This painting entitled,Young Martin, is one of the seven that hang above my desk. They are my mentors. I wrote about them in my book, Putting Our Differences to Work. Each one looks over me as I work (Mother Teresa, Viktor Frankl, Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Rumi, Eleanor Roosevelt). If I look up, our eyes meet. Sometimes, I hear their wisdom echo across the ages, especially when I need a good dose of courage or feel I can't do more. They put things in proper perspective.
As we reach Dr. King's 2010 birthday commemoration, we've also been jolted in a big way by the natural disaster in Haiti --- a tragedy of the unimaginable for most of us. It seems hard to comprehend even with the steady stream of reports. Early estimates are 45,000 to 50,000 dead in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The depth of the tragedy and all its heart-wrenching stories are just beginning to unfold. A friend on Facebook described his "tinge of guilt because of the wealth disparity, which seems immoral," he confessed. It does, doesn't it? Perhaps it is that "tinge of guilt" --- the tug at our heartstrings that makes it possible to hear Dr. King whispering to us, reminding us once again that "we are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied to a single garment of destiny. What effects one of us; effects all of us." Interestingly, tragedies exist in the world every day. People live in poverty. They go hungry. They live without clean water and shelter. We are too busy to notice. Unfortunately --- or perhaps fortunately --- we get this opportunity to redeem ourselves as good neighbors.
It has been moving to watch the world come together in this time of human need --- neighbors helping neighbors. We seem to be made for it, even with our struggles to operationalize it under such urgent conditions. More of us are engaging. I heard we raised in 48 hours over six million dollars by simply texting HAITI at 90999 to make a $10 donation to the Red Cross International Response Fund and the phone companies also reportedly agreed not to charge for our text donations.
After weeks, or has it been months, of tough times, bickering, mean-spirited talk from every direction, this jolting pause has had its needed stay and time to reflect. As I was thinking about Dr. King's wisdom and imagining what he might tell us at this time, I pulled out a treasured book of his speeches, A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In it, there is an essay he wrote that was published after his death. This message seemed so perfect for our re-evaluation:
"I am forced to pause... Today's problems are so acute because the tragic evasions and defaults of several centuries have accumulated to disaster proportions. The luxury of a leisurely approach to urgent solutions---the ease of gradualism---was forfeited by ignoring issues for too long."
--- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Perhaps, Haiti in its tragedy will also be a symbol of HOPE that is bigger than today's efforts. As we work to respond in our own ways, may we come away recognizing how much we can do together to change our world if we put our differences to work for the good of all.
We may not know exactly what’s ahead, but there is only one way to find out: Go! Move. Jump. Leap. Open the door and enter. It is that first forward-thinking step that holds the promise of a new and different future, as well as the spark of innovation, the influence of leadership, the power of a new more collaborative existence. Across the world, in big and small ways, we’re learning and relearning that when lots of individuals step up to take that initial bold move together, the creative possibilities multiply many times, producing results one could only describe as remarkable. Hold those thoughts as we work to solve these most pressing emergencies.
“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.” — Gandhi
Original oil painting by Sally K. Green
Warmest regards,
Debbe
Debbe Kennedy
founder, President and CEO Global Dialogue Center
and Leadership Solutions Companies
Twitter @debbekennedy author, Putting Our Differences to Work
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership,
and High Performance (Berrett-Koehler 2008)
Buy a Copy at Amazon.com
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