Maine State Grange

Which Half Are You in?

By Walter Boomsma
207 343-1842
Communications Director

“Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to say keep on saying it.”

Attributed to Robert Frost

While I’m a big fan of Robert Frost, if he said this, I’m not sure I totally agree—it’s too arbitrary. There’s a third group who have something to say and can say it reasonably well. Unfortunately, it’s a small group.

In the interest of over-complicating this, it also depends on how we define “say” and “saying.” How about “Half the world is composed of people who have something to communicate and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to communicate keep communicating.

With that change, we can note that communication takes place in four basic forms: verbal, non-verbal, written, and visual. A case can be made that listening is a fourth form, but we are trying to keep this simple.

As most of you know, I recently accepted a position as an adjunct instructor at Beal University. I was warned that I would likely be surprised and disappointed by the writing skills of most of my students. I thought I was prepared. I was not.

One of the things I was not prepared for is that many students do not accept the need (or opportunity) for good written communication skills. An even bigger surprise was that most are unaware of the tools and technology available that can help us with writing.

We could have a long and interesting discussion about the future of communication. For example, AI (artificial intelligence) now exists, making it possible to let “the computer” do the actual writing. Part of our discussion would include whether or not that technology diminishes the need to learn the rules of grammar.

Let’s get very practical. Thinking about your Grange and Grange membership, do you have something to communicate? Understand that “you” can mean “you as an individual,” but it can also mean “you as a Grange.”

When my students have a paper to write, it’s usually apparent whether or not they have something to communicate. If so, helping them find ways to say it can be fun, even if challenging. If they don’t have something to say, it doesn’t matter if they can write or speak well. Developing skills becomes somewhat pointless and feels empty without a use for them. That’s why we give assignments. “Write a 500-word essay explaining…”

If we want our Grange to be vibrant and growing, we’d better have a lot to say. “No report” isn’t, by the way, grammatically correct. At a minimum, it should be, “I have no report.” Occasionally, I hear, “I have nothing to report.” That’s also grammatically correct. Are you beginning to see that “no report” is not too far from “I have nothing to say?”

• Why should I consider joining your Grange? “I have nothing to say.”
• What are some of your future programs? “No report.”
• What community services are you offering? “Nothing to report.”

If an assignment would help, here’s one for your Grange. “Write a 250 word description of at least three things your Grange is doing well.” (For reference purposes, that’s less than half the length of this column.) Submit it to the website for publication. Failure to submit (“no report”) results in a zero (F). If you need some help, contact…

Wouldn’t it be interesting to make that a formal program? Assignments carry a deadline after which we’d publish grades—if only as pass/fail.

In college, completing assignments competently ultimately means receiving a degree. In the Grange, completing this assignment  (and some others) means keeping and maybe even growing the Grange. Failure in college means no degree. Failure in the Grange means no Grange.

► FACT: Your MSG website was viewed over 1600 times during January 2023–if you aren’t submitting your events and news, you are missing an opportunity!