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From the Desk of Pete Desrochers
/ Executive Director - Membership
I
read something a month or two ago that really pulled at my
heartstring.
If you could fit the entire
population of the world into a village consisting of 100 people,
maintaining the
proportions of all the people living on Earth, that village would
consist of :
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 Americans (North,
Central and South)
8 Africans
There would be:
52 women and 48 men
30 Caucasians and 70
non-Caucasians
30 Christians and 70
non-Christians
89 heterosexuals and
11
homosexuals
Of those:
6 people would possess 59% of the wealth
and they would all come from the USA
80
would live in poverty
70 would be illiterate
50 would suffer from hunger and malnutrition
1 would be dying
1 would be being born
1 would own a computer
1 (yes,
only one)
would have a university degree
If we looked at the world in this
way,
the need for acceptance and understanding would be
far more obvious.
But, consider again the following
: If you woke up this morning in good
health, you have more luck than one million people, who won’t live
through the week. If
you have never experienced the horror of war, the solitude of prison,
the pain of torture, were not close to death
from starvation, or suffered the devastation from storms the likes of
Katrina or Sandy and nuclear disasters like Chernoble and Fukushima,
then you are better off than 500 million
people.
If you can go to your place of
worship without fear that someone will assault or kill you, even if
you are a child, then you are luckier than over 3 billion
people.
If you have a full fridge, clothes on
your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are
wealthier than 75% of the world’s population.
If you currently have any money in
the bank, in your wallet, and a few coins in your purse,
you are one of 8 of the privileged few amongst the 100 people in the
world.
AND SO?
Take a moment to realize how lucky we
are and compare our problems to the woes of most in this world.
Suddenly, they don’t seem quite so huge. Work like you don’t need the
money. Love like
nobody has ever hurt you.
Bypass those who are determined to see the worst in
the world and in each other, no matter what. Dance like nobody is
watching. Sing like
nobody is listening.
Live as if this was paradise on Earth.
I’m back to my don’t sweat the small stuff
kick. Admittedly, I don’t always practice what I preach, as it is easy
to get drawn down rabbit holes. All any of us can do is refocus and
do our very best. We have new goals to attain, new ventures to push
forward and want more new ideas to consider. As members of ADRIA,
let’s all put ourselves in the big picture.
Is this another of those Rah! Rah!
messages? Absolutely not...well, kind of...OK, I guess it is.
Operational Committees are starting up
again; and I’m thrilled we didn’t lose the great volunteers we had
prior to transition (henceforth known as the ”T” word). The Bridging
the Distance Committee, which deals with ADR and rural issues,
sent
out a survey to all members, both rural and urban.; and we
encourage everyone to respond to that survey.
Other committees that are restarting
had suggested member services such as ADRIA as a
virtual office for arbitration and mediation practitioners who would
like inexpensive 1-800 phone lines, or urban PO Box numbers, or
have their phones answered, or have very low cost mediation rooms
available to ADRIA members.
As the Board considers new directions for
ADRIA, those are questions I need answered as well. Do we invest in
the cost of developing such an infrastructure? Would you personally
use those types of services if they were offered at a heavily
discounted cost? Please fell free to contact me and let me know.
One of the cornerstone individuals of
AAMS / ADRIA over the years, Jim Willson, is thinking of retiring and
taking on lesser roles. He’s looking for someone to gradually take
over the monthly Calgary luncheons. Up here in Edmonton, we very much
want to start a similar program. Who enjoys event planning? We promise
all the support we can possibly give.
Michelle Simpson is Chair of the Legal
Liaison Committee and is looking for members who are mediators,
arbitrators and lawyers. We want to be much more front and center in
the eyes of the legal community.
Below are listed all of the current
Operational Committees. New members who indicated interests in certain
committees will be contacted within
a week or two. Longer standing
members are invited to contact Duncan McGregor or myself directly.
We’ll be pleased to put you onto those you need to contact.
As promised, we will be calculating into
the 2013 budget at least some funds for Operational Committees.
You’ve heard this before; but we
accomplished so much. So you are hearing it once more...because we
have so much more we can do.
Current Operational Committees:
Bridging the Distance Committee (Formerly Rural Alberta Committee)
Business Development Committee
Education Committee
Legal Liaison Committee / Member Benefits Committee
Newsletter Committee
Social Media Committee
Special Events Committee
Other committees are being developed and will be announced shortly.
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