Okay, I've been staying away from blogging due to a major writing project. I do have some other posts on the back burner as a result. But then something caught my attention that, well, is just demanding a response.
About ten years ago, William Sinkford commissioned an update of our flaming chalice logo. Not that huge a change, really. There's still a chalice, a flame, two overlapping circles. Some rays are added, but if you compare it with the older version, you can still see a continuum.
Well, apparently some person or persons decided that the UUA had to hire yet another design firm to come up with yet another logo. This one, from what I can tell, attempts to incorporate "UU" into the flaming chalice.
As Lieutenant Colombo would say ... Sorry to bother you folks, but there's just one question that's really bothering me about this:
Why??
Seriously, folks. Feedback from your own studies indicates that we're not being consistent in our message, that we're not that articulate in explaining Unitarian Universalism to younger people in particular and people in general. And this is your response??
I've heard an array of complaints about how sluggish and unresponsive the UUA's bureaucracy is, from congregational leaders whose requests for assistance are met with requests to file even more paperwork, to individuals facing discrimination and even harassment who feel like they have absolutely nowhere to turn. I've heard of, and personally experienced, serious communications problems, including failures to respond to queries or requests, and refusal to answer questions. And this is your response??
Oysh.
Call me what you will -- curmudgeon, gadfly, malcontent -- but I've always believed that, when you have serious discrepancies between your vision for the world and how you do business, you're better off investing what time and energy and money and other resources you have to actually fixing those problems. Especially when a concrete proposal has been put forward.
But, that's just me ...
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There must have been fear in Boston that we were getting to deep; they felt the need to drag us into shallow waters again.
ReplyDeleteJoel, my fear is that the UUA bureaucracy has been veering into "business models" and away from the paradigm of communities. Communities focus on caring for people, while businesses obsess about image and numbers. Yes, some aspects of administration rely on business thinking, but that is just a small part of what makes a UU congregation or a religious movement. And even in a business, if you don't take care of people, they leave.
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