Reflective Audio Program:
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY:
It's Role in Creating a Better World
...a virtual online dialogue with nine Berrett-Koehler Authors
News Flashes...
St. Valentine's Day 02/14/09
Afghanistan: DoD Identifies Army Casualty
Staff Sgt. Marc J. Small, 29, of Collegeville, Pa., died Feb. 12 at Faramuz, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion...
Iraq: U.S. Confirmed Deaths
Reported Deaths: 4243 | Confirmed Deaths: 4242 | Pending Confirmation: 1
DoD Identifies Army Casualties (4 of 4) --- Pfc. Jonathan R. Roberge, 22, of Leominster, Mass...died Feb. 9 in Mosul, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle.
Source: http://icasualties.org/ Thank you!
The news today in Afghanistan and Iraq and places around the world paralyzes the mind with disbelief.
Oh, I want so much to be a part of changing this world, don't you?
Leaving just a little imprint on creating a world that works for everyone.
If we just thought more about each other;
About people we don't know or can't see.
If we just became a little more conscious and aware
About what is happening around us every day;
Across the world and in neighborhoods we can't even imagine.
If we listened more; objected more; paid attention more;
Spent more time thinking through the implications of our actions
and behavior day to day, choosing what's most right for a better world.
If we took time to be informed and to teach others.
If we were committed to loving our neighbors...
What difference could these small changes make?
It overwhelms me sometimes---I feel helpless and worried.
The small acts of one person seem so insignificant when
you look on at the mess we are in --- a mess we all collectively
shared in creating...
Then I recall this story...
The Starfish Story
by Loren Eiseley
"I awoke early, as I often did, just before sunrise to walk by the ocean's edge and greet the new day. As I moved through the misty dawn, I focused on a faint, far away motion. I saw a youth, bending and reaching and flailing arms, dancing on the beach, no doubt in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin.
As I approached, I sadly realized that the youth was not dancing to the bay, but rather bending to sift through the debris left by the night's tide, stopping now and then to pick up a starfish and then standing, to heave it back into the sea. I asked the youth the purpose of the effort. "The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach and they cannot return to the sea by themselves," the youth replied. "When the sun rises, they will die, unless I throw them back to the sea."
As the youth explained, I surveyed the vast expanse of beach, stretching in both directions beyond my sight. Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation. The hopelessness of the youth's plan became clear to me and I countered, "But there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save before the sun is up. Surely you cannot expect to make a difference."
The youth paused briefly to consider my words, bent to pick up a starfish and threw it as far as possible. Turning to me he simply said, "I made a difference to that one."
I left the boy and went home, deep in thought of what the boy had said. I returned to the beach and spent the rest of the day helping the boy throw starfish in to the sea."
What small difference will you make today? tomorrow?
Debbe
Debbe Kennedy
founder, Global Dialogue Center
author, Putting Our Differences to Work:
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance
