International Convention: I'm Proud to Be a Sons of Norway Member

I’ll be the first to admit that when the general session opened on Wednesday morning, I thought we were going to be in for a loooooooong day. It felt like there was still a ton of work to be done and a lot of resolutions to be discussed and voted on. AND we still had to vote for the International Board of Directors. At 8:30, when everyone was settling into their places, it seemed like there was no way we’d be finished on schedule.

Uh, now would be a good time to point out that I’ve been known to be wrong now and then.

With drive and dedication heretofore unknown to me, the delegates got down to business and wrapped up their day with 15 minutes to spare. They discussed, they debated and they voted on the business at hand. I should be able to provide you with a final outcome of the resolutions in a few days, once all the t’s have been crossed.

It was absolutely amazing to see! Or so I’m told.

You see, I wasn’t able to watch the entire session because while the delegates were wrapping up and winding down, so, too, was the business operations at the convention. We had booths to tear down, an office to disassemble and pack up and a lot of stuff to prepare for the banquet happening later that night. By all rights it should have been pure pandemonium, but thanks to a little forethought and a great team it was more what I like to call “a controlled chaos.” It got a little crazy, but we got our jobs done quickly and efficiently.

But back to the convention itself.

This was the day that I felt the most proud to be a Sons of Norway members. You see, on the last day there were a lot of resolutions and law changes to be voted on. Some were hotly contested, and some appeared to be outright divisive. But (and here’s where the pride come in) through it all, every time a delegate approached the mic to raise a point of discussion or disagree with a previous statement, they did so with great aplomb and respect for the International Board and fellow delegates. There were times when the matters at hand could have easily devolved into a shouting match with fingers being pointed in every direction, but that did not happen. There were moments when I feared for the worst and was shown, time and again, that my fears were unfounded.

Quite simply, the delegates to the 2010 International Convention were of the highest caliber and I’m proud to say that I spent a few days among them in Coeur d’Alene.