Dear Steve,

 

      As Vice-President of The Adelphi Organization, I am feeling receptive to developing a productive and mutually satisfying relationship with you in your new capacity as President of The Stelle Group. I hadn’t seen a friendly smile on the face of a TSG officer for years; so your warm greeting in Stelle in April as we were packing to head back to Texas was a welcome sight. My hope is stirring again after a long hibernation regarding the fate of The Stelle Group. To me you represent a fresh “starting-over” opportunity that TSG now has.

      Having been a Stelle Group member myself for ten years and a resident of Stelle for five years, I have experienced a wide vari­ety of interactions and dynamics within the group. Sometimes we felt confident, creative and energetic; and sometimes discouraged, disappointed and passive, and even at times angry and rebellious. All were healthy enough emotions, but the danger came in getting stuck in a negative mode--breaking the cycle of ups and downs. I guess I would call it losing faith.

      Staying in a nay-sayer mode was tempting because it required a whole less energy than did the approach of exploring the opportu­nities that awaited us. Such nay-sayers became chronic disrupters and usually left of their own accord; they couldn’t bear to be around us any more than the rest could bear to have them around. There was certainly great mutual relief when Malcolm recently voted with his feet and transported his physical vehicle to the far reaches of the country.

      Speaking of votes, our pre-1982 town-hall meetings in Stelle were both exciting and grueling, sometimes simultaneously. Our democratic process at that time was a messy business at best, but the exhilaration shared by all when we made a break-through to­gether made it all worthwhile, at least for the moment. Unfortu­nately, ninety-eight percent of the time there seemed to be a worsening undercurrent of confusion, disillusionment and discontentment over the Brotherhoods’ not doing more for us.      “Where are the ten-thousand people?” was the frustrated cry. As a group we felt like we had done all we knew how to do, but nothing seemed to be working.

      So it came as no real surprise in 1982 when the trustees present­ed a new set of bylaws to vote upon which proposed to take away our right to vote. The trustees implied that the Brotherhoods had passed the word along that we were no longer worthy of the privi­lege of a vote since we apparently weren’t demonstrating sufficient cooperation. Our group self-esteem being at such a low ebb at the time, not one of us bothered to contact Richard in Texas to verify their story. We really felt that we did not deserve a vote because we seemed to be doing so poorly in managing our direction in a dem­ocratic manner. So we voted for our disenfranchisement.

      Richard’s dismay and surprise that we would be so willing to accept an oligarchy was revealed only six years later when someone finally did ask to hear his side of the story. But it was too late. We had already paid the price of our foolishness. TSG had already been virtually destroyed by the trustees. The temptation of un­tempered power (the trustees answered to no one) had become too much to handle for Malcolm, Robert and Tim. The results of their power-mad despotism lie all around us, in pieces.

      My concern about the health of TSG peaked in 1987 during the hearing conducted by the trustees to determine the status of my membership. They were quite offended that I would dare to have anything to do with Richard Kieninger at a time when they were do­ing their best to dispose of his influence entirely. They saw no middle ground: I was to choose between the trustees or Richard. I let it be known that I was not interested in severing my rela­tionship with Richard; so for my alleged “lack of cooperation”, I was dropped from membership. I had mentioned at my hearing, after being accused of being uncooperative with the trustees, that I was concerned about the trustees being uncooperative with the only link the Brotherhoods have dared send us so far! I was reminded by Malcolm that that was not the subject of the hearing.

      The years TSG spent floundering around looking for a new purpose, after having severed themselves from Richard’s influence as Emissary, were a sad commentary on their lack of focus. As I see it, the trustees threw away the keys to the “gateway for Phila­delphia” which Stelle had once had the opportunity to become. They opted instead for a little kingdom that was free of such complicating visions which required some degree of cooperation with something larger than themselves.

      Their actions have made the people here who went through the process of an almost complete takeover of power, much more aware of the little power plays and insecurities which lead to competi­tion rather than cooperation. We question our everyday interactions and motivations more than we did before 1986. All of us are subject to pettiness and negativity, and it has been a valuable experience to have patriarchal attitudes mirrored for us. Perhaps after all is said and done, we will see that the deeper awareness of human psychology and motivation that the bitter experience of the past three years has given us was worth the pain. Maybe that kind of insight is the work we’ve taken on, rather than increasing our numbers before we were ready for people with enough awareness to keep their focus on the work which we chose long ago.

      At any rate, I hope that the opportunity that Stelle once had to become a gateway for Philadelphia can be recaptured. With your assistance, a joint dialogue may seem possible between TSG and TAO (without either group engulfing the other). The Stelle community may even join in if they sense that those two groups can get along. Perhaps we can enlarge the town hall a little bit.

      I’m looking forward to our next visit to Stelle in July. Hope to see you then.

 

Respectfully,

Michael J. Fay

 

 

 

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