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THE GAP
Garen Yegparian
http://asbarez.com/98838/the-gap/
No, this not about a clothing store, rather, a 20-year lapse in service
that seems to be almost universal, at least in Armenian communities.
It's the period that starts with marriage and ends around empty nest
syndrome, ranging from people in their twenties to fifties.
For obvious and understandable reasons, those of us in that period
of life are pre-occupied with career and family commitments and issues.
Consequently, they tend to drift out of active involvement in whatever
their organization of choice was prior to hitting that time crunch.
Often, the decreased participation is attributed to loss of interest,
both by the organization and even the person her/himself, when it is
nothing more than sheer lack of time and higher immediate priority
obligations (job, kids, spouse). This is a loss of talent to our
community, but it need not be permanent.
Unfortunately, many, if not most, people end up drifting away and
being "forgotten" by their organization and peers therein. So, even
when they try to return, they find themselves in a somewhat alien
environment. This usually leads to tremendous loss, and is usually
permanent.
I know some of the most productive workers in our community are those
who are successful at "returning" to active involvement after that
life stage.
Given this unavoidable reality, our organizations really should
gear their approaches to members/activists such that they are not
forgotten and can return easily. Such gearing could be something as
basic as sending materials via electronic communications to them or
as complex as having annual get-togethers directed specifically at
people in this class.
Please, start including this concern in your thinking, especially
if you have not yet reached the stage under discussion. The loss in
experience, training time, and most of all- good will, is huge and
not something we can afford.
Garen Yegparian
http://asbarez.com/98838/the-gap/
No, this not about a clothing store, rather, a 20-year lapse in service
that seems to be almost universal, at least in Armenian communities.
It's the period that starts with marriage and ends around empty nest
syndrome, ranging from people in their twenties to fifties.
For obvious and understandable reasons, those of us in that period
of life are pre-occupied with career and family commitments and issues.
Consequently, they tend to drift out of active involvement in whatever
their organization of choice was prior to hitting that time crunch.
Often, the decreased participation is attributed to loss of interest,
both by the organization and even the person her/himself, when it is
nothing more than sheer lack of time and higher immediate priority
obligations (job, kids, spouse). This is a loss of talent to our
community, but it need not be permanent.
Unfortunately, many, if not most, people end up drifting away and
being "forgotten" by their organization and peers therein. So, even
when they try to return, they find themselves in a somewhat alien
environment. This usually leads to tremendous loss, and is usually
permanent.
I know some of the most productive workers in our community are those
who are successful at "returning" to active involvement after that
life stage.
Given this unavoidable reality, our organizations really should
gear their approaches to members/activists such that they are not
forgotten and can return easily. Such gearing could be something as
basic as sending materials via electronic communications to them or
as complex as having annual get-togethers directed specifically at
people in this class.
Please, start including this concern in your thinking, especially
if you have not yet reached the stage under discussion. The loss in
experience, training time, and most of all- good will, is huge and
not something we can afford.