Roxanne
What a world it would be if we all had the selflessness of Mother Teresa,
the political skill and moral compass of Gandhi and the eye of Georgia
O'Keefe! Regrettably, myself and most of the people I know and work with
are mortals who are very much imperfect and who know we have to struggle
to make even the smallest positive contribution to humanity over that
brief span of time that defines our existence.
And, I just wonder....
Did MT achieve what she did by cooperating with the authorities in
Calcutta who had created the misery she tried to ameliorate?
Did Gandhi achieve the independence of the Indian sub-continent by
cooperating with the British Raj, or by actively "competing" with it for
political and moral authority?
Whether or not Georgia O'Keefe felt she was "competing" with Picasso,
Calder, et al. (only she will have known), if she wasn't, did she create
what she did through some sort of "cooperation?" If so, with whom? And
how?
Continually listening, in order to continuously learn.
Richard Goodale
> Richard, I agree that everyone can learn from others but I disagree that
> everyone needs an opponent.
>
> Was Mother Theresa trying to win a competition to sit at the right hand of
> God?
>
> Who was Gandhi's opponent in quest to free India from British Colonialism?
>
> Did Georgia O'Keefe paint from morning until night in her desert retreat
> in order to outshine Pablo Picasso or Alexander Calder?
>
> Truly great people live and act from a sense of purpose in life or a
> calling to service. Their decisions and actions come in response to an
> inner voice. Competition and comparison of their performance to others
> may have been a stage in their development, but fortunately for all of us,
> they grew beyond that stage when they began to listen to that inner voice.
--Richard Goodale <fc45@dial.pipex.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>