fljeOzi: Official Organ Of the Slavonic Benevolent Orde Of The State Of Texas. Founded 1897. BENEVOLENCE VOLUME 56 — NO. 16
HUMANITY
BROTHERHOOD
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 with Undeliverable Copies to: SUPREME LODGE SPJST, P011 100, TEMPLE, TEX. 76501
APRIL 17, 1968
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK THIS, THAT, AND THE OTHER The interest displayed at the several district meetings held thus far, and the statements made by some of our officers indicates a high degree of interest in the coming convention. Some partisanship, geographic and otherwise, has been displayed, and that is understandable. Certain factions are openly bidding for the location of another rest home, if another one is built. Talk is also strong about where the new headquarters building should be located, if one is built. Supreme Lodge Attorney August Kacir reminded the members at the District VII spring meeting in Floresville that "if you have to rely on someone else to tell you how to vote at the convention, you are not fulfilling your responsibilities as a delegate and you should stay home." Most people will certainly agree with that. Hut we also know that delegates will continue going to conventions ill-prepared with either pre-conceived notions or no notions at all, and watch to see how those around them or the majority are voting before casting their own vote. They didn't do their homework. People are funny creatures; they don't like to be in the losing or minority faction.
OUTWITTED He drew a circle that shut me out — Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win; We drew a circle that took him in! —Edwin Markham They will forsake or abandon their beliefs or convictions just to be with the majority. The poorest excuse for a delegate is one who admits that he didn't want to vote the way he voted, but that "you know, I was under tremendous pressure to vote the w'ay I did." What sort of man is it that will sell out his conscience and vote contrary to his convictions? What is he afraid of? Has our system become so undemocratic that people have to fear reprisal for voting their convictions? Is the ballot no longer secret?! We need to address ourselves seriously to this matter. Then we come to the strangest of the lot: the person who looks you straight in the eye, pledges his loyalty and vote, but hasn't the slightest intention of doing either when the time comes. It has been proven that people just do not do what they say they will do.
And for some strange unknown reason, they will nurse their innermost feelings, perhaps a long-standing grudge, tell you they're with you, and then proceed to vote against you. Ali, 'tis sweet revenge . . . A prominent SPJST member told me a few years back, after he had lost a local race, that if all the people had voted for him that promised they would, his opponent wouldn't have gotten 10 per cent of the votes. As it turned out, it was the other way around. These are all the imponderable q uirks of human behavior, and the person who figures out why people do what they do will have answered one of the great mysteries of all times. Spring Is In The Air. If you've been looking for some faint-hearted assurance that spring is here, you may have overlooked one of the most obvious. You may have been looking at all the weeks and crawling insects, all of which are signs of spring. But a very genuine sign of spring is the kite aloft. A sunny day does not make a spring day because sun and a brisk norther can fool you. Kites were once used to ward off evil spirits and as signals in the Bat-
MEDICAL DIRECTOR'S CONVENTION REPORT IN THIS ISSUE