One Thousand Details

This past weekend was our Deputy Grand Matron School of Instruction.  This event this year is a great example of how the devil is in the details, also known as the death of a thousand cuts.

The purpose of the school is to teach our new soon to be Deputies how all the ceremonial work is done so that they can go teach it to all the people in their own Districts and in theory then everyone can learn to do the work perfectly.  Unfortunately, sometimes the rubber meets the road, and sometimes it's the window glass.

Part of the problem is that it is SO MUCH material to try to squeeze into just two and a half days.  To really master EVERYTHING seems more like a two and a half week project.  But you have what you have and there ain't no more!  (Okay, there is a brush up school, but it is only a day and really needs to be just for brushing up and snagging a few things that are done later in the year.)  It helps a lot when the Deputies come fairly well prepared and we can concentrate on those devilish details, but sometimes it is hard to know what you don't know.  After all, every member sees many of these ceremonies every meeting, but it is sort of like when you are a passenger instead of a driver.  I find that I can be a passenger going somewhere over and over again, but then when I am the driver, I don't know where that place is.  When I am the driver, I have to pay attention to the route, but when I am a passenger, not so much.  And since there is no GPS for our ceremonial work, this is flying without a parachute.

So I know that I have watched the ceremony over and over, but did I really ever pay a lot of attention to the men's parts?  After all, I was never going to hold that office, so why would I?  There are several Star Point officers whose positions I doubt I will ever hold, so while I have heard their words and seen their actions over and over, do they really sink in?  Not so much, I fear.  So no matter how much you know, until you get out on the floor and try to do the work, you may not realize how much you don't know.  In some respects the Grand Officers have it easy, although most lady Grand Officers have been Deputies, so they have done their time in the trenches.  A Grand Officer learns their part perfectly, but they only have to learn their one part (or in the case of the Grand Line, one part per year :-).  Deputies need to know them all because they need to be able to teach them all.  And that is a LOT of work.

But this school was particularly helpful for me because I was able to see what was being done and make LOTS and LOTS of notes for next year when (GASP!) I am supposed to lead one of these things (AAAAAHHH!)  There were some new things done this year that I liked and want to remember to include and there were some things that were good, but maybe we can improve a bit on them.  But since I have a memory like a sieve, I just have to make notes.  Even an hour later, I may not remember what I was thinking an hour earlier.  I think I came home with about ten pages of notes.  The bothersome part is that now I have to read my own writing and type the notes up before I forget what they say!

Next weekend there are no statewide events because of the Jewish holidays so I will be home.