Letters - 14 October 2016
From dead weight to a nuclear threat
The dead weight
I would like to know how people like the anonymous author of ‘The dead weight’ (7 October) could find a way to wriggle out from under ‘the dead weight of bureaucracy around our necks’.
How can the Friends at Sufferings (7 October), who felt that membership of Sufferings was ‘dictated by age rather than by gifts’, be heard?
How, also, can the Friend at Sufferings who said: ‘You will lose your next generation if you don’t’ referring to tackling ‘the anger felt by young British Friends’ be listened to?
A Vibrancy in Meetings (7 October) group sounds like an answer. But how old are they? I would love to see young Friends teaching us how to be vibrant. If this new group really want to hear from us all, could we have a contact point, please?
Jill Allum
In the issue of 7 October ‘A Friend’ quotes an attender saying that the ordering of Meeting business is a ‘dead weight of bureaucracy’, a phrase with which he heartily agrees. He then goes on to give examples in relation to finance.
I, as someone with dyscalculia, find financial matters tedious, but acknowledge the crucial importance of well- ordered annual reports and wise stewardship of our funds.
Where I take issue with him/her is the implication that Quaker business methods are preventing attenders from seeking membership of the Religious Society of Friends.
In my experience of both management meetings in the wider world and Quaker Business Meetings, give me the latter any day. There can be something magical about a well-clerked Meeting, rooted in worship, with people having to consider carefully before making a contribution, and coming together in unity over a minute. At Area Meetings Friends get to know each other outside the sometimes narrow confines of the Local Meeting, and true friendships can develop.
Judith Niechcial
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