Sometimes it is difficult to know if something will work out
April 18, 2021
Yesterday, while I was on social media, I saw an advertisement for Praying with Poetry – Spring New Life – New Beginnings. It was a two-week series via a web video conferencing which I am familiar with. The post also included the dates, times and how much it cost. It didn’t give any more details such as to whether we were going to writing some poems or doing something else. I had no idea how to ask a question about this advertisement. Later that day, I decided to sign up for this series. After I signed up online, I received an e-mail confirming my reservation for this series. It was scheduled on April 18 in the afternoon. On April 18, I received another e-mail and this one included a link to join the video conference.
Because I have a hard time reading and comprehending too much text, I scanned the text. This meant that I didn’t read every word, but I tried to pull out what I thought was important. When it was time for the meeting to start, I clicked on the link in the e-mail. I was able to see everyone who signed up for this series, as well as the facilitator. The facilitator welcomed everyone and then the meeting began. She said something about a poem that she was going to be reading. Then she said that after she done reading the poem, we could share what spoke to us. As she read the poem, one that I couldn’t comprehend, I wondered what word/words I could write down. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make sense of it, so I just stared at my computer screen as she shared the poem. Then she finished reading the poem. She gave us a little time to gather our thoughts so that we were ready to share.
As people took time sharing the words from the poem that they had written, I realized that I had nothing to share and I couldn’t change that. I figured out how to message the facilitator. I let her know that I had to leave. I waited a few minutes for her to replay and I didn’t hear from her. I decided that the best thing for me to do was to leave the meeting. I looked at my clock and I had only attended fifteen minutes of an hour meeting. I decided to reply to the last e-mail from the organization. This is what I wrote: “I attended this online meeting but I left after fifteen minutes. I was unfamiliar with what this group was going to be doing but I thought that it might be something that I would enjoy. Unfortunately, I live with a memory impairment so I was unable to participate in this. A poem was read about five minutes ago and I can't tell you much about it except that it was about spring. I don't remember the name of the poem, the author or any of the lines.”
This is the response that I got from them, “Dear Cheryl, Thank you for your honest communication regarding the poetry session yesterday. I am sure at times life must be challenging for you. Yesterday’s session was made more difficult for you -and for all – because, the wrong poem was sent out, in error! I have attached the poem we discussed.” Then she included information about next week’s discussion. She said that she hoped that I would join them.
My response to them, “I will not be attending next week's meeting because I am not confident that I will be able to participate. If there was a poem sent to us ahead of time, I either didn't receive it or I wasn't aware of it. Now I will know not to waste my time or money and sign up for any of your activities. There wasn't enough explanation given to me on social media but I thought that it might work out. If I would have known ahead of time how this was structured, I would have been able to make a more informed decision. For me, your information on social media was very vague and I didn't have any idea how I could get more information.”
This was her response, “I am sorry this was so disappointing for you Cheryl and I will be sending you a refund check. Social media does not allow much advertising/promoting and you probably were unaware of our website. I am sorry!” I sent them this response, “Thank you for your understanding. This journey that I am on is not easy to manage but I am doing the best that I can.
I wish you all the best!
Cheryl
I’m so happy with the way that the advocated for myself!