I'm getting out in front of this one NOW.
This weekend was a big religious festival that we call Vaisakhi.
It should be a happy time for us, but, unfortunately, gurdwaras use the occasion quite often to hold elections to determine leadership roles.
There's a lot of back-and-forth between Sikhs who do, and those who don't submit to the discipline of maintaining our distinctive religious appurtenances.
Many temples have a long-standing policy of only allowing Amritdhari office-holders. Others, who would think themselves more modern, or, perhaps, more American (hint, hint, "Democratic") allow Sehajdhari to hold offices. Unfortunately, the Sehajdhari are inclined to allow things that are distinctly not "kosher" for us to creep into the temples, and into their practices and daily routines, sometime, because they're lazy, and sometimes, because they've lost their mojo and are intimidated by the resolve needed to cleave to a separate path and endure the idiocy that sometimes springs forth from the mouths of the small-minded. So, they ditch everything in attempt to be "with it," but, sadly, they're never quite the same as Joe down the block, down deep.
And so, these elections become a large source of friction. Some of it has to do with the attempt to steer temples away from Orthodox practices, some of it has to do with wounded pride at no longer being a big cheese, and some of it is pure greed, as positions can be used for personal benefit, which is reprehensible. Every time one of these temple brawls kicks off, it stabs at me inside, because this isn't good for any of us, and it definitely isn't what I signed up for.
Part 1 of yesterday's stupidity. There are others:
This weekend was a big religious festival that we call Vaisakhi.
It should be a happy time for us, but, unfortunately, gurdwaras use the occasion quite often to hold elections to determine leadership roles.
There's a lot of back-and-forth between Sikhs who do, and those who don't submit to the discipline of maintaining our distinctive religious appurtenances.
Many temples have a long-standing policy of only allowing Amritdhari office-holders. Others, who would think themselves more modern, or, perhaps, more American (hint, hint, "Democratic") allow Sehajdhari to hold offices. Unfortunately, the Sehajdhari are inclined to allow things that are distinctly not "kosher" for us to creep into the temples, and into their practices and daily routines, sometime, because they're lazy, and sometimes, because they've lost their mojo and are intimidated by the resolve needed to cleave to a separate path and endure the idiocy that sometimes springs forth from the mouths of the small-minded. So, they ditch everything in attempt to be "with it," but, sadly, they're never quite the same as Joe down the block, down deep.
And so, these elections become a large source of friction. Some of it has to do with the attempt to steer temples away from Orthodox practices, some of it has to do with wounded pride at no longer being a big cheese, and some of it is pure greed, as positions can be used for personal benefit, which is reprehensible. Every time one of these temple brawls kicks off, it stabs at me inside, because this isn't good for any of us, and it definitely isn't what I signed up for.
Part 1 of yesterday's stupidity. There are others:
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