YABUTS are monstrous little beasts that inhabit the meetings and conversations that take place all over our Fraternity. A YABUT'S purpose in life is to sap a team of its competitive strength by killing any new ideas or creative approaches as soon as they are suggested.
They do this by grabbing someone's tongue and making them say things like:
"YABUT" we tried that three years ago.
"YABUT" we've never done it like that before.
"YABUT" Grand Lodge will never go along with it.
"YABUT" the members will never buy into that kind of idea
"YABUT" they [the ubiquitous "they" who control the world] won't let us.
"YABUT" it might not work.
"YABUT" I think it says in the Book of Constitution and /or the Bylaws we should do it this way.
Be aware that when they crawl onto the table during a meeting or swoop down into a Lodge room conversation, those "YABUTS" sometimes don't look monstrous at all. Often, they adopt the appearance of a cute, cuddly, perfectly acceptable, or even helpful contribution to the discussion.
But If "YABUTS" are not recognized and stomped out right away, they usually succeed in their deadly, negative missions. The flow of ideas soon changes from: "This is how we can make it work." To "How can we make it work?" and all the reasons it won't work, and therefore, it isn't worth trying.
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