I took a few days and I went to Burns, Oregon. I did not connect with Pacific Patriot Network or Idaho III%. I attempted to contact these groups, but I had limited time available and they did not respond to my inquiries. I did not go out to the wildlife refuge as that was not my purpose. I simply wanted to make the human connection with these groups, to establish trust.
My intention was to respond to a call to action. I did so, but without being able to contact PPN, my ability to work in connection with their efforts was lost. I guess they did fine without my participation and I am happy that they did.
My experience illuminates one of the very difficult issues of this community. I don’t mean to criticize either group, but if one puts out a call to action, but has no organization that is capable of responding to contact and therefore marshaling forces, they lose the advantage of trust. Obviously, I will not bother wasting my time responding to such calls in the future. Sure, they had bigger fish to fry and I assume, somewhere, they were busy voicing all of our concerns. For that I am grateful.
