Santa Monicans for Renter’s Rights (SMRR) formed in the 1970’s and on April 10, 1979 won passage of the strongest rent control law in the country and elected two persons to the Santa Monica City Council. I’ve been a member for over 10 years.
A lifestyle change I made a few years ago was to cut back drastically on civil engagement and basically thumbed my nose to countless meetings from various entities.
The wife of a former mayor and veteran city council member said to me afterward, “reculer pour mieux sauter” with a smile. It was explained that in french that phrase means you take a step backward in order to leap farther forward. After mulling that over for a long time, I realize the ‘gift’ that statement was to me.
I slowly started to attend a meeting here and there. Yesterday I attended their monthly steering committee meeting. (I once ran for a position on this committee and lost by one vote).
My attendance in the past had been to sit on the outer circle of chairs reserved for interested SMRR members and commented during the Santa Monica College report. Since I was the political director of the Faculty Association, I often challenged their opinions and statements which didn’t sit well with some of the leaders present.
In an effort to try to prove my overall committment to this powerful, yet polarizing organization, I volunteered on their hotline for about 5 years (a moving experience too complicated to write about here). But I quit when I ‘reculer pour mieux sauter‘.
Though I once looked around the room at these meetings and bit my tough and couldn’t wait for the end (sometimes 4 hours long on a Saturday morning). Yesterday I looked around the room and realized I was in the presence of some of the smartest people in Santa Monica (and the bar is high folks).
Reculer pour mieux sauter, go figure…