THE SOUND OF SILENCE

     Silence can be deafening. It can be an awesome silence such as that "heard" in the Joshua Tree National Park or the heartstruck silence of Aaron when he was told of the death of his two sons.
     And then there is the silence of UCO. We are inundated with problems, large and small, with issues that must be resolved or at least aired and discussed, open to the "floor" of the residents, and yet what do we hear? Nothing, a great big nothing.
     So why is that? Why is there nothing forthcoming from UCO? Frankly, because they have nothing to say, certainly nothing constructive anyway, and are afraid to voice more stupidity for fear of getting slammed by the thinking people of the Village.
     David Israel thinks that UCO can operate in a silence. Perhaps he thinks he is the rabbi in Chaim Potok's book who raised his son in silence? But I daresay that he is not, and certainly not on that level. His silence is not that of a G-d inspired one but that of a man who is losing his grip on things, losing his surety of dictatorship, and has nothing good to say to defend his policies and programs. Indeed, he has none, other than the same old same old that he keeps raising or the secret programs he holds close to him, to Ed Black and to his other henchmen.
     But this does not work. The questions will keep coming and more will be raised. Secrets do not work. A transparency expert, Noah Dyer, said, "we recognize the right of people to keep secrets....only one purpose for keeping secrets: Secrets exist to prevent other people from acting as they would if they had complete knowledge."
     This policy of secrets and silence was tried in withholding the original election papers until he had time to upload to the clouds and shred the originals, thus precluding a proper forensic examination of these papers. But the silence resounded and was well heard for the over a month and a half delay. Indeed, it even had a rank odor. This issue is not yet over.
     The secret and the silence of the mish mash budget, the fund for operating costs - just what is going on there? The Treasurer never answers directly, only repeats numbers that have no meaning, and the Chair sits up there smirking, thinking he is putting one over, again. But wrong he is. The silence will not protect him any longer as the truth is outed.
     Do we wish to suppress all dreams here in the Village? No, we do not. We know that the Village needs to grow along with the world, but with pecuniary responsibility and a sense of reality and need. Garrison Keillor said, "It's good to dream, but the urge to perform is not in itself an indication of talent." David Israel may have his pipe dreams of a completely blanketed Village with not a dead spot to be had, but that does not mean that it is either necessary nor financially sound. There are dreams that must be tempered with reality and needs must be prioritized as well as the adult realization that one's own dreams, for better or worse, are not necessarily those of the majority nor those that are needed and must be set aside for the good of the electorate. If one does not realize that, then the leader is a faulty one, seriously so.
     The silence that has ruled the roost here cannot continue. There must be accountability from the offices and officers of UCO. They must show up for meetings on a steady basis - that is what they signed up for. They must stand ready to answer questions and look for answers if they presently have none. They must reach out to their quadrants. They must learn to accept the onus of responsibility and if not - get the hell out of office.
     It is time for a forward and realistic thinking UCO to be in place. Term limits must be reinstated, as they were for years, Dead wood must be thrown out, thanked for their once upon a time service, but now basically useless. We must operate on a program of fiscal responsibility and attention to the primary needs for the NOW before we approach the later. We must return to the management of our funds when we could save up millions to do what needed to be done - unless it was thrown away as the millions were with the paving and planned to do so with the Wi Fi and now broadband and who knows what else is being planned in the secrecy and silence of UCO. We need to hear of the prep work being done for the replacement of the Millennium Agreement and the fact that we have hired an attorney with a working and active brain in full mode, not one who gives one whatever answer is wanted. But all we get is silence.
     A professor of psychology said, 'The core strategy for self control is to cool the now and heat the later - push the temptation in front of you far away....and bring the distant consequences closer in your mind." Only when we understand the truth and importance of that statement will we be able to control our own future here in the Village. Now and later, present needs and future needs. Psalms says there is a time for all in this world - we need to recognize those times and work and plan accordingly. And no sound of silence, no matter how deafening, coming out of UCO can stop that. Listen, people, listen carefully.