Labor Day 2009 Service

2009-09-05T07:06:00.000-07:00

Prelude: "If I Had A Hammer", P. Seger, Preformed by Peter, Pual and Mary
Message: "Battle Of Blair Mountain: America's Forgotten Battle for Labor Justice"
Commentary: "Living Wage" by Ralph Nader
Postlude: "Hold On, Keep Your Eyes on the Prize", Milwaukee Children's Choir

"A World Worth Living In" - Service for the week of August 23, 2009

2009-08-23T05:51:00.000-07:00

Order of Service

Prelude: "Land of Confusion", M. Rutherford, Genesis, Preformed by Disturbed
Message: "Come, Come Whoever You Are" from Dances of Universal Peace held at Heartsong Retreat Center in Arkansas
Commentary: An Address to Psi Beta on Ethical Leadership by A. Lixhita
Postlude: "Revolution", Lennon/McCartney

"There's too many men, too many people, making too many problems, and not much love to go round."

An Address to Psi Beta on Ethical Leadership

The following are my remarks to a Chapter of the Psi Beta Honorary during their Spring 2009 Induction Ceremony:

Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to address this esteemed organization.
I have been asked here today, to mark your induction into this fine honorary by offering you thoughts on leadership and public service.

In my mind I conceive of such as being inextricably linked to the concepts of freedom and the pursuit of happiness.

These are phrases imprinted on the collective memory of our nation and have served as a rallying cry to people through the world, from France to Vietnam; Lafayette to Ho Chi Minh.

Despite of their ubiquity, or because of it, few truly understand the meaning of these terms; a leader must.

Though I hate to disagree with Janice Joplin, freedom is not another word for nothing left to lose. Freedom is the state of being able to pursue one’s own happiness.

By happiness I do not mean simple hedonistic pleasure or even relaxation. I refer to the ideal of happiness formulated by Aristotle, developed further by the philosophers of the Enlightenment, and enshrined in our national identity by the founders of the United States; living your life in such a way as to achieve your fullest potential, and doing so in an ethical manner.

In my own personal philosophy there are only two categories of offensive, unethical behavior or “sin” if you are of a spiritual bent; all other ethical lapses can be listed beneath them. The first is making choices that prevent yourself from realizing the fullness of your potential. The tricky part is the problem that most of us do not have an idea of who we are and what we wish to become until well after adulthood begins. All too often our younger less thoughtful selves make choices that limit the potential achievement of our future selves.

The second is to take any action that would prevent someone else from reaching their full potential; an ideal not terribly different from the medical injunction to “do no harm”.

Leaders have a higher obligation.

Instead of being content to doing no harm to their own or others’ full potential, they accept the burden of actively making sure that all those in their care, supervision or in their trust have access to opportunity.

Now, of course, there will be times when as leader you cannot make those in your charge do what is in their own best interest. You will see people sink into substance abuse, or addictions. You will see people place bureaucracy above compassion, political ideology above the helping hand.

That is why leaders must be prepared to not only have a vision of where we must go, but the ability or training to at times be a patient teacher to those they serve; knowledgeable of the facts and applicable research and capable of imparting it in an understandable way so that the “students” come to see the necessity.

This of course is where public service comes into action. Social workers, counselors, teachers, parents and more dedicate their lives to both provide opportunity and to assist others in developing the vision and discipline to understand and pursue their potential.

There is a man by the name of Chris Langan. He has a documented IQ 195 to 210. That’s 20% higher than Albert Einstein. He taught himself to read at age 3 by listening to the radio. He taught himself to play guitar flawlessly at the age of 15 by listening to Jimi Hendrix records. He could memorize entire high school text books in 2 days, allowing him past every class perfectly, rarely attending class. He made a perfect score on his SAT.

He was brilliant. He was also in a terrible family situation. He grew up extremely poor. He and his three brothers each had different fathers. Chris’ died when he was young and the man who served as his stepfather was a violent alcoholic.

He managed to get a scholarship to a private college, but lost it when his mother forgot to sign a financial aid paper.

Trying college again at a large state school, he had to quit when he lost his ride to morning classes and asked to have an afternoon schedule. He was refused.

He has worked as a clam fisherman, a night club bouncer, a farmer, a construction worker and several other odd jobs. There is of course nothing wrong with these careers in and of themselves; but most of us are not smarter than Einstein. These jobs were not Chris’ highest potential.
If anyone ever needed the help of a real leader, it was Chris. Not only did he miss out on a different life, an intellectual life that he wanted, we as a society lost out on his genius.

You are the leaders of tomorrow. Whether it is for the world, nation, your community, those you counsel or just one person, and by ensuring to them the opportunity to pursue their full potential, you serve all of humanity.

Go out and be the leader that your induction into Psi Beta acclaims to you to be.

Good luck and congratulations.

"One World" - Service for the week of August 17, 2009

2009-08-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

Order of Service

Prelude "One", U2, featuring Mary J. Blige
Message: Is God Keeping You From Going to Church? from the Unitarian Universalist Association, www.uua.org
Commentary "Pale Blue Dot" by C. Sagan
Postlude "Ode to Freedom" after Beethoven, Symphony No.9 (1989) in honor of German Re-unification

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Talossa

Labor Day 2009 Service

"A World Worth Living In" - Service for the week of August 23, 2009

"One World" - Service for the week of August 17, 2009