Our Side of the Mic
by Bob Riggs
Well, we had our usual Colorado March with snow, wind, rain and sunny days that remind us of the coming summer. Speaking of Spring & Summer, have you started to make your summer plans? Have you registered for the 2014 Colorado State Festival that is scheduled for June 13-14th at the Crowne Plaza Denver, right here in Denver, near I-70 & Chambers Rd. Check out the details on their site: www.royaljubilee2014.com. And don't forget the National Square Dance Convention in Little Rock, AR, USA West Convention in Pendleton, OR and all of the other summer dances throughout Colorado and the West.
The most dangerous sentence in any language is …
In our readings from various sources and our interaction with the dance community, we see many who are striving to find ways to encourage more dancers to participate, find new ways to make our dances more enjoyable to those that attend and to encourage more of our members to participate in the leadership of our clubs. Consider this thought …
“Alec S wrote in February 2010 on Yahoo Answers the following in answer to the question: Why are so many people narrow-minded?
From the day we are born, we naturally and instinctively attempt to make sense of our surroundings, so we may successfully keep ourselves fed, sheltered, clothed, loved, etc. It is our most basic fears of illness, death, loneliness, mental incapacity, hunger, etc., that force this process. Once we figure that out, we start locking in those behavioral patterns.
Our most fundamental view of our world and ourselves is usually completely, and solidly, in place by 25 years old. After that the cliche "You can't teach old dogs new tricks" becomes truer and truer with each passing decade.
Personally, I think the most dangerous sentence in the English language is "But we've always done it that way." Unfortunately, thinking outside one's belief system is extremely difficult for most people, and it gets harder as they get older.
That's why most meaningful political change comes as a result of a new generation coming into power, not the old generation changing it's ways.”
I read this with thoughts of our successful and our struggling clubs. How often have we let our newer, possibly younger members take over and do it their way? How often have we tried a new way to accomplish ...? This is a plea to encourage the creative minds of your group to step forward and apply their creativity to the growth of square dancing. If they fail they fail, if they succeed great things are possible. Please consider the possibilities.
