• Tue. Feb 11th, 2025

Pagan communities and being a leader…

Jul 12, 2007

I’ve been putting this blog off for quite some time. Now seemed a good time to at least start it… If it does not appear to be finished, please check back again because it will be finished at some point.

I was the founder of the Flinthills Pagan Alliance. The dream was a good one. The people were great. But there were problems.

Lately, I found some information about leading, pagan communities and such. I would like to address some of these issues.

From an Email (My responses are in blue)
—-
Some People Want To Know Why so here are the top 10 reasons:

1. We are tired of a community that can not think for itself. I don’t think it was so much a community who cannot think for itself. I think it was a community who did not want to think for its self.

2. We are tired of a community that attacks those who do think for themselves I saw this differently. It wasn’t so much “attacking” as rather not understanding when others thought differently. It amazed me how unaccepting of differences some people were. As pagans, we ARE different, but we must allow diversity even within the paganism definition. Otherwise, we are being hypocrits.

3. We are tired of the lack of actual community Yes. This one I felt personally.

4. We are tired of being the bad guy for expecting people to behave like mature intelligent civil adults Yup. And not everyone fit into this category.. but there were a few..

5. We are tired of people kissing our asses with one breath and then talking trash about us behind our backs Hmm.. I’m not going to touch this one, but lets just say.. I experienced this.

6. We are tired of working our asses off supporting a bunch of flakes that can’t even say thank you I did find many people say thank you. There were some who didn’t, but they were the minority. *hug*

7. We are tired of people using and abusing our resources without thought that someone is actually paying for them This also never really occured. People who could afford to be were quite generous with their time and money.

8. We are tired of the constant drama generated by the playgans Drama I certainly could have done with out.

9. We are tired of total unknowns entering our site expecting to be treated as “The Pagan”
This does not apply.

I don’t know if I was a great leader. What I do know is I tried my best. I have been told by some that the FHPA dream died because I had to move away. I still have the dream of a strong pagan community, but maybe Manhattan was not the place to have it.. or maybe Manhattan just wasn’t ready for it yet. I may never know.

—-

Less Than Perfect

The Humanity Of Leaders

When we recognize someone as a leader, we often place our faith in that person to a degree that exceeds what is humanly possible. In other words, we expect them to be beyond fault and to not make mistakes. This, of course, is neither realistic nor fair. Just like us, these people are living human lives, and part of the deal is learning through experience and working out our individual karmas. There will always be missteps and things they would do differently given a second chance. If we are to be fair, we must grant our leaders the same forgiveness, compassion, and understanding that we grant our closest friends as they navigate the complex challenges of this human life.

Leaders are special people in that they have the ability to guide and represent large groups of people. In this calling, they agree, to some degree, to be responsible for the well-being of others. Because of this, we hold them up to a higher standard of behavior, and in some ways this is fair. However, we will only be disappointed and disillusioned time and time again if we expect them to be perfect. If they were perfect, they would not be here on earth. Perhaps the most we can expect of our leaders is that they make it a practice to acknowledge their shortcomings and learn from their experiences. Beyond this, when our leaders let us down, it is up to us to forgive and move on. Dwelling on disappointment and negativity creates more of the same.

People who choose to lead are often extraordinary individuals blessed with vision, energy, and charisma. It is their path to inspire, guide, and represent us, but it is not possible for them to never let us down. Leaders are on a path of growth just as we are. Perhaps this is something to remember when we have the opportunity to choose somebody in a leadership role, or perhaps you are ready to step into a role of leadership yourself.

Em

I'm Me!

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