Paying or Not Paying Your Dues

WE all join organisations in our life.   There are often ‘dues’ to be paid for ‘membership’.   People come to a meeting, they like the organisation, they want to join, they join and pay their dues.   They don’t like the organisation or are not sure, they don’t join.   They may pop in now and then maybe stick, maybe not.

In many cases, everything is okay.   The members stay members.   This is in the best of circumstances.   This is not what happens all the time.

Often people join and start to feel uncomfortable.   They notice a ‘nobility’ to which they do not belong. They, mere peons can watch the ‘Nobility’ make the decisions which affect them.  But couldn’t care less about what Peons think.

The Nobility wastes money on all sorts of things, things the peons are totally against.  But who cares what a Peon think?  The only time a Peon is noticed is if his or her dues are outstanding.

Then an email or even hard copy can be submitted to the peon, who has been ‘invisible’ to the Nobility.

I have not paid dues to certain groups which I had joined years ago.   Why should I have to pay to be treated like dirt?  I can be treated like dirt for free.

I have always sat anxiously, waiting for the ‘Nobility’ to speak to me.  Not send an email.  Not make a public announcement, but to speak to me to ask why I am not paying my dues.  This never happens.  That is because everyone and their gerbil know I am anxious to be spoken to.    Anxious to have my humanity recognised.

The fact I might be an ‘eye witness’ to an event or operation of the group and could give pertinent information is not noticed.  But the fact I didn’t pay my dues… that is noticed.

As a person who stops paying for the ‘privileged’ of being treated like dirt the moment I am treated like dirt, I can commiserate with those who joined the myriad groups in the expectation that their opinion matters, that their input matters, only to learn that they are peons.

People with no opinion that anyone wants to hear, people whose comfort is meaningless and are only to had over cash so others can profit.