Over the last few months I have thought to myself, do I belong at the AMVETS?
My question for you. Do you feel like you belong at the AMVETS? Are you really a part of our greater family? I ask these questions not to question your membership, but to solidify your reasons for being a member of our post.
Over the last four years I have seen a great amount of change at our post. We have grown from 250 members to over 500 members. Obviously we are doing a large amount of things correctly, however we continue to fail as a whole on a few. I really believe that we have an amazing post and that we have our members and leadership to thank for our success. I want to focus on one aspect of our group today, communication.
As a whole, we take a sense of pride and ownership in our post. Every time I walk into our post I look around at the collection of friends that I have made and feel as if I just walked into an episode of Cheers. Everyone knows my name, and I feel as if I belong. That is an amazing feeling to experience. I hope you feel the same when you walk through the door. We have an amazingly diverse group of members that bring many different points of view and ideas to our post. I believe that we care so much about our post that we lose sight of the greater picture.
Many times I have taken ideas and criticism poorly and I am not proud of that. I am sure that at sometime all of our members have also done the same. The question is, how do we continue to grow and discuss ideas that we think will better our post without hurting each other’s feelings?
I think that if we realize our post is an ever changing group of people, we will begin to know how to communicate effectively. Our collective feeling of ownership for our post can divide us or bond us. I truly believe that communication and realization that we all want what is best for the post will get us past any problem that we face.
The next time that you walk through our door look around you and say hello to your family. Be proud that you are a member of a great Veterans club and do everything you can to remember why you decided to renew your membership. If we all remember why we are here, we can make sure we will want to continue to call the AMVETS our home for a long time to come.
Josh Feltman, AMVETS Riders President
