My First Union Meetings

I can’t believe it is already Tuesday of a new week. I don’t know when was the last time I blogged, but my wife told me she had not seen a blog for a couple of days. So here I am again.
I write from Riverside, California, where I am spending the evenings after my meetings in Ontario, California—about 20 miles due northwest of my present location. I am attending the Pacific Union Conference K-12 Curriculum Committee, a semi-annual gathering that deals with elementary and secondary curriculum issues, in addition to voting or recommending policy to another committee who passes it on to yet another committee, and so on…. It is the way certain systems work. There is a place for such protocol. It makes me more than a bit impatient, while I understand at some level the need to be cautious when establishing policy that will affect a large number of people for years to come (or until the system realizes that there is a better way to do things—at which point the system begins the process to change the policy by establishing an ad hoc committee).
It was productive day, although I arrived an hour late to the morning meeting, which I had entered on my calendar at the exact time I arrived. It was a bit embarrassing to arrive late to my first Union meeting (not a labor union, by the way). I spoke up a few times and made my contributions, even a motion to take to the next level meeting, during the morning and afternoon meetings. I sat next to BA (to protect his/her identity), who kept me alert with his/her acerbic humor and running commentary of the proceedings, when she/he was not texting or reading the newspaper. She/he has obviously attended many prior meetings.
I was left wondering whether our discussion and input makes any difference in the long run. I hope it does, since it would be a waste of time and resources to bring this many people together for an exercise in futility. I wonder how many similar committees meet how often all over this country and globe? How much money is spent on organization and protocol? Is it a necessary evil? Is it simply necessary for a large system to place sufficient levels of checks and balances to counterbalance the propensity of a few to mandate for the many? Have we drifted afar or are we trying to perpetuate the biblical organization structure spoken of in the Book of Acts and the Pauline Epistles? Such thoughts!
I better shut down. Another full day of meetings awaits me tomorrow. Oh, joy!