Volunteering Dirty little Secrets Legislative Hearings Moms Toddlers Phds Lawyer
THE VALUE OF VOLUNTEERING
THE PROBLEM WITH VOLUNTEERING IS ALL IT'S DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS. As for me, I ought to know. It changed my life. I wound up a bigshot in quite a circuitous way. I blame it all on the perils of volunteering. You find out the darndest things about yourself. These things aren't necessarily welcomed at the time. I mean you volunteer for something usually because you believe in it's cause and you have the time.
Well, as all you volunteers out there soon come to realize, if you've got the time, the cause can use it. Telling you that you are "really needed" also has the right ring to it. So, if you are like me anyway, you say "yes" to too many things. So, one of the things I learned from volunteering is that at some point, if the cause is great, the stuggle is long. Eventually, you might even be summoned to do things that are "really needed" in a way that is not quite your thing. That's exactly what happened to me.
One day, after the umpteenth meeting of just one of the myriads of meetings that make up the tenticals of volunteer organizational life, my telephone rang. For weeks, we'd been discussing the need to make some changes in the laws of our state. This would help our cause immensely, as well as, educate the public. We smiled to ourselves as the date neared for our legislative testimony. Afterall, we were prepared with expert testimony from one of Ph.D's.
By now, I was the unsung heroine of my toddler's lives. I could even outwit them. I had a Bachelor's degree. Imagine my surprise when I received a call from the aforementioned expert that he would not be able to make the Legislative commttee meeting where he was scheduled to speak. A quick call around to the movers and shakers in the organization had apparently zeroed in on me. It was agreed, I knew the most about the topic at hand, I'd been to every meeting, and could articulate what needed to be said. Hey! Wait. No one asked me!
And so it is that because I was "really needed" the baton was passed to me. I was this graduate who had simply volunteered to help out with some things. I stayed at home with my kids. I enjoyed volunteer activities that made a difference in my church and my community. For all intents and purposes, I'd never prepared to do public speaking in at anytime in my life. Like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, my response to the phone call was right on point. I believe I answered, "Oh my".
So, there I was. A political neophyte among what appeared to me to be a den of thieves. Why such a harsh assessment you might say. I mean this was just a committee hearing in the State Capital, right? Wrong. As it turns out, the position of our organization was not favored by the Committee Chairman. And that is putting it mildly.And so it is that I became irate (but only on the inside). I quickly became to realize that these "representatives" of the people thought I was there to accept my fate. My fate was to be whatever the chairman decided it would be. Not the least of this disdain was shown when my testimony, designated by order of arrival and check-in time with the Sargeant-at-Arms was to be sometime in early morning. Soon, I was informed by the Sargeant-at-Arms that my time had been changed. Afterall, it was the final day of the Legislative session and there were 170 bills to be heard that day. My response was predictable."Oh my".
By the time I was called to speak, it was in a once loud, unexpected voice of the Chairman around 3 in the afternoon. By now, they ahd a motherr who needed to be home. That commute back would be an hour and a half. I took the podium. Immediately and without warning I was interrupted mid-remarks in my prepared speech. One committeman excused himself entirely. Another began to ridicule me. The dye was cast. When all was said and done and the committee votes were cast, I'd won the debate. At least that is how it seemed at the time. The majority had voted with me. It was then that I had my first bath in the hot waters of hardball politics.
"Madame secretary", the obviously astounded committee chairman stated. "Now we will take the recorded vote." As I learned that shocking and startling day, the chairman had used a parliamentary trick to prevent me from prevailing when he heard the force of my arguments (which in my frightened and bewildered state could only have come out of my mouth with the help of God), He had taken a straw vote without ever uttering the words, let the secretary record. The next vote ended in a tie as he openly threatened sitting commitee members not to vote for the legiislation. There memebers promptly abstainde when the "real" vote came. The press sat through all of this and barely noticed the time of day much less the unethical tactics being used from the seat of power.
Thanks to that experience, I became a lawyer. I have spoken in both friendly and hostile environments. Now I am paid. I have been invited to cabinet level sit-down dinners and Presidential inaugurals. I have met with Constitutional courts in foreign countries. See what can happen when you volunteer. Very strange secrets lurk in those waters. Be careful, it can be life changing.
