[Artemisia] In Praise of Play

[Tal]

I'd attend more often if I had a role to play, but one of the difficulties
of helping is not knowing what needs to be done.  If I saw a list of jobs,
I'd be more likely to jump in.  Looking at a list that says: Help serving
the feast, Arrive early and set up pavilions and Stay late and clean up site
- takes out the unknowns.  When you see the thing that says "Volunteers
needed," well, it's just too vague for me and I'm too Catholic (read=guilt
ridden) to say no after that.  Frankly I'm terrified I'll get stuck
somewhere I hate and then I'm reluctant the next time.  A vicious cycle
really.  I guess I just want it to be easier to volunteer.

Tal


Message: 1
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2007 23:24:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: Reuben and Arwen <reuben_arwen at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Artemisia] In Praise of Play
To: artemisia at lists.gallowglass.org
Message-ID: <617977.95709.qm at web36610.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
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Maybe groups who have a lot of members can afford to have people who just
"play", but for areas with small populations, and a high poverty level it's
a continual struggle.  If we didn't have a *very* small core group that
could afford memberships and fill the minimum offices by continuous
rotation, our shire would have folded long ago.  If the minimum offices are
not filled there is no shire to play in.  Most of our members can't afford
to play outside of our group, not because they don't want to, but because
sometimes it comes down to buying groceries or going to an event.  There has
been times where we've hung on by the skin of our teeth; only the minimum
three offices filled and they're the only people at business meetings.
Thank heavens we've gotten past that awful phase and are finally on an
upswing again!  Play?  Sometimes we just don't have that option.  This is
not aimed at provoking anyone, it's a sad reality in some areas.  Esther

"You can't have only one side of the coin."
Godwin