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Kindness is a password i Viewpoint Margaret Zoeller, both a former FWIO president and editor of the Home & Country. was the guest speaker at the evening banquet of the London Area Convention in October. The audience listened in- tently to Margaret’s speech and several suggested that all Home & Country readers would find some valuable messages in her comments. Here is Margaret’s speech on “The Therapy of Kindness": very year or two we seem to have a year designated for a definite purpose. Two years ago, all the Branches in the Province par- ticipated in the International Year of the Disabled This year I note your Area is honouring The Senior Citizen. Your theme could easily apply to both of those events. We know the WI took a real interest in the IYDP and because of your interest we pro- bably could say it was good therapy for us. As a result of the various projects we became interested in, it broadened our knowledge of life as lived by a disabled person. Women’s Institute was founded because of a need â€" the need to tell the women of Wentworth County about the dangers of contaminated milk and doubtless, kindness, was a very real part of the meeting as the story unfolded about the death of a child. Sympathy, understanding, the act of being kind, would indeed take precedence at that early meeting. Kindness has been a password over the years with the WI. We are known as a caring, sharing group of women. There is no way you can be as concerned as our organization is for the good of humanity without pro- jecting kindness. Over the years the WI have done things in the community for the peo- ple in the community, as well as for its members and family â€"â€" things that no other groups would do. 16 Our M has built its reputation as community builders, and one of its attributes has been caring and kindâ€" ness. , You commenced Your TUEEUHE this morning with The Mary Stewart Collection â€" ending with “Let Us Not Forget to be Kind." We've often heard it said “it's good therapy for a wife and mother to get out of the home and attend meetings.” Attending meetings has taught us to mix, mingle, speak up, suggest, promote, and to learn from the exâ€" periences of others. For the next few minutes, I’m go- ing to turn the tables and ask if it would be a kindness if each W1 member turned their thoughts and focused on the WI organization that has given so much pleasure and con- veyed so much meaning into our lives. Would it be a kindness if we con- centrated on ourselves as WI members? Would it be a kindness if we askâ€" ed ourselves â€" 1) What am i getting out of the Branch meetings? 2) What am I contributing to the Branch meetings? 3) What do I expect from the meeting? If we can answer these questions, clarify our reasoning, and come up with some answers, we will have come a long way toward decisionâ€" making and direction-taking. Before we give this further thought, we readily acknowledge the contributions made to life in rural Ontario by the pioneers and founding members in each Branch. However, it was never meant to be that we continue to walk in their footsteps forever. Those footsteps would sink down too deep over the Years and make it impossible to step forward. No, we must make our own paths, at our own pace, in the direction we wish to take. We must let go of the past, acknowledging the contributions of the pioneers, having gained from their experience and appreciating past contributions. But we have an organizational life to live in 1983 and we must realize it can never re. main the same. Back to an earlier question What am I getting out of he meetings? An afternoon out? Fellowsh ‘7 Good conversation during the :a hour? Learning from the roll c: 7 Was it worth the 10 minutes spe ‘3 Or was it a bore, and secretly 3. u wondered why that roll call i. 5 chosen fer that particular meeti '? How did the business part of .1 meeting go? Had the President . l Secretary done their homewo 2 Did it go smoothly or drag? H . was the program? If you hat 1 speaker, did it have anything to a with the topic on the printed ; , gram? Was the program so rusi l â€" because the business took long? Did you pass the penny-jar at an appropriate time â€"-â€" or we forgotten and during the tea h- suddenly someone remember: Were members leaving during » tea hour because the meeting ran : late? Let us ask: What am I contributing to meeting? Did you answer the roll call â€" did you forget all about it, until . Secretary called your name? If ‘ business part seemed to drag â€" r i you do anything to speed it up? t did you just sit there like the I and make no effort to assist ‘ President and the Secretary. If i Pennyâ€"jar was forgotten, did 3- I speak up and remind those charge, or were you one that sa: “i knew it was forgotten, but didn’t want to interfere." Were ) the one whose main contributii seemed to be telling all present ht busy you are â€" until the membi wondered why you bothered come at all? What do I expect meetings? I expect the meeting to start C time. I expect the printed progral to reflect the theme throughout tli meeting. I expect the members I speak up during the business and discussion, not in the car on the W?» from ti