Virtual Insanity

That one ought to be easy.

And it describes the school event for the weekend. After I worked I went back to help clean up, and was told by the event coordinator "I'm not doing money today." Meaning, I suppose, that she didn't want to worry about a deposit. Hey, I just came to clean! I surely wasn't going to worry about it.

But upon arriving at school this morning, I went in search of the money so that if it were not in a locked cabinet I could secure it. I couldn't find it anywhere. There's no telling what happened to quite a few hundred dollars. I assume someone has it in their custody, but I wish they had made arrangements beforehand. Over the weekend I got an e-mail question: Did we pay the caterers? Um, didn't anyone notice that I was NOT THERE and had no opportunity to pay them? That there was no documentation requesting a check? That they kinda had to get that worked out ahead of time?

Apparetly not.

So as soon as I finished minimal business this morning, I split. If some situation caused by the event blows up today, I don't want to be anywhere around. It's hard to be a treasurer and make people follow rules. It's harder when there's no one with greater authority willing to enforce them. It's hardest when you're told "You need to let people fail and stop stepping on toes." when you know a few words here or there would save a lot of trouble.

One Bible study teacher explained Biblical legal tradition thus: God gave man a few laws to follow, such as to honor the Sabbath. Man, being what he is, will always fall short of the law. Therefore, the legal tradition added to the law in order to make it more narrowly defined. It was, he said, like moving the sidelines on a football field. If a team's chief goal was to stay inbounds, then narrowing the field would always keep players from going out of bounds. The problem, he said, is that people begin to view the new constraints as the original law. So they narrow the field again, meaning that now you can only walk so many miles on the Sabbath. Yes, it kept people inbounds, but distorted the entire purpose of the original law, which was to rest, worship, set aside time for God and family, and recharge for the week ahead.

This is how I seem to be operating at school. There are a whole set of things I can't do. I can't offer help; I have to wait until I'm asked. I can't intercede when someone is struggling; I have to be invited into the problem. I can't preemptively coach people on procedures; I have to let them screw up and then try to fix it. It's insane. I'm a problem-solver by nature. It's what I do. I see something not working and I think of a way to get in on track. This, however, is not a skill highly prized in this community. Instead I'm supposed to let people figure things out. Let people realize they need help and come to me. Stay out of things unless specifically asked to get involved. I don't want to run everything, I swear! I just want to see things done correctly. And I'm shackled.