Dear Readers,

We’re just getting done with only the second week in the New Year, and already, and again, the Community is made to bear the brunt, it terms of both – its image and its welfare – as some of our elected Trustees take on each other in public… yet again resorting to social media platforms and worse, national mainline media.

It’s tough to choose which is scarier – the increasing frequency of such unfortunate occurrences, or the fact that we, as a Community, are slowly getting used to it. How long before we make the complete shift from ‘exasperation and disappointment’ (what on earth is going on in the BPP) to ‘resignation and indifference’ (don’t really care what’s going on in the BPP)? As offensive as that may sound to our Trustees, this is, the tragic truth.

Truly, the frequency of the infighting, followed by taking to public platforms, is alarming. It’s like the BPP has OCD – or what is known as, ‘Obsessive Compulsive Disorder’. For the uninitiated, and contextually speaking, let me explain – Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a disorder that causes one to get caught in a cycle of obsessions and compulsions – it is self-damaging, time consuming and gets in the way of important activities that the person (read Board) values. I have two questions for the BPP Board – which I can say, with near certainty, that I raise on behalf of our community:

1. Why can’t your fights be resolved within the Board, in the Boardroom? The Community has chosen you (Trustees) in good faith to work towards Community welfare and to resolve Community issues. How are we supposed to keep the faith and the respect, when you can’t resolve your own issues, and demonstrate such blatant disrespect towards each other?
2. What is this obsession with crying foul on public, Social Media platforms, and worse, the National Media? Why is your need for individual validation as a Trustee so much greater than your sense of collective responsibility as the Board of the Parsi Community’s apex organization, the BPP, that we elected you into?

What is even more perplexing is that this is a good Board, comprising strong and committed individuals who genuinely care for the Community – but they just can’t seem to get it together! Disagreements are bound to happen and as long as they are ‘issue-specific’ as opposed to ‘ego-specific’, where Trustees are able to ‘agree to disagree’ without disrespecting each other, for the greater good of the community, arguments are even healthy. The compulsive need for one-upmanship coupled with the obsession with resorting to public fora (to reinforce that compulsion) truly makes me wonder if the BPP, indeed, suffers from OCD!

Of course, I refer to not just the current ongoing brouhaha, but all such episodes which result in compromising the image of the BPP and the Community. It’s not just indiscreet, it’s ungrateful (albeit unintentional) because it is the undoing of our forefathers’ strenuous efforts, unparalleled contributions and glorious, celebrated legacy.

Surely, we are better than that – and most certainly, we expect, nay demand, better than that from our Trustees. They say, “If you’re not leading by example, you’re not leading.” The Community has elected you as our leaders, with good reason. We look up to you and put our trust in you, as one concerted body of leaders and visionaries, who will steer the Community towards progress, peace and unity.

The New Year brings along a clean slate, and it fills us with a sense of hope and positivity of new, as well as renewed beginnings. Here’s hoping that the Board is able to mend its fences soon, and once again work collectively as the dynamic unit that it has proven to be in the past, and continue to give the Community its best.

Have a good weekend!

– Anahita