David Birren wrote:
> Replying to Ray Evans Harrell's post in "Talking Stick Circle LO13969":
>
> >>... We've used the stick ... for as long as we have memory. It is
> >>interesting to run into the ideas from our spiritual ways in the
> >>marketplace
> So, Ray, please have compassion for those of us who are grasping for any
> device that will help people first listen to each other, and then
> perhaps take that listening inside. I'm sure you realize how difficult
I just saw a tape of Charlie Lake (is that his name?) commenting on this
in a wry fashion. He was actually commenting on how we have (and probably
still do have) kids do "Indian" dances in school as part of a music
activity that is also supposed to be fun, involving singing, dance, and
ostensibly a bit about another culture. He noted that such things can
hurt other people; we don't seem to realize that many of those dances are
religious ceremonies.
He then put it in this context: how would we like it if Native Americans
picked up Christian religious ceremonies or artifacts and used them in a
secular setting (he used crossing himself and one other similar action as
part of a little dance ditty, but one could also imagine baptisms and
communion as games by people who don't realize how loaded with importance
those are to some people). I think most of us seeing this together got
the point rather quickly.
This is not to downgrade the importance of listening nor of bringing the
_entire_ person to the workplace. I conjecture there are ways to do that
which don't make some people in our midst feel awfully uncomfortable in
the process.
Regards,
Bill
-- Bill Harris Hewlett-Packard Co. R&D Engineering Processes Lake Stevens Division domain: billh@lsid.hp.com M/S 330 phone: (425) 335-2200 8600 Soper Hill Road fax: (425) 335-2828 Everett, WA 98205-1298Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>