First Meeting of the "New Society"

Rick Blaine: We'll always have Paris. We didn't have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.

That's how I feel about the heart and soul of BSEC. We lost it for two years while it was taken over by people who came in determined not to trust or listen to us no matter what we said or did.

Last night we got it back.

Not the building...we may never meet in that building again, for all I know. But we got back the feelings we used to have when we put our energies together to work toward a goal and went for it, without the obstacles that were put in our way for the past two years. We got back the feeling of being trusted, of being heard. We could put our thoughts together and come up with ideas and plans and not have some suspicious person continually accusing us of wrongdoing and undermining our efforts.

It was wonderful to sit in a circle of friends again and feel that respect and trust, and the willingness of people to start something new and build it up rather than watch helplessly as the BSEC we knew is torn apart.

I felt like we were all midwives, birthing a newborn organization. And in fact we were. The baby hasn't got a name yet, and doesn't know what it will be when it grows up. But it was born last night and has about 20 loving and caring parents standing ready to nurture its growth. What an excellent start.

We've already got 3 reflections groups planned and a second planning meeting for September. I've volunteered for a task force and at least one of the committees. Looks to me like we are ready!