Letting Go

Letting go can mean different things to different people. My rant is geared towards those people who have trouble of letting go of any power or position that they once have had or held.
A term of office is just that, a period of time where someone holds that position but now that time has expired.
Some people just can't let go and they feel the need to exact their influence still even though they no longer hold any position other then that of member.
And lets not get into the term"past". That is one term that I'm really getting to dislike.
Some people leaving office still try to hold onto power by being a "past" something or other.
In one breath they tell people "its time for them to move on, step aside, let others take over but as soon as someone comes forward with a new idea they trip over themselves trying to influence the group one way or another. They speak of getting " new blood" involved and listening to fresh, new ideas. But all that is just talk cause they still want to be control, be in charge, lead the way. They just want to do it and appear that they've let others "steer the ship". They really have no intentions of ever letting go but it does sound good and would give the appearence of being opened minded to change.
These "past anythings" should be respected and should be sought out if guidence is needed AND requested.
This means that all those little chats before and after meetings to ONLY a certain few should never take place. When I'm part of a group, and I see little groups chatting, I start to feel why not chat with the whole group? Guess I'm not suppose to know certain things or God forbid they must feel that I wouldn't agree with them so the quiet lobbying goes on.
Trade unions are great for this. Even though someone has left office his/her power is still being exacted/forced on to those now charged with running things .
Service clubs can fit into that mode at times.
At a time when these service clubs are dying a very slow death, they cry out for new members, the "new blood with the fresh ideas". Yet they have trouble keeping alot of them because if the truth be known, alot of times, those members who have been around for awhile really don't want any change unless it's them that suggest it.
So why do they need the new members, those younger people? Well could it be because someone has to do some things that some other members just don't want to do. In the army, its called "grunt work" It can be called alot of different things but it really mean the same thing.
New members must be listened too, their ideas given lots of thought. It can't be the old way all the time. Things change and so do peoples ideas. Things that worked 5 years ago may not work today and the same may hold true for things that didn't work years ago but just might today.
These "past's" must be prepared to be just that, past as in yesterday. The groups must move forward with fresh new ideas, new leadership, new energy if we are to stop the slow dying. nuff said