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StoneY

Time

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It is so easy to give away your precious time to everyone but yourself. How many of us know this, yet ignore the signs and battle on anyway? Do we realise the cost we impose on ourselves?

We work, eat, sleep and recycle the pattern...that’s how my last 2 years have been anyway.
And now it’s my time. Time for me to be myself and not have to care what anyone thinks of my comments, or what my statements may mean, time that I can no longer care if anyone misinterprets my attempts at humour or disagrees with my opinion....sheer bliss!

The last two years I have spent totally focussed on trying to assist my fellow motorcyclists, be it in the fight against unfair ACC levy hikes, or in establishing representative groups that can assist them in dealing with Government issues affecting us as road users and New Zealand citizens.
It never fails to amaze me how much work this became, from organizing access to Parliament in November 09 to the creation of the BRONZ Federation, something like 8,000 emails flowed through my inbox!

However, that flow slowed to a dribble about 2 weeks ago.
I passed the leadership of BRONZ Wellington on to Paul Ellen as I felt it was now time to step aside and let others take the lead. As Paul is the Vice President as duly elected at the AGM, he becomes the Acting President, Wellington Branch. (Acting my ass, he is now the boss, no way I will ever take it back!)

It gets very draining, coming home from work to find another 2 to 3 hours worth of reading, commenting, and analysing to be done before you can even think of watching any TV, or playing a stupid computer game, or walking the dog, or getting out for a ride on the much neglected bikes sitting in the garage.
And some of this is still happening, with my continuing on the MSAC for the remainder of my term as well as the duty of Spokesperson/Chair for the BRONZ Federation.
But the major workload, running BRONZ Wellington, is no longer my burden to bear.

It was a great honour to lead BRONZ Wellington through its reformation over the last two years, and even more satisfying to get the Federation established and growing (it has over 1200 members counting all associate groups that have signed up).
Being placed as an appointee on the MSAC also added to the load already placed on straining shoulders, and I must admit the workload in both my professional life and my biker life did lead to a few poor judgments.

Making hasty decisions based more on emotive response than proper rationalised analysis is not something I would have thought would occur, but it did.
Analysis is my job and I take great pride in doing my job well.

Recently, BRONZ Wellington stepped up to take on the WCC over a breach of good faith in regards parking, especially report 4 and its biased and deeply prejudiced content.
This fight was the last straw for me, as I was burned by a trusted reporter publishing off the record comment for the sake of sensationalism.

End result, a lot of upset rugby fans sent me some very personal correspondences and these emails were the final straw for the camel’s back...I resigned from the BRONZ Wellington executive committee and reclaimed my life for my own use.
To say there was resistance to my resignation would be fair but it had to happen, and I made it happen. There was no changing my mind, and I refused to let anyone talk me out of the decision.

There is a huge and unseen cost paid by those of us who attempt to make a difference, and it is a cost those who merely rant on web forums will never understand. (You all know who you are...loud, opinionated, and never present to represent anyone in person.)
Ask those who tried to create MAG NZ, turning the great Kiwi Apathy Machine around is nigh on impossible.
We give and give and give..... but nothing ever comes back to us except opinions that never amount to anything productive, or just outright abuse because someone else has a slightly different view of a statistical anomaly.

While some choose to sound sagacious and knowledgeable from the safety of their computer desks, there are others like the committee members of the BRONZ branches around New Zealand who actually do the work.

As well as groups like HOG, WIMA, Ulysses, Wellington Riders.... lists go on and on.....

Peace
Brent

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Comments

  1. baptist's Avatar
    Very interesting blog mate, very interesting. Take time for yourself... my work is very "giving" you need boundaries to keep healthy and for the health of those around and closest to you.

    I am not in Wellington but thanks for the work you have done. And we all make mistakes, welcome to the human race!!!!!!!! you always get baggers, either through the wonderful gift of hindsight or just because they want to be obnoxious, but the reporter, that is sheer wickedness

    Enjoy the bikes a bit more
  2. Spearfish's Avatar
    I dunno StoneY, shit mate all that work, hours and hours of behind the scenes toil keeping you away from from what your fighting for...spilling your guts out in a Blog with whys and wherefores with the odd etc thrown in.....
    after all that I couldn't get passed you using the word " sagacious" in a sentence the rest was lost from that point....

    So in the friendliest way possible-- ON YA BIKE!! and often
  3. Zedder's Avatar
    I've been overseas for a while and haven't been up with KB and the biker scene until recently.

    Many thanks for the unpaid work done by you and others for the rest of us.