A Tale of Two Committees

Study the diagram and hear my story. The nine acres of land shown in green are in the south of Haddenham parish, fenland, and up against the Old West River. The farmer who rented the land from the County Council retired and the land came on the market. We - Haddenham Conservation Society - decided to raise funds to buy it so that it could become the first extensive woodland in the parish. And we succeeded. We raised £16,000 to buy the land, and were able to plant nearly five thousand trees. Now, the woodland is a joy, and much used and appreciated by the local community.
Now look at the brown triangle, seven acres being farmed by another farmer. It is an awkward shape for a farmer and he was prepared to let us have it at a reasonable price and on very good terms (delayed payments, etc). There was a proviso: he would let us have it if we agreed not to bid for another 50 acres of farmland coming up elsewhere in the parish.
For us it was a win-win situation. We could extend our wood to 16 acres on favourable terms, and we had no interest whatsoever in acquiring the 50 acres he was after. So, why did we not accept the farmer's offer? The issue was debated by the Conservation Society committee. At first I had two other people who agreed with me that it was a wonderful opportunity. Then the rest - about seven other members - voiced their opposition, and my two allies then switched sides. Their apostasy hurt. We did not get the triangle of land. I immediately resigned as Chairman of the Society after seven years of service, disillusioned and demoralised by the irrational attitudes of my colleagues.

Why were they against accepting the farmer's offer? Because they didn't like him. Simple as that. He ran an agribusiness, the people on my committee were small farmers or scions of small farming familes. The reasons they gave in that meeting were unbelievably specious. One even said that it would be better to have TWO woods, the Nineacre, and another small one somewhere else in the village (not that there were any small parcels of land available elsewhere in the village anyway) rather than a single wood of 16 acres.
The headmaster at my Grammar School once wrote in my school report "He does not suffer fools gladly", which makes me sound arrogant. I am not, but I cannot cope with intellectual dishonesty. Recent events in another parish group to which I have given my all over the last four years is now indulging in the same kind of tortured illogical thinking, so, having failed to persuade anyone of my views, I have just written my resignation letter. I know it's a sort of cowardice, but there is a limit to my tolerance of human foolishness.