Recognition Rings?

Jim Miller addressed the issue of recognition rings for people to represent different award categories or to denote positions within our organization in the latest USMS executive meeting minutes (located Here). While I applaud the openess of our managment, I still have to ask the question: Why do we need rings in the first place? The pro's are we are giving somthing nice to those people who have served USMS well or otherwise extra-ordinary service. The con's are much more numerous: 1) Why spend the money to do this when we can certainly find other uses for it? 2) If people are that critical to the organization, then they should already know how integral they are. 3) Any time an item is given to denote someones position in an organization, a level of elitism inevidably creeps in. While it is tempting to do this simple gesture because people volunteer and should feel recognized - Isn't it more that we feel good because we participate and promote an activity important in our lives? Pretty easy to see where I fall on this issue, but I am interested in knowing what other peoples view points on "rings of recognition." As a sport why do we need this symbolic gesture? If anything, we should give them to people who donate money to the endowment fund... Chris B.