....“Thoughts from Under the Palm”....: Keeping The Spirit

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Keeping The Spirit

May the spirit be with you.

'Tis the season for the spirit. In every long checkout line, in every overbooked airplane and every crowded terminal, the spirit lurks. In every late package and truly ugly lawn decoration, the spirit hides. Even in department store music and television holiday specials, the spirit is somehow there. Tis the season for the spirit.

What is the spirit? The spirit is the feeling of completion found when losing oneself in others. It is the joy of giving and it is the release and relief from taking. It is acceptance of others and of self.

The spirit resides beneath the surface, beneath the veneer, beneath the crusty outer shell, hidden away. It hibernates during the long year, trundling into its dark cave after New Year's Day to remain dormant until December comes around again. Then it emerges. That is the season of the spirit.

You may not feel that the spirit is with you, even in this season of the spirit. December brings even more stress, even more deadlines, even more obligations than the rest of the year. Christmas and Hanukkah celebrations require more planning and organizing and emotional challenges than ever. It is the season to compete even harder, to surpass your neighbor's decorations, to give the greatest gifts, to throw the best party, to appear the most generous. And it is also a time for end of year deadlines, for the approaching end of the tax year, for those difficult financial and personal assessments. It is the season for completion, the time to finish lagging projects, to make last minute investments, to pass a last minute national health bill, to try to save the globe. Yet it is also the season for the spirit.

Somehow, the spirit finds us. Long ago this time of year was set aside for the spirit and despite all the obstacles that we have increasingly placed in its path, it still somehow finds us. It finds us when we wish it to find us and where we expect it to find us. When we go to our place of worship, it will find us. When we perform acts of random kindness, it will find us. When we give generously of our time, talent, and wealth to those who need us, it will find us. And when we need it, then, too, it will find us.

After 9/11, the spirit found us. This was a spirit of togetherness, of renewed appreciation for one another, of compassion and generosity. The crusty veneer was briefly removed, the protective skin was pulled away, the spirit emerged from hibernation. There was connectedness, unity. And then, gradually, we let it trundle back to its cave. We are not practiced in keeping the spirit with us.

The spirit brings us together, but we need to be trained in keeping the spirit. Like the writer's muse, it is born out of practice. Like music, it is known through expression. Our children need to learn it in their schools and we need to practice it in our homes and our work place. Congress needs to release itself from self interest and practice it. Leaders around the world need to practice it to save the earth. We mustn't let it slip away.

Each December brings a clean slate, a new opportunity to find the spirit and then the challenge to try to keep it.

May the spirit be with you. And may you keep it with you all year long.

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Leadership Thoughts to Ponder

"If carbon dioxide continues to increase, the study group finds no reason to doubt that climate changes will result and no reason to believe that these changes will be negligible."

National Academy of Sciences Ad Hoc Study Group, 1979

"Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing."

Abraham Lincoln

"Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it is made in the small ones."

Winston Churchill

"…Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.”

Martin Luther King , Jr.

"If you wanted to create an educational environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a classroom."

John Medina

"I am confident that if we change the way we think about the environment, the value we place on the planet from an economic standpoint and the role that powerful industries play in our political systems, we can make a bold step forward toward a clean-energy future."

Al Gore

"If those of us concerned about climate change turn out to be wrong - but we refocus America anyway...our country will have cleaner air and water, lower energy bills, and healthier people. And what if the climate skeptics...who say climate change is a hoax turn out to be wrong - but we listen and do nothing?"

Thomas Friedman: Hot, Flat, and Crowded.

"Make no mistake: catastrophic climate change represents a threat to human security, global stability, and - yes - even to American national security."

U.S. Senator John Kerry

Helpful Books for Thinking About Leadership Education

What is Leadership Education Resources (LER)?

LER, a division of Rich Gamble Associates, is a think tank and resource center for those endeavoring to teach leadership, character, and values in schools. Whether writing, introducing, or administering a full school curriculum, a one year program, or seeking methods to enhance the skills of your current student leaders, Leadership Education Resources offers the organization, planning concepts, individual lesson plans, training methods, and even complete leadership curricula specific to your needs. Read Rich's article "Fostering Future Leaders" published in Independent School Magazine in Spring of 2009.