For the next few years, my volunteer hours are going to be spent on the board of SIC (Star Island Corporation). This weekend we had our June retreat "on island" and it was bittersweet. It was fabulous because we got two days on the island and not so good because we spent most of the time inside meeting. We could look out the windows at the island's natural beauty, which includes the pelicans aka pels (college age kids who work on the island), conferees and guests of the island.
One major topic we discussed a lot was Island Citizenship. Some of us tried to drop the Island part and just call it Citizenship, but IMHO, we should leave Island in the concept. The essence of the concept is that we all have to exist on this fragile small island (rock) in the middle of the Atlantic where most of us come for one week of the year. Many of us identify with "our week" and for the Island to exist we have to lift up our eyes and view the Island for the entire year, not just our week. The second part of the concept is how we treat each other within this Island community. There is lots of good work within our denomination about intentional community and right relations. (Google those) The third part is that our Island is fragile in many ways, and since we are all so passionate about making sure it exists for our grand children and beyond, we need to make every effort to fill beds this summer and beyond.
The Board has done a lot of good work since I joined 15 months ago, and it is a concept like Island Citizenship, which peaks my interest and causes me to get up at 5:30am on a weekend to put some effort into it. Shoalers beware, and non-Shoalers feel free to listen as well; the next time you see me, I will probably be enthusiastically talking about this concept. In the meantime, what do you think so far, with this little bit you have heard? Do you belong to an organization where participants feel so passionate and are working hard to maintain its future? Have you thought about intentional community and right relations? Do you have any best practices for moving an organization in those directions? This is a true Sally post; alwaysaskingwhy!
1 comment:
Hi,
I love this notion of Island Citizenship because it encapsulates what is so wonderful and trying about being part of any organization. We want to identify with our particular group -- a division, region, committee -- and we need to keep in mind the larger group of which we're a part.
And good citizenship is challenging but makes the whole thing go more smoothly. It's that willingness to look at things from another's perspective or to handle conflict and assume good intentions (unless you get direct evidence to the contrary). Right relationships are not easy to do but such a great place to develop oneself and to help create the kind of community you want to hand down to the grandkids.
Thanks for a thought provoking post.
Laura Tully
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