Alderperson Alex Schultz's (District 9) Invocation At 10/06/2021 Appleton Common Council Meeting

Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) gave the invocation at the 10/06/2021 Common Council meeting.

Woodford: “Tonight's invocation will be delivered by Alderperson Schultz.”

Alderperson Schultz: "Thank you, Mayor. I'm gonna sit to make sure the mic picks me up. I actually requested invocation this evening because a question was posed after the last Council meeting that I wanted to answer, and I thought it would be good to do that sooner than later.

“One of the things that I really value when we do these invocations are the anecdotes that we share that express our interactions with our constituents, and we hear a lot of really heartening stories of the work that we as Council members do and how we try to move the needle a little bit for the people that we represent, and I've had one of those. You know, we have all of those quite frequently as we represent certain issues that arise in our communities, and I had one recently with a neighbor who was trying to sell their house and a neighboring property that posed issues for that individual who had been attempting to address issues with the neighboring property for many, many years, um, 6-7 years. And I was—took some time to respond to it, go to the property, try to address the situation, see what I could do to ameliorate the situation and maybe help them sell their home. And I received an email a week after that saying ‘I can't believe that you actually responded, you're the first alderperson in 6 years that actually has listened to me even though I've been trying hard to get this issue addressed.’ And I am really proud of this Council because I know every member in here has those conversations and has really engaged with the community which makes me proud to serve in this position.

“The question that was raised at that last meeting when we were discussing a resolution about supporting the Afghan refugees is why didn't I bring up the fact that I was a veteran and served in the military? And I thought, well, that's a good question and I think as we try to get to know each other and how we respond to our constituents it may by—maybe it's a question worth answering. And I thought that I would share that most of us veterans who have served are pretty humble in our approach to sharing that information and a lot of us don't willing share it, for a number of reasons.

“Some of them have to do with service and the things we see in service and certainly in my term of service I saw some and witnessed some things that—you know, like every other institution or, I guess, business, the military has its issues like every other institution and whether it's abuse of women within the ranks or using power structure to keep those things from being reported or abusing enemy personnel when we have a uniform code of military justice that should prevent that.

“These things do happen and some of the reasons why we don't often share—at least why I don't share the fact that I was in the military is certain things I don't like to share that I was part of, so I wanted to answer that question and just let my fellow Council members know that I am proud to have served but I probably don't shared that information willingly because I saw things and witnessed things that did not make me proud of my service, and I think it's important to understand that if you have any interactions with your fellow veterans or can't understand quite why they might not want to share that information or hold it close to their chest, so I just—a little bit of coming from my heart here to share with my fellow members so they know a little bit more about who I am and why I might not have brought that out, or may not bring that out in the future. Thank you."