By Frances Hesselbein
In October, the state of Arizona convened A Day of Civil Action. I stood with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, and many others who passionately believe a civil community and society can exist - but only through shared example can this be achieved.
With the recent tragedy in Arizona, our belief is only more confirmed. We would like to share the response of a local Arizona community member, Tamara Woodbury, CEO of Girl Scouts - Arizona Cactus-Pine Council, Inc.
Our shared commitment to "invest in peoples highest potential, to create practices and arenas of civic dialogue and circles of loving community" should be the priorities we address each day. As I mentioned this past Fall: If every single organization and every leader in all three sectors tomorrow morning began with "I will treat everyone with respect, even if I don't agree with you, I will speak with respect." If we did this, there would be the most remarkable change in the community and society.
Good morning Friends, Colleagues, Community Partners and Circle Sisters,
When I woke this morning before turning to the news to find out who has continued to survive yesterdays tragic events here in Arizona I found myself reflecting on this tragedy in the context of our shared work together. I was reminded of Viktor Frankl and Humberto Matarana's wisdom regarding how I must hold all humans even those who contribute to violence, fear and anger, remembering that fundamentally we are all seeking meaning and purpose and that our essential biological and spiritual nature is love. We are relational beings. Indeed some of us are born with different capacities and mental or physiological abilities all of which can be amplified in one direction or the other by the conditions we experience and are held in.
I hope the link below helps illustrate the importance of our shared work in this community. Why it is incredibly important to invest in peoples highest potential, to create practices and arenas of civic dialog and circles of loving community, be they Girl Scout troops or circles women, because history and research demonstrates that if we are not held in the conditions/containers that support our loving nature and our highest potential we are all vulnerable to "drift", particularly those who are physically or biologically the most vulnerable. I would go so far as to say that the fear and anger, so present in today’s society and here in Arizona, have created a wind that "blows" like a hurricane against everyone’s loving nature, their real potential and inner yearning for meaning and purpose in life.
I believe that our work together and our passion towards building the "Arizona we want" - building our civic health, support leadership development of girls and women and creating circles of leadership that support one another shifts the prevailing trajectory of the anger and fear by providing the containers (circles of love) and the experiential and reflective learning processes and practices that hold harbors of hope and possibility in the midst of today’s hurricanes. I hope that one of the possible learning’s that we can all take out of yesterdays tragedy is to give greater value to what we do and how we invest in the highest potential in people in our community and our circles of influence.
I hope you find the link below helpful. Thank you for all that you do and for the love and passion that you bring to your work and your leadership. I am proud to call you all friends and partners.
Please View Viktor Frankl and Humberto Matarana's TED Talk
Tamara Woodbury
CEO of Girl Scouts - Arizona Cactus-Pine Council, Inc.
January 2011