Being Asked

I’m in a recovery program, one of those 12-step ones. It has been very successful for me. I wanted sobriety and peace and got it by following directions. Like a good little boy. At the time I might have acted like a kid, but I was 62 years old. Nine years later I’m doing good without any missteps. A critical factor in this success story, however, is a very difficult element. I’m thinking (I don’t really know this) this element is ‘humility’.

Humility is defined as a modest or low view of one's own importance; humbleness. Some synonyms would include modesty or lack of vanity. An action that would test humility is a simple one: asking for help. This action clearly requires a person to admit he cannot do something by himself and thus needs to ask another person for help.

That is not easy if you are not humble. Need a ride because your car is disabled or you don’t have the money to buy gas but really do need to get to the doctor? What to do? Ask for help. Or walk. The latter action may be a demonstration of determination but it is not one of humility. The person would find it hard to find sobriety if he couldn't ask for help.

Now, I’m not perfectly humble. What a surprise! I really work at being self sustaining and self reliant. If I can’t afford something I do without it. I still assert myself in ways many people wouldn’t think of doing. But assertiveness alone is not a lack of humility. Standing up for oneself is a good thing. It means a person has enough self value to work through the tough times in life and learn from them.

For instance, I love to sing. But singing in front of a group of people – or any one person – scares me to death. I learned to sing in choirs at church and school. Doing that I learned I had a decent singing voice; I just didn’t know how to fully use it. So I didn’t. Oh I sang in the shower and in the car. Loudly and with gusto! Little by little, however, the church asked for some help with the music and I just did it – sang liturgy. Most of the time I did it at the back of the church so no one could see me. Still do! The little boy inside remains with me!

Over time I became able to sing in front of people in little bits and pieces. It helped me control my fear, and develop enough courage to work through it all. Same with public speaking. That was a horrific chore for me but then I realized I had something to say that others needed to know if they were to grow. Slowly I gained enough courage to speak.

And then write for public consumption. It was a struggle but well worth it. Like most people I was nervous about writing for others to read. I felt exposed to ridicule, shame and the boogeyman. Or whatever is taken for the latter. Most likely the boogeyman is really a shadow or doubt about the self, but it is very real just the same. I didn't want to expose myself.

Over time I realized that I knew something that others needed to know or consider in their thought process. Thus I came to write reports for trade journals, then speeches for a few executives. Slowly but surely trade newsletters asked for more information on specific topics and I began to feed that information machine. I became published in a very small way.

When our community needed a paper I began to report on the doings at City Hall because I had been on the city council and knew the background on a lot of issues that others didn’t. So I became the de facto city hall reporter for the paper. From that we formed a new paper, I was named managing editor so I could help draw in a broad array of ‘news’ from the community and fill out the paper with lots of information and civic opinion. In that role I wrote obituaries and other interest articles. Rather than writing editorials, however, I formed a column in which opinions could be freely shared with the public, opinions and feelings that would help nurture and grow the spirit of community. That was my role.

That role required my courage to perform, to put ideas and thoughts out on the stage of public opinion where anyone could shoot me down. I felt very vulnerable. Frightened even. But feedback taught me that most people are kind and supportive. The experience helped me develop more courage and to stretch my writing capability. I got more feedback, mostly pleasant and confidence building. A trust was building.

So now I had courage to do things I hadn't done before. On a weekly and monthly basis as well. The paper built its own story as well and is now 7 years old. All volunteer. All non-profit. Built by and for the community. It is an interesting story of a small town newspaper in an electronic information age.

That story, however, was built day by day by people who cared and took the risk to put their ideas and writing on the stage of public opinion. Each of them had to overcome their nagging doubts about ability, grammar, syntax and facts. Each had to weather anonymous judgments and attacks from the public. Each had to push through to a different level to perform a service to their community. All those stories existed side by side unspoken and unshared. Through it the newspaper matured and survived.

It began by asking people for help – their writing, their organizing, their efforts and labor. We asked them to perform tasks they had never done before. We learned how to manage by team and without pay. We put in long hours and personal risks. Some even loaned money to the enterprise to get it going, to keep it going, and to overcome obstacles. The paper survived all of this because of all of them.

Talk about humility. None of us could have done this alone. Only in concert with fellow volunteers was any of this possible.

Like sobriety, losing oneself in a selfless enterprise teaches invaluable lessons about the self. Sticking with the program yields even more results previously unknown.

Now, the newspaper has some needs and is humble enough to ask for help. Here’s what it needs:

1. A Bookkeeper/Accountant willing to keep track of expenses and ad revenues while paying bills and balancing the cash flow to maintain operations
2. An Ad Sales Manager willing to develop a continuous flow of ad revenues from the community sufficient to pay the newspaper’s operating costs
3. An Information Technology manager to supervise, acquire and maintain the necessary technology platform to keep the paper operating in an electronic age
4. A Web Developer to upgrade our website so it mimics the newspaper’s printed edition but becomes a 24/7 hub of information flow within the community
5. A Webmaster to supervise the 24/7 functioning of the website and keep the information current and organized; and clean of foul insertions!
6. Calendar coordinator: seek, organize and arrange copy for the community calendar
7. Reporters willing to follow story assignments and write cogently about them; our editorial staff will make it look pretty and correct grammar and whatnot to help you look good! But we still need writers:
1. School sports – events, developing talents, photos, achievements, etc.
2. PTA and school news throughout the community
3. Rumor Central to receive, research and report on gossip and rumors that may or may not be true
4. Business news from within the community or affecting the community
5. City Hall reporting; county, too
6. Current events writing as they happen; unfolding news stories with impact
8. Donations to pay for upgrades to the paper.
9. Feedback from the community so it becomes the voice of the community.

The Village Chronicles could be a much better paper than it is with the support outlined above. Is there something you could do to help?

You are being asked to help. We are humble enough to ask. Are you courageous enough to lend your hand?

March 9, 2015