Love
Letters - Editors
Many Hands Make For Light Work
Jack
& Karen Baker
Many Hands Make For Light Work
As we so often tend to do, as one year draws to an end and another
begins, we were discussing our goals. Those that we had reached
and those that seem to stay incessantly on the back burner almost,
but not quite, completed. I (Jack) tend to be overly optimistic
and tend to think I can usually accomplish more than I actually
can. I am trying to learn how to be a more realistic planner and
to accept that when I over schedule myself I lose focus and actually
accomplish less. As I was thinking about writing this article the
Pareto Principle came to mind. Vilfredo Pareto, an economist, in
the late 1800’s developed the principle which has also been
coined the 80:20 Rule. Vilfredo Pareto established that 80% of the
land in his homeland of Italy was owned by 20% of the people. As
an avid gardener he observed that 20% of the peapods in his garden
yielded 80% of the peas that he harvested. The 80:20 Rule has, over
the years, proven itself valid in a number of other areas For example
80% of decisions come from 20% of the time in a meeting, 20% of
a companies advertising will result in 80% of their revenue. Applying
this to myself 80% of my time is spent accomplishing 20% of my intended
goals. Applying the principle to Marriage Encounter 80% of what
is accomplished is completed by 20% of the people. Possibly that
is over optimistic sometimes it seems like only 10% of the people
who make a Weekend stay involved.
With a predominate personality style of an organizer I (Jack)
want to be seen as someone who is responsible and can get things
done. When I realize that I cannot do it all I want to persuade
others to help. But, finding the 20% of the people who are willing
and capable of helping sometimes takes 80% of my time. My tendency
is to redouble my personal efforts and not take the time needed
to gather the people truly needed to accomplish a quality finished
product. My prayer during this next year is that God will grant
me the graces to be able to persuade enough people to do just a
little bit of the work so that no one person, or couple, will be
overwhelmed trying to accomplish 80% of the tasks at hand. I pray
that 80% of our inviting efforts end with couples and priests on
Weekends. I pray that 80% of those attending Weekends will become
involved in their local Community. I pray that in each Marriage
Encounter community Many hands will make for light work.
For me (Karen), as a Helper “many hands” means camaraderie,
fun and belonging. Many hands (and hearts) joining together is a
wonderful way to answer the call from the Weekend to reach out to
others by sharing our couple love. Worldwide Marriage Encounter
couples and priests are believers and they are doers. When we gather
to “make things happen”, when we all do our part, we
become more energized and joyful. As I think of the many experiences
Jack and I have had in the WWME Community big and small, I have
a warm feeling of belonging in my heart. With the involvement of
many couples, priests and sisters, we have accomplished greatly
needed work. But, we were also fed and nourished by being with others
for a common cause that we all believed in deeply. We were visible
in our efforts to change the world. Some years ago we were part
of a major inviting effort in our diocese. The WWME community did
a Super Sunday. After gaining permission from the Bishop and parish
priests, the WWME community presented Mass Talks at every parish
in the diocese over a two-week period. Wow! What coordination and
people power took place! It was so exciting knowing how important
each little part was in “pulling” this off. And the
reward…. Every WWME Weekend for 18 months was filled with
a waiting list! Many hands will make for light work.
Dialogue Questions:
HDIFA inviting other couples and priests to help us when there is
a task to do in our Marriage Encounter Community?
HDIFA the statement “Asking someone to help you is allowing
them to love you”?
Reprinted from the Winter 2001 issue of Matrimony
Magazine
Click here
for a printable page (PDF, 97KB)
|
