Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Interpreting Sharon's" individual vs. group" statements

[Kay Argyle (argyle]

> Why would you stand aside on an issue like this?

Preservation of political capital.   My views aren't quite as marginal in a
cohousing community as anywhere else I've been, but I'm still a minority
opinion on many matters.  (Having principles can be a pain sometimes.)  I
try to choose my battles carefully so people don't start seeing me as having
a kneejerk objection to everything.  When it's obvious nobody agrees with
me, sometimes I drop a subject in order to avoid entrenching other people's
positions, and bide my time, engaging in an underground educational campaign
to shift the community, one member's opinion at a time.

And maybe I won't stand aside.  I don't like telling people no.  What is it
worth to me, to say no?  The times I've stood firm on a necessary change in
a proposal, thinking I would stand aside was an intermediate step in
psyching myself up.

Kay

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