Country Living – Commit to a committee

Don’t ‘ya’ just love a good ole committee? I just cannot imagine too many of us grey haired varieties that haven’t sat on at least a couple in our time. These committees and their members are truly the ‘self-raising flour’ of our communities and these dedicated souls rise to the occasion to help us, free of condition and charge.

To be honest, I have an unbelievable amount of respect for those who sit on committees and volunteer their time, and I feel many aspects of our communities would collapse without them. Being on one can often be likened to taking a marriage vow, you know? That whole ‘till death do you part thing’.

Then there are the serious devotees like my buddy, who I once asked if he collected them. Of course we have to mention the true saints in our society like Mrs Sue Harnet who chairs our school board even though her children left years ago!

From my own experience and perspective being on a committee taught me so much. Some of the finest and wisest men and women I know I have met on a committee. One of my biggest learning curves on a committee was learning to ‘hold my tongue’ (even then I was never very good at that!).

I respected the need for formality; some members are ‘sticklers’ for that, but to be honest that part of a meeting bored me to tears. Listening to the minutes from the previous meeting was like ‘pulling teeth’ for me. I would get all fidgety like a little kid when

I was bored. To combat my boredom I introduced bowls of childish lollies to the committee table. It was so cool!, before long I had everybody addicted to liquorish allsorts and those silly ‘redskins’ that do nothing but taste great and stick to your teeth. I also loved how being on a committee gave you a view into the window of peoples personalities. I can tell you it was worth all my years on a committee just to see a couple of placid farming gentlemen all fired up and ready to eat a bureaucrat for breakfast! However, for the most part I just loved being on a committee to help people and along the way I had some bloody good laughs!

So there you have it, committees are all manner of things, but I guess most of all they are fulfilling. I would like to take this opportunity to ask some of the younger generation to step up to the committee podium and relive some of our older generation of their ‘well-worn duties’. And to all the existing volunteer committee members I ‘raise my strong arm’ for respect and acknowledgment of the amazing things you do for us all in our communities. Thank you.