Re: [RC] [RC] different sports? They are if you decide that they are. Long - Barbara McCrary
Maryanne, I was on the AERC board for 20+ years and you
are right about elections and board members paying their way. Whenever
there was a mid-year board meeting in another state, we all paid our own airfare
and hotel expenses. Later on, AERC paid a small equal sum to all board
members to help offset expenses.
I am mightily impressed with your statements and have
to agree that AERC does not have to play the game that the UAE is. I also
hate money dictating how things shall be run, I hate someone being able to buy
an organization by slipping the cash under the table, or even on top of the
table.
My husband and I rode an FEI ride in Austria in 1985,
hosted the first FEI ride in the western hemisphere in 1986, and thought this
was all in good fun. By 1987, having had FEI rides become established in
the USA, things started deteriorating into controlled rides, suspicion between
countries (locked stables, so that no one could drug horses), and other similar
issues. I began to dislike what I saw and swore I would uphold AERC's
philosophies and do what I, as a board member, could do to keep FEI from
controlling AERC rides. Everyone told me that FEI could not do that, but I
remain cautious. The years between have done nothing to lessen my
concerns. I personally think it's time for AERC to stop playing the game,
but there are others who don't agree, and I haven't been on the board for
several years, so I have no control or input, other than opinion.
I love your insight from the near east (or is it
mideast); please keep it coming as you see it.
Subject: Re: [RC] [RC] different sports?
They are if you decide that they are. Long
I have another difference for you that may be a bit subtle,
but is probably very important. AERC officers and board members are elected by
the membership and as far as I recall (I'm sure the reknowned Dr. Q can
correct me if I'm wrong) do not get paid for their time and headaches. They do
this out of the goodness of their hearts, their concern for the welfare of
horses and riders, their love for a sport that is still amateur in the purest
sense of the word, and possibly out of some weird masochistic
tendencies. I'd be willing to bet dollars to donuts that FEI board
members are paid and I'd be willing to bet that the salaries are enough to
keep my donkeys in carrots for a lifetime. Any takers on that? Since we
know where the funds for the FEI are coming, we know who is paying them. There
is a pretty big difference there as well. I daresay that AERA and BHS are in
similar rowboats.
When I moved to Egypt I was warned to wear something
blue to avert the evil eye. The evil eye is the eye of someone who sees what
you have, envies it, and wishes you ill because they don't have it. My initial
response to this was "Yeah...right. What a lot of hoo hah." After a
while, I realised that it really didn't matter that I believed in the evil eye
because everyone around me definitely did. I do not stir without my blue,
Paddi makes all my tack in a lovely clear turquoise, and so far so good. Even
my business cards now are turquoise. My front doors are guarded by a brass
hand of Fatima with a blue ball and there's even a Feng Shui mirror over the
front door of my house to keep the ghosts out. Am I superstitious? You
could say that I am, but I just believe that when enough people believe in an
idea, that idea gains strength.
Not long after I moved to Egypt,
Eastern Europe decided that they were no longer part of the Communist Bloc. In
fact they decided that there was no Communist Bloc. They didn't rise up with
pitchforks and rifles for the most part. They just stopped and said "This
isn't working. We are not going to play anymore." And basically there was
little that the governments could do with entire populations that simply
believed that the idea was wrong and they weren't going to believe in it
anymore. I was stunned and entranced by the change. Watching the citizens of
Berlin dismantle the Wall over Christmas was the most inspiring thing of my
life. It was the largest, remarkably peaceful change in governmental
philosophy I'd ever seen and it was basically because a group of people simply
decided to believe something new.
Now you may all say that my examples
are irrelevant...if that's the world you want to live in, then you will. But
if the world you want to live in does not recognise FEI endurance racing with
the glitz, speed, and money as the same sport as endurance riding with the
campfires, smoke and burned hot dogs...then they are not the same sport and
it's that simple. So maybe you have to go out and convince a bunch of people
who don't know the difference, but you have lists of differences in front of
you if you choose to use them. What do the people you want to convince know?
Nothing. So get to work. The world really is what you make
it.
