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I'm involved in several different clubs and organzations. I've always been that way. No one club can satisfy me and my interests.
One of the down sides to being multi-faceted is that other people simply aren't interested in seeing the other sides of me. They only want to see what I have in common with them.
It happened a lot at my old church -- St. Francis of Assisi Church in Centerville. Other than the Catholic faith, I felt the people there didn't want to know all about me or my views. At social gatherings, I'd stand in the middle of the hall, waiting for people to come up and talk to me.
It happened again last night, at the USS Bismarck meeting. I won't get into details, but there was some potentially divisive club business that was discussed. I mentioned that I had completed and survived the New Warrior Training Adventure (it says so on my certificate), that I was the only one in the group to have done so, and offered to mediate any future situations if needed. One person rolled their eyes. But did anyone come up to me afterward and ask me about ny experience? No!
I've tried the curiosity approach for months -- including wearing Mankind Project T-shirts to club events -- and that didn't seem to work. Maybe the other people in the club simply aren't interested in what I have to offer them, or what I do or have done outside of the Bismarck. But no one has told me, "Please don't talk about this here again." So I'll keep doing what I'm doing.
There are a few folks in the Bismarck who I get together with outside of club meetings -- Friday night dinners, visits, etc. But there are some folks in the group who choose not to do that with me. This only reinforces my opinion that "fans are not friends".
My want is to find an organization where all of me is welcome.
One of the down sides to being multi-faceted is that other people simply aren't interested in seeing the other sides of me. They only want to see what I have in common with them.
It happened a lot at my old church -- St. Francis of Assisi Church in Centerville. Other than the Catholic faith, I felt the people there didn't want to know all about me or my views. At social gatherings, I'd stand in the middle of the hall, waiting for people to come up and talk to me.
It happened again last night, at the USS Bismarck meeting. I won't get into details, but there was some potentially divisive club business that was discussed. I mentioned that I had completed and survived the New Warrior Training Adventure (it says so on my certificate), that I was the only one in the group to have done so, and offered to mediate any future situations if needed. One person rolled their eyes. But did anyone come up to me afterward and ask me about ny experience? No!
I've tried the curiosity approach for months -- including wearing Mankind Project T-shirts to club events -- and that didn't seem to work. Maybe the other people in the club simply aren't interested in what I have to offer them, or what I do or have done outside of the Bismarck. But no one has told me, "Please don't talk about this here again." So I'll keep doing what I'm doing.
There are a few folks in the Bismarck who I get together with outside of club meetings -- Friday night dinners, visits, etc. But there are some folks in the group who choose not to do that with me. This only reinforces my opinion that "fans are not friends".
My want is to find an organization where all of me is welcome.
