Elections Here, There, and Everywhere

This past week the North Carolina Board of Massage & Bodywork Therapy, of which I am a member, held our annual elections. Last weekend, at our state chapter meeting of AMTA, we had those board elections, and the national AMTA has also just released their ballots and candidate bios.

To me it is a disturbing fact that the same people seem to cycle through every position at the state and national levels. Several of the national candidate bios said things like "I have been an officer for 12 years." I certainly do not want to criticize those who are willing to serve, but neither do I want our national officers to be career politicians! And in all fairness, many of them do it because no one else is coming forward to serve, and they don't want to leave the organization without leadership and other valued positions filled. The same thing has happened at the National Certification Board, to the detriment of that organization. People who ought to be gone are still there because nobody votes them out. I don't hold out much hope for positive change in that organization until there is a good housecleaning there, and a new crop of people who want to see it turn away from their present path of lawsuits, interference in state governance, and internal personnel problems.

When I was appointed to the North Carolina Board, I was serving as a volunteer for our state AMTA board, and had to resign that as it was seen as a conflict of interest. I'm faithful about attending our state AMTA meetings, and with one or two exceptions, I am seeing the same folks I have seen there for years. When my term is up on the North Carolina Board, I will refuse to serve another, as I feel that five years is enough for any one person to have influence on a state board.

I wish some new blood would step up to the plate. I know that there are hundreds of therapists out there who have something great to contribute, as far as talents and time. And I'm sure that SOME of them must care about what goes on in legislation and leadership in the profession. I have a hard time understanding why everyone doesn't care about what goes on in those arenas. If it affects you, you ought to care! So many people don't realize that their voice does, indeed, make a difference. Anytime legislation is on the horizon in our state that has the potential to affect our profession, myself and a few devoted others are regularly the first ones on the phone to our representatives to state our case, and many times, that has saved us from something we really don't want to see happen, like the recent issue of extra taxes being imposed on massage services.

If you can spare a few hours, get involved! Don't sit on your hands waiting for the next person to do it. ABMP and AMTA both regularly publish legislative updates on their websites. My motto is "Some people make things happen; some people watch what happens, and some people wonder what just happened." If you are one of the latter, you might someday find out that something you are really opposed to is happening in our profession--too late to do anything about it.