A Letter to the Diamond Cove Home Owners Association

An Opinion from one node in the DCA network 

Towards the end of his life the existential philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche remained  productive despite suffering from tertiary syphilis to the brain.  During this period he wrote a small book of aphorisms which demonstrate both his genius and his psychosis. The two most intriguing and relevant aphorisms to me as loosely translated from the German are;

1. A person’s maturity rests in having found again the intensity they had as a child…… at play.

2. Madness in the individual is rare,….. in the country, the state, and community it is the rule.

Both of these seem relevant to the current state of DCA Business. Allow me to explain.

Dear Dave, DCHOA Board, et al.,

Thank you for encouraging dialogue on the apparently fractious proposal to generate additional revenues for the myriad needs of our Association by having those of us who are year-round residents, in fairness, pay higher association dues than those of us who are seasonal. On the superficial level it seems fair and equitable, but this is nuanced and more complex. In fact, from the standpoint of the overall health of our community, I feel this is wrong-headed and quite possibly the worst way imaginable to recoup a paltry amount of added revenue ($40 k or so I am led to believe).

Why?

The answer to me is in the affect, the consternation, and the pain that consideration of this has already caused, even in its current inchoate and nascent formulation. There are powerful feelings of exclusion and division, feelings which I may not understand entirely, but appreciate, value, and respect in my fellow sojourners on this Island at this moment. Communities are complicated organisms with many moving parts, seen and unseen, some understood and others not understood, some functional, others dysfunctional. The basic health of our Community lives in the integrity of our networks and connections, our interactions, and our dependence on one another.  This is a delicate choreography that undergirds this syncytial web of Community. At the very basic level we are members with shared interest, but beyond that we are acquaintances, friends, even extended family. If any member of that family is feeling isolated or excluded, we all suffer for it.

So rather than generating revenue with a plan that makes people uncomfortable and isolated, why not develop revenue streams with a plan that makes people feel good, connected, part of something worthwhile? Why not create a fund that allows those so willing to exercise their philanthropic muscles for the good of the Community, not for a tax break, not for fame (or notoriety), but just because there is a need and because it’s the right thing to do?  In my experience this is far more efficient in leveraging funds, gets the Community engaged, and models a way of being and an orientation of gratitude that if we are not experiencing in our lives, we are according to the poet David Whyte, “simply not paying attention”.

John Seibyl, MD

Popular Peregrinations about our Pergola

It appears punctual and apropos

For every good individual, and those so-so,

To deliberate, if not ruminate

On the future and on the fate

Of our pergola ornate,… but broken,

And about which have been spoken

Many words, many notions

To deal without emotion, the cost.

Is it worth it or is our pergola lost?

Look deep into your hearts my friends,

Make your notion known without offense

And with respect,

And I would expect

The solution forthcoming,

Like the question do you want flowers or

Do you want plumbing?

An Electoral Whimsy

While neither hanging chad or fear of a steal,

Cloud DC’s Board election appeal,

Issues nonetheless persist.

Whether full transparency shall exist

Or just the results to provide

That is the source of some divide.

Your feelings could get hurt,

And you left distraught

If there’s no vote

In your column, it is thought.

While many of us are happy to say

We’re big boys and girls today.

So getting “no” votes won’t our our egos fray,

Our self-esteem decay,

Or otherwise leave us in dismay,

After all, it’s just the DCHA,

(We’ve all had bigger fish to fillet).

We also know the score,

That our commercial brethren have some clout,

With two dozen votes or more,

To decide who's in, and who's out.

So why not, we ask, just be transparent,

Not out of mistrust or intentions aberrant,

But because it’s the American tradition

To get full accounting and then go fishin’.