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REPORT OF ASSOCIATE SUPREME GUARDIAN 2007-2008
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I want thank all of the Daughters and adult workers for the many memories I have from this year. Some of those memories are in this presentation along with my thanks to many people. The voting delegates from last year allowed me the continued opportunity to serve the Job’s Daughters of the world as Associate Supreme Guardian. I hope that I have lived up to their expectations. At the Installation last year, the song sung for me was Imagine by John Lennon. During my acceptance speech, I shared some modified lyrics: Imagine there’s no Job’s Daughters It’s easy if you try No more fun or sisterhood. All we do is cry! Imagine all the Daughters Being by themselves. Image there’s no Bethel It isn’t hard to do. No fun and fellowship And no ritual too! Imagine all the Jobies Working all together. You may say I’m a dreamer, But I’m not the only one! I hope some day you’ll join us And JDI will be as one. Imagine no conflicts, I wonder if you can No need for disagreements A sisterhood of woman. Imagine all the Jobies Sharing all the world You may say I’m a dreamer, But I’m not the only one! I hope someday you’ll join us and all the world will live as one. During my travels, I have seen that the Daughters in virtually every Bethel, whether under Supreme, in a Jurisdictional Guardian Council or a Grand Guardian Council, have joined in the Spirit of Our Endeavors to work toward that dream of keeping Job’s Daughters alive. Most of the adults are also working toward that goal. However, there are some adults who have by their actions shown that they are not looking out for the best interest of the Daughters or Job’s Daughters. The Constitution of the Job’s Daughters International Supreme Guardian Council clearly states: “The object of the SGC is to have jurisdiction over JDI and to band together girls for spiritual and moral upbringing, to develop leadership, to seek knowledge, to teach love of God, love of Country, respect for its Flag, love of home and family, and reverence for the teachings of the Holy Scriptures.” It has been said that we are a teaching organization. We, the adults, are the teachers. The daughters are the students. Girls from the ages of 10 through 20 are still developing who they will be as adults. They are learning, experimenting with the boundaries of behavior, and striving to do what they believe is right. We, the adults, must allow the Daughters to do just that. We need to let them experiment while ensuring they do so safely. We must allow them to try new ideas, new projects. We must also walk the fine line of guiding them to ensure they have a plan of how to accomplish whatever it is they wish to do. Have they thought it through completely? Have they thought of the risks involved? How strong are those risks and how likely they are to occur? If the Daughters have evaluated all of these and have plans to mitigate the risks, the idea is in compliance with rules or regulations and is morally acceptable, why don’t we take a risk and allow them to proceed? Who knows? Maybe the project succeeds or maybe it fails. The point is: they have had the experience. Hopefully, they have learned how to run a successful project. If not, we can help them to evaluate any lessons learned. That is usually better than not trying and learning nothing. We, as adults, must realize that girls our Daughters ages, will occasionally make mistakes, speak before thinking, or do something that we adults consider stupid or inappropriate. They usually realize their error and are truly sorry for it. They usually are willing to admit their error and move on. For some reason only know by them, some adults seem to want to hang the Daughter on a cross for all to see rather than help her learn from her mistake. We may even allow other Daughters to learn from that mistake without having to fail themselves. I realize that I am taking a lot of time talking about a few people and situations. We all must realize that our Daughters do, in fact respect us; look up to us as exemplars. We must realize that our words and actions must be carefully planned. We must live our lives morally and spiritually to band the Daughters together for that upbringing. We must act as leaders to help them develop leadership. We must act and speak with knowledge to help them seek knowledge. We must love God, to teach love of God. We must love our Country and respect its Flag to teach them that love and respect. We must love home and family to teach them how to love their home and family. We must have reverence for the teachings of the Holy Scriptures to teach them that reverence. After Installation last year, my son, Greg, asked me what I was going to do. My response was of course, “I’m going to Disney World.” As it turned out, I was also able to go to Disneyland. I have been fortunate to be able to travel with my Supreme Guardian to all but four jurisdictions. I missed the visit to Bethel 1, Clarksburg, WV, to be at the opening of the Conference of Grand Masters of North America. My work prevented me from visiting the GGC of Oklahoma. Janine and I did not visit the GGC of Alberta due to Passport and Visa issues. We did not travel to the GGC of the Philippines due to the warnings from the U.S. Department of State. My sincerest apologizes to each of those jurisdictions. I was also able to escort Supreme Bethel Honored Queen, Jette Brownlee, to the first Joint Biennial Session of the Northern and Southern Jurisdictions of the Scottish Rite of North America. It has been my pleasure to have the over 11,500 Daughters this year, I must say that I was blessed to have two special Daughters, Brittney Utley, Miss International Job’s Daughters, and Jette Brownlee, Supreme Bethel Honored Queen. They have been the Mary Poppins of Job’s Daughters - practically perfect in every way. I am so glad that Sue and Bob Utley and Gayle and Jim Brownlee shared their daughters with us this year. For the financial aspects of my report, I expended the $1,000 the ASG is allowed by law for travel within the United States and Canada by the end of August. The Finance Committee authorized $5,556.18 for my travel to Brazil and Australia. Respectfully submitted, Mike Hoglund, ASG |