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Thinking While Sitting in the Hospital
NMB, Florida November 25, 2001 A.H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published Now and
Then. Opinions Pro or Con Are Welcome.
WHILE SITTING IN THE HOSPITAL ONE DAY
Carol is in some pain but making a lot of progress towards independence -
mostly in walking over to the necessary to take care of personal needs. She
is not interested in people dropping in to see her. She IS interested in
people calling her. Her phone number TODAY is Tel: (305) 672 1111 x 66206.
This is subject to change because she is due to be switched to a rehab
floor.
While sitting in the hospital with Carol one-day last week a provocateur was
busy back at the Condominium. I have not filled you in on all the
machinations we have had to undergo to run this place. We are holding an
election on December 11 that will seal the fate of a year of working towards
this date. The Unit Owners will have to vote on changes in the basic
documents we live by, elect a new Board of Directors and pass a budget for
2002. The provocateur sent out a clever notice to induce my 51 neighbors to
vote against what we have done and, mostly, against me.
I have read and listened to many stories recently and I find that the old
yarn about perfidy, undercutting and just plain dastardliness is commonplace
and found in almost everyone's life. I have had to catch up on a personal
experience while dealing with the daily journey to the Hospital in Miami
Beach and spending the day helping my wife heal. This would not be easy
under any circumstances but the provocateur back home has been making hay
while I've been away.
You know what? I really feel responsible in my unelected job as President
of the 7th Moorings Condominium. I was pushed forward by Carol to volunteer
for a vacant seat on the Board at the last Annual Meeting just for the
Board. The then President resigned because he was moving to a different
apartment in the same building and became the Secretary. He resigned from
the Board as he watched me (by default the new President) run meetings. He
is the provocateur these days.
I fear I contributed to the mess we are in. In the last Board meeting
there was a large crowd of visitors (I have encourage this) but I noticed
that an opposition was forming there and the leader (the provocateur) was
there with a lawyer who for some reason wants to buy an apartment in our old
and crumbling building. I find myself becoming more than a little paranoid
these days.
I did a lot of shouting, menacing and generally made a very bad impression
on the Board and the visitors. When I vented a lot of feelings, I "lost"
it. So, the provocateur is having a field day. The unknown factor is how
wide spread dissatisfaction is. I think I have done a good job and would
hate to have the work that we (the cooperating Board members) have done be
lost and a directionless Board elected and go back to the nothing doing and
nothing done plan that was in operation before I came along. I have learned
the job on the job and find it interesting if not valued by some of my
neighbors. The politics are VERY interesting in that we have a very mixed
population living here. The undercurrents are slippery and I have not yet
acquired a good feel for them. If you listened to all the rumors and back-
stabbing reported to you - you could get a bit angry. That is a BIG
mistake.
I would be quite happy to go back to being a retired person who enjoys
doing and making and participating in the things that have always interested
me. I have almost finished installing the antenna to my radio station
KB2KFB. When that is done I can listen in to the world and again take up my
lessons in radio talk (it involves a lot of math) to get my General license
so I can talk over the radio waves. Right now I can only send Morse code
and that very slowly.
It is a contradiction, I suppose, for me to be learning a dying art while
typing and knowing somewhat about this new one - computers. However, I
still like to sketch, and paint and have avoided learning how to do these
things on the computer. What you see here is about as far as I can go. I
still type good and write good and I think I will go and ride my bicycle for
the morning, here in South Florida, is good too.
Carol's Evaluation: 10 out of 10.
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