One of my favorite quotes is St. Augustine, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity”. In fact, if you’ve ever been bored enough to read my blog, you’ll recognize it as a key component to a piece I wrote about “red rules” and “blue rules”. Red rules, I assert, include not stepping out in front of moving traffic or smoking in front of an oxygen tank. Blue rules include making sure your whites are washed separately from your darks, and that your oil is changed every 3,000 miles or three months. If you’re having trouble distinguishing the two, ask this simple question, “If I break this rule, will someone die, go to prison, suffer dismemberment …?” If the answer is, “no”, you’ve got yourself a blue rule.
While this is a simple enough concept, the complexity comes in determining whose version of dangerous and red is acceptable and should act as the litmus test. For example, red with my daughter includes anything that would harm another child, be it emotional or physical. For another parent, red might only include something that would cause a broken bone. And thus, two parents who are both willing to let go of the “little things” find themselves squabbling over what is or isn’t little in the first place.
As a museum director, I am charged with setting the boundaries for what must be looked at, what can be looked at later, and what can be ignored when it comes to the operation of our organization. Drawing these boundaries requires a great deal of erasing, retracing, and being confident enough to say, “Yes, that is my final answer”. And while I am absolutely from here, appreciative of my roots, and respectful of the small-town way of life, there are times when tradition must be replaced with logic and law. The endlessness of redoing and adjusting for personal loyalties is overwhelming and hard to conceptualize, and I therefore MUST create a system based on objective, proven, and ethical standards when establishing guidelines for Francisco Fort Museum.
This said, there are few processes that will look different at the museum in the coming weeks, months, and years. No, they will not all be comfortable to those of you who remember “the way things were”. But know this, any rules and regulations that you find suddenly in place are not to hinder you, to hurt you, or even to bum you out; they are for your protection, and for the protection of your community’s heritage.
If you want to donate something, you cannot simply drop it off at my office – it causes too many legal questions down the road when your cousin wants it back and we have no legal documentation of the initial exchange. It is also possible that we do not have storage space or need for the item. If you donated something thirty years ago, then you did just that - you donated it, and nonprofit law says it is now the property of the museum, to be used as we see fit, in a way that honors our mission. You may make suggestions, you may come by and take a look – but you simply cannot demand that I display it to your exact liking (assume for a moment I were to try meet the demands of every single donor?!).
Most importantly, if you begin to feel that your “red” is different than mine and the board’s, please discuss it with me or come to a Francisco Fort Board Meeting. But, remember that I am new and learning and working A LOT of hours, and will love you forever if you error on the side of grace.
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