[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Killie fish need help! (was Re: I needed help)
Thank you for your comments. As to Chris being rude towards the end, it is my belief that it isn't rude to tell someone they are being rude. His original comments were quite polite, actually.
My comments about the hobby becoming a bunch of "80 year old, bald, fat men" isn't far off if we don't bring new members into the hobby. If we love these fish as much as some claim, then we need to insure there existence not only now, but in the future. I personally gave about 8 pairs of killies away last May at the end of school to my students. Are they all going to become Killie nuts? Nope. Will some of them at least KNOW about them. You bet! If even one gets hooked, that is another YOUNG person not doing something harmful, but doing something good. Now, I only had 9 students at the end of the year, and these kids ASKED for the fish. That is mentoring, or at least the start of it. Steve has done the same with Chris.
Instead of seeing how expert WE are (yeah, right!), lets see if we can actually SPREAD the hobby. I was at the 2002 AKA convention in St. Louis. Let's be real, it wasn't the youngest bunch of people I've seen. (no offense to my older colleagues). So, let us truly help the fish by increasing the number of people who keep them. Any ideas?
Mike Schelp
----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Sump
Sent: Tuesday, August 06, 2002 1:22 PM
To: KillieTalk at AKA_Org
Subject: Re: I needed help
I could not have agreed more with Mike and Robert! We, as a responsible
group, had the ability to bring two new members into the hobby and we pretty
much blew it. I have contacted Chris, the "kid" offlist, and he is very
serious about trying to collect and breed killies. After talking to him I
realized that, it was most probably his father coming through with regards
to the mixing of populations. If you recall, his father was a cichlid
breeder, and their group has a different take on breeding than we do. Chris
is also very upset over, and rightfully so, that a group of grown men and
women could not find it within themselves to show a little patience and
restraint with him and his questions. I know his queries were repetitive.
I know he overstepped the bounds of courtesy at the end. All because we
could not find the ability to explain some very simple tenets of the AKA to
an individual who was having a hard time understanding what it was that we
were trying to say to him.
Mike brought up the idea that we should mentor people. I agree with him
100%. Wouldn't it be nice, that if along with your new membership to the
AKA, you received the name of someone who would be willing to personally
take you under their wing and show you the answers to your questions? I'm
sure there are a lot of people willing to open their homes and fish rooms to
new members to help them along. I have done it and I'm sure most of you
have too. I think that the AKA would be very well served by a mentoring
program that would work hand in hand with the Beginner's Committee.
Do any of you remember the first time you went to a club meeting or an AKA
sanctioned show? I do. It was one of the most socially uncomfortable
things I have ever done. I really felt like an outsider. One of the things
that helped greatly was that I knew someone that was a club member, and he
started introducing me to people. Can you imagine how Chris or Patrick felt
coming to a group of knowledgeable hobbyists, not knowing anyone, and
getting lambasted the way they did? I'm surprised they were as polite as
they were. I'm just as guilty as anyone else, for not getting involved in
the thread earlier, but I think I have been able to salvage something with
Chris. I hope he will stick with it and become a member of the AKA. I hope
someone out there has the same ability to help Patrick.
I'm sorry I stayed so long on my soapbox, and I appreciate all of you taking
the time to read this. I am not trying to chastise anyone, I'm just sharing
my observations and thoughts on what I've seen over the past few weeks. If
anyone would like to discuss any of what I have written further, pleas feel
free to contact me off-list and I will be happy to oblige.
Regards,
Steve Sump AKA # 5406
" If one strives to treat others as he would be treated by them, he will
come near the perfect life." - Ming Tzu -
> Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 15:45:17 -0500
> From: "Michael Schelp" <MikeTeach at msn_com>
> Subject: Re: I needed help
>
> Robert, I agree with you. The "kid" could have been pointed in the right
direction with a slight nudge and good information, not the intense
criticism that he got. Also, the pond COULD have been stocked with LOCAL
natives to the benefit of all involved. Instead, we have sent more then
just these two guys packing because of some over zealous people who, instead
of SOLVING the problem, ostracized newcomers and outsiders. Remember, for
every person who posted, there are several who just read the posts. Keep
this up people and the hobby will be practiced by a bunch of 80 year old,
bald, fat men. We were all ignorant once. We are still all ignorant (check
the definition if you don't like it). No one of us is an expert in
everything. There are also many opinions that are held. Not all opinions
are equal, I agree, but we must be careful of making blanket statements of
right and wrong. We should learn to MENTOR people, and that implies more
then just saying they are wron!
> g.
>
> Mike
>
> - ----- Original Message -----
> From: RuevenM at aol_com
> Sent: Monday, August 05, 2002 9:03 AM
> To: killietalk at aka_org
> Subject: I needed help
>
> Hi All,
>
> Ok, so this week we have driven away a kid -- assuming he was on
the
> level -- because we lectured him on even thinking about keeping two widely
> spred populations of gardneri together and, now, Patrick has pulled out of
a
> student project on pond stocking because it might at some point be a
> questionable act. Are we sure our correct philosophy isn't driving people
> away? If I was a newbie on here this week, I might have said, "Geez these
> people are kind of fanatics, maybe I'll just keep cichlids."
>
> Robert Ellermann
> - ---------------
---------------
See http://www.aka.org/AKA/subkillietalk.html to unsubscribe
Join the AKA at http://www.aka.org/AKA/Applic.htmGet more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com
--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
text/html
---
---------------
See http://www.aka.org/AKA/subkillietalk.html to unsubscribe
Join the AKA at http://www.aka.org/AKA/Applic.htm