The one word I keep hearing almost constantly from the currently sitting GFA board is, "divisive". I am constantly (falsely) accused of trying to divide the GFA Membership into different camps. Nothing could be further from the truth.
When we look at the national political scene, the perhaps more diplomatic term "polarized" seems to be used more often than "divisive". Folks are seemingly at greater odds now than ever in our country's history. But please allow me to gently show to everyone that this is simply not the truth. The history I learned taught me that our country once fought a horrifically bloody war against itself in what was likely the ultimate expression of "division" or "polarization". Obviously, at least on the Flow, we are not and never will be at war with one another. Right.........? 🙏🙏🙏 IHMO, when some people can't logically justify their positions on important matters, they instead accuse those who hold differing views as being "polarizing" or "divisive". This thought that we must always agree with and blindly support everything which our "elected" leaders espouse (sorry, not sorry; I'm not ever going to be convinced that an exercise with ONE hand-picked official "candidate" is actually a true election in any twisted sense of the word) is the kind of thinking which led directly to the Holocaust in the not so distant past and to the horrific brutality playing out in the present day Middle East as well as the murders of American citizens in their own homes by those sworn to protect them.
True, comparing our mutually Treasured Flow with geopolitical events or even tragic policing errors is certainly a stretch. But these events did not spontaneously happen in a vacuum. They came about as the result of protracted thinking that those who believe or act differently from us are somehow the "enemy". And it is precisely this kind of thinking which is the true "polarization" or divisiveness" which we are all dealing with the fallout from; in our town, in our state, in our country, in our world, and even here on our mutually Treasured Flow. Until the currently sitting GFA board mimics my and my supporters willingness to sit down and respectfully discuss the issues we rather strongly disagree upon, the "polarized divisiveness" will only continue. But, this continuation certainly will not because at least we "divisive" ones did not try to find mutually agreeable solutions to any disagreements. It will be because others stubbornly and unjustifiably dug in their heels and so arrogantly refused to consider even for a moment that maybe sometimes other ideas just might actually be better ones.
We really CAN do MUCH better.
Thank you very much for your DEEPLY appreciated support in 2019, 2020, and beyond!! :-)