I’ve been involved with voluntary organisations of one sort or another all my life.
When I was in my early teens I went round selling poppies for the Royal British Legion, doing the door to door knocking and persuading people away from their tellies to open the door and slip 50p into the collecting tin in exchange for a red cardboard flower.
Then I joined the Barn Theatre and for almost forty years now (I started as almost a babe in arms, obviously) have served on committees for one or the other society in some capacity or another as well as turning up to serve wine, sell programmes or sweets or slip mail outs into envelopes.
And now, I am volunteering at a community radio station as a presenter and, time permitting, willing to help with fund raising and various other functions.
These are all quite diverse organisations but they have one thing in common. And I don’t mean community spirit, fund raising or being “all in a good cause”. No, I’m afraid what I mean is that they are rife with petty politics and power struggles.
Generally speaking, all these organisations are run and manned by very decent people. They willingly give their time and effort for nothing and whole heartedly throw themselves into the spirit of the thing. Those that are retired seem to almost adopt them as their new job and spend hours and hours in what should be their leisurely years slaving away to organise events, drum up sponsorship and keep the thing going. And most of them are thoroughly nice.
But occasionally, you come across one who uses the organisation for their own ends and exploits everyone they come into contact with. They are the equivalent of the playground bully, riding roughshod over everyone and when they are crossed becoming vicious and unbelievably nasty. Usually these people are clever, able to read situations and turn them about face for their own ends. They’re like Teflon (nothing sticks) and they don’t care who they squash. In short, they have no moral code.
It’s very hard to deal with individuals like that and quite often, if you give them enough rope they’ll eventually hang themselves. There has been a recent incident which has not directly affected me but has seriously impacted upon people I know which has been particularly nasty which may fall into this category; I sincerely hope so. All I feel I can do is offer moral support to those affected and if I am able, practical help to deal with the situation. It feels inadequate.
Why do people use organisations which are set up in such sincerity and good faith like this? It totally undermines the community principles they are meant to support and allows destructive individuals a platform upon which to exercise their Machiavellian tendencies. The only way that they will be toppled is by their membership, who need to exercise people power.
So come on guys; stand up and be counted when it matters. The world will be a better place, and go hang what other people think of you. If you know you gave done what is right, you can sleep easy at night.
