chiefs some day!! Hmm, makes you wonder if things might just be a little bit different when the chiefs realize how hard they had to work to get there, rather than ... well, I won't go there, either!

Micky Finn is through for today!