Northstar Gallery

 

QUOTES

A Collection Of Thoughts & Wisdoms On

Leadership and Service

 

A charging Tiger doesn't have an off switch!

 

A social conscience without personal relationship is

like cut flowers - rootless and soon to wither.

 

Be brave enough to live creatively. The creative is

the place where no one else has ever been. You have to

leave the city of your comfort and go into the

wilderness of your intuition. You can't get there by

bus, only by hard work, risking and by not quite

knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will

be wonderful: yourself.

- Alan Alda

 

 

There is nothing new under the sun, but there are lots

of old things we don't know.

- Ambrose Bierce

 

It has been said, and I believe not without reason,

that keepers of asylums who live, without any variety

of intercourse and occupation, exclusively in the

company of the insane, are themselves apt to become of

unsound mind; and that of those who escape insanity

there are comparatively few who do not ultimately

acquire the peculiar expression of eye which is

observable in lunatics. If, the constant exposure to

the society of lunatics be in any case sufficient to

give rise to madness in a previously healthy mind, it

is as clear as the light of day that the same influence

must retard the recovery of those whose minds are

already deranged; and that, on the same principle, it

must be of importance to subject the lunatic

continually to the restorative influence of the society

of healthy and well-regulated minds.

Every day brings fresh conviction within, that the more

nearly we can approximate our treatment of the insane

to that of reasonable beings, the more successful will

we be in effecting cures, and the more delightful will

the duty become of ministering to the mind diseased.

Principles of Physiolog Andrew Combe, M.D.1842

 

 

 

We live in terror because persuasion is no longer

possible...because man can no longer tap that part of

his nature, as real as the historical part, which he

recaptures in contemplating the beauty of nature and of

human faces... We suffocate among people who think they

are absolutely right, whether in their machines or

their ideas. And for all those who can live only in an

atmosphere of human dialogue... this silence is the end

of the world.

- Albert Camus Neither Victims nor Executioners

 

 

 

 

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the

mysterious. It is the source of all true art and

science.

-Albert Einstein

 

 

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but

not simpler.

-Albert Einstein

 

 

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look

so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we

do not see the one which has opened for us.

- Alexander Graham Bell

 

 

Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as

everyone else and thinking something different.

- Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

 

We apprehend our god in the alternate voids and

fullness of a cathedral; in the space that separates

the salient fractures of a picture; in the living

geometry of a flower, a seashell, and animal; in the

pauses and intervals between the notes of music, in

their differences of tones and sonority; and finally,

on the plane of conduct, in the love and gentleness,

the confidence and humility, which give beauty to the

relationships between human beings.

- Aldous Huxley

 

 

Our accepted differences and diversities must be pooled

into a common purpose worthy of our efforts as tribes

and as a nation.

 

 

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of

them?

- Abraham Lincoln

 

 

 

I told God that I had done all that I could; now the

result was in his hands; if this country was to be

saved, it was because He so willed it. The burden fell

off my shoulders, my intense anxiety was relieved, and

in its place came a great trustfulness!

- Abraham Lincoln

 

 

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to

test a man's character, give him power.

--Abraham Lincoln

 

 

When you have got an elephant by the hind legs and he

is trying to run away, it's best to let him run.

-- Abraham Lincoln

 

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot build character by taking away man's

initiative. You cannot help men permanently by doing

for them what they could and should do for themselves.

- Abraham Lincoln

 

 

I dreamed I had a child, and even in the dream I saw

that it was my life, and it was an idiot, and I ran

away. But it always crept into my lap again, clutched

at my clothes. Until I thought, if I could kiss it,

whatever in it was my own, perhaps I could sleep. And

I bent over its broken face, and it was horrible...but

I kissed it. I think that one must finally take one's

life into one's arms...

Authur Miller After the Fall The Disabled & their Parents

 

There is no more noble occupation in the world than to

assist another human being--to help someone succeed.

--Alan Loy McGinnis

 

 

THE AMBULANCE DOWN IN THE VALLEY

Twas a dangerous cliff as they freely confessed

though to walk near its edge was quite pleasant

but over the side slipped a Duke and a Prince

and it had fooled many a peasant.

The people all said something had to be done

though their projects did not at all tally.

Some said put a fence round the edge of the cliff.

Other's an ambulance down in the valley.

The lament of the crowd was profound and so loud

as their hearts overflowed with great pity

but the ambulance carried the cry of the day

as it spread to the neighboring cities.

A collection was made to accumulate aid

and dwellers in highway and alley

gave dollars and cents not to furnish a fence

but an ambulance down in the valley.

For the cliff is alright if you're careful they said

and if folks ever trip and are falling

it's not the slipping and sliding that hurts

so much as the shock when they're stopping.

And so on for years as these mishaps occurred

a quick forth on the rescuers sally

to pick up the victims who fell from the cliff

with the ambulance down in the valley.

Said one in his plea, "It's a marvel to me,

that you'd give so much greater attention,

to repairing results then to curing the cause.

Why you'd much better aim at prevention.

The mischief of course should be stopped at its source.

Come neighbors and friends let's rally.

It makes far better sense to rely on a fence

than an ambulance down in the valley."

He's wrong in his head the majority said.

He would end all our earnest endeavors.

He's the kind of a jerk that would halt our good work

but we will support it forever!

Don't we pick up them all just as quick as they fall

and treat them with care quite liberally?

A superfluous fence is of no consequence

if the ambulance works in the valley."

- Author Unknown

 

 

Among a hundred mirrors before yourself

false..strangled in your own noose SELF knower! Self

executioner! crammed between two nothings a question

mark...

- Nietzsche

 

 

 

What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us.

What we have done for others and the world remains and

is immortal.

--Albert Pine

 

 

As the cold water gushed forth,... I spelled

"w-a-t-e-r" in Helen's free hand... She dropped the mug

and stood as one transfixed. A new light came into her

face....Then she dropped on the ground and asked for

its name and pointed to the pump and the trellis, and

suddenly turning round she asked for my name. I spelled

"Teacher."

- Ann Sullivan

 

 

Compassion is the basis of all morality.

- Arthur Schopenhauer

 

 

Example is not the main thing in influencing others.

It is the only thing.

- Albert Schweitzer

 

 

 

 

 

The most elementary ethical principle, when understood

by the heart, means that out of reverence for the

unfathomable, infinite, and living Reality we call God,

we must never consider ourselves strangers toward any

human being. Rather, we must bind ourselves to the

task of sharing his experiences and try being of help

to him.

- Albert Schweitzer Reverence for Life

 

Boundless compassion for all living beings is the

surest and most certain guarantee of pure moral

conduct, and needs no casuistry. Whoever is filled

with it will assuredly injure no one, do harm to no

one, encroach on no man's rights; he will rather have

regard for everyone, forgive everyone, help everyone as

far as he can, and all his actions will bear the stamp

of justice and loving-kindness.

- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

The Basis of Morality

 

The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of

solidarity with other human beings.

- Albert Schweitzer

 

 

The only ones among you who will be really happy and

those who will have sought and found how to serve.

- Albert Schweitzer

 

 

Civilizations die of suicide, not by murder.

- Arnold Toynbee

 

 

Future shock is the dizzying orientation brought on by

the premature arrival of the future.

- Alvin Toffler

 

 

Written reports have purpose only if read by the king.

Wise chieftains cause Huns to be tested in their

discipline through a successive scheme of opportunities

in which their physical and emotional stamina is tried.

However, chieftains should never test Huns beyond

reasonable capacity.

When the consequences of your decision are too grim to

bear, look for another option. Compassion is the

byword when making difficult decisions that,

unavoidably, have temporary or long-lasting adverse

consequences for even a few Huns.

To experience the strength of chieftains we must

tolerate some of their weaknesses.

The spirit of unity must be a cardinal principle in the

ways and attitudes of all Huns. Once divided, we are

easily made subject to foreign nations.

The consequence for not adequately training your Huns

is their failure to accomplish that which is expected

of them.

Should you become aware that defeat on the battlefield

or in negotiations is impending, don't deny it. Face

it and take immediate action to minimize the opponent's

gain and get back to your cause.

Our accepted differences and diversities must be pooled

into a common purpose worthy of our efforts as tribes

and as a nation.

Noble resolve to do the right thing is characteristic

of prudent decision making. Responsible decisions are

difficult to improve upon.

Next to the importance of knowing when to make a

decision stands the insight to know when to forgo

making one. Impatient chieftains often precipitate

premature action.

Never expect your Huns to always be compatible. But

expect their differences to be resolvable without the

spread of discontent to other Huns.

Know that your most worthy efforts will be scorned by

your peers, for it is they who suffer most when you

excel. If your actions and ambitions threaten them

not, you're simply striving toward the insignificant.

In the end, vision, drive, energy, singleness of

purpose, wise use of resources and a commitment to a

destiny worthy of his efforts become a character of a

chieftain who excels.

In selecting an alternative, wise chieftains look for

the choice in which the benefits outweigh the risks and

costs of the decision. Noble chieftains make decisions

in favor of the common good.

If an incompetent chieftain is removed, seldom do we

appoint his highest-ranking subordinate to his place.

For when a chieftain has failed, so likewise have his

subordinate leaders.

Huns should engage only in wars they can win.

Great chieftains never take themselves too seriously.

Do not underestimate the power of an enemy, no matter

how great or small, to rise against you on another day.

Do not expect everyone to agree with you -- even if you

are king.

Discipline should be expected only at those levels of

order and conformity that serve the good of the tribe

or nation. Demanding more than is required is an abuse

of power and will give rise to rebellion within the

tribe.

Discipline is not suppression. It is the teaching of

correct ways expected of Huns.

Discipline does not mean a loss of individuality.

Chieftains never condone a lack of either morale or

discipline. They plan for morale and discipline! They

cause it to happen!

Chieftains must avoid decisions that favor themselves

at the expense of the Huns. Every decision is an

opportunity to improve the conditions of the Huns, the

tribe and the nation.

Chieftains are often betrayed by those they trust most.

Being a leader of the Huns is often a lonely job.

Always remember that worthy causes meet with the most

resistance--even internal withholding of support and

loyalty. If victory is easily gained, you must

reconsider the worthiness of your ambitions.

Always pay proper courtesy to your subordinate leaders.

Should you fail to accord them respect, so will their

subordinates.

A wise chieftain never kills the Hun bearing bad news.

Rather, the wise chieftain kills the Hun who fails to

deliver bad news.

A wise chieftain never asks a question for which he

doesn't want to hear the answer.

A nation of one ancestry and race is weak. We must

hold strong our custom of welcoming all foreigners who

seek to join our cause, treating them with dignity and

respect and teaching them our language and customs.

A Hun without a purpose will never know when he has

achieved it.

A chieftain should choose a well-made sword, not one

glittering with jewel and gold but one honed to a sharp

edge and made of the finest material in the land. A

sword is the mark of a chieftain. His sword, like the

chieftain himself, must prevail in battle. A chieftain

should dress in fine skins, and furs -- not those

draped by gold and silver adornments. Pompous

appearance breeds hate and gives rise to contempt and

laughter among the ranks.

A chieftain neither dresses nor arms himself at the

expense of his Huns. His dress and weaponry may be of

subtle distinction as is accepted by custom. Yet it

must never be offensive in its cost or in its style,

nor should its intent be to project noble superiority

over those he leads, lest they scorn him for it.

A chieftain can never be in charge if he rides in the rear.

- Atilla the Hun

 

 

He who wishes to fulfill his mission in this world must

be a man of one idea, that is, of one great

overmastering purpose, overshadowing all his aims, and

guiding and controlling his entire life.

- Bate

 

 

Faith without works is like a bird without wings;

though she may hop about on earth, she will never fly

to heaven. But when both are joined together, then

doth the soul mount up to her eternal rest.

- Beaumont

 

 

Living well is living free.

- Burton Blatt

 

 

Somewhere I once wrote that while illnesses are man's

curse, handicaps (stigmas attached to illnesses) are

his invention. I wondered then when will we learn the

difference between what we must endure and what we

bring upon ourselves. I complained that while we still

have lots to learn about illnesses, we seem to have

everything to learn about handicaps; that while not all

illnesses have effective treatments, all handicaps are

preventable and curable. Handicaps are a condition of

the soul.

- Burton Blatt

 

 

If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes

semi-good, then we did it. If anything goes real good,

then you did it. That's all it takes to get people to

win football games for you.

- Bear Bryant

 

 

It should be a sobering reminder to us that, when the

pioneers in our field undertook this task, despite the

greatest good will and thoughtful deliberation they led

to the development of modern institutional settings. In

offering enormous benefits, their work led to the loss

of everything important to their beneficiaries.

- Burton Blatt

 

 

When you're through changing, you're through.

- Bruce Barton

 

 

We are all born for love. It is the principle of

existence, and its only end.

- Benjamin Disraeli

 

 

BEATITUDES FOR FRIENDS OF THE HANDICAPPED

Blessed are you who take the time

To listen to difficult speech,

For you help me to know that

If I persevere,

I can be understood.

Blessed are you who never bid me

To "hurry up"

Or take my tasks from me

And do them for me,

For I often need time rather than help.

Blessed are you who stand beside me

As I enter new and untried ventures,

for my failures will be outweighed

By the times I surprise

Myself and you.

Blessed are you who asked

For my help,

For my greatest need is to be needed.

Blessed are you who understand that

It is difficult for me

To put my thoughts into words.

Blessed are you who with a smile,

Encourage me to try once more.

Blessed are you

Who never remind me

That today I asked the

Same question twice.

Blessed are you who respect me

And love me just as I am.

- Anonymous

 

 

We first raise the dust and then claim we cannot see.

- Berkeley

 

 

Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.

- Ben Franklin

 

 

 

 

 

Love your enemies, for they tell you your faults.

- Ben Franklin

 

 

A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more

than a whole book of praise after a success.

- Bits & Pieces

 

 

Day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment there are

ordinary people who use their freedom to work for the

freedom of others.

- Bruce Springsteen

 

 

Success is a journey, not a destination.

- Ben Sweetland

 

 

"You can see things that are, and you say "Why? but I

see things that never were and I say, "Why not?"

- G. B. Shaw

 

 

Decay is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on

with diligence.

- Buddha's last words

 

No matter what the dogma.. There still remains birth,

old age, death, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief and

despair. And it is against these, here on earth, that

I am prescribing.

- Buddha

 

 

Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.

* * *

You can't hold a man down without staying down with

him.

* * *

There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is

pushing down, the other is pulling up.

- Booker T. Washington

 

 

The grand essentials of happiness are something to do,

something to love, and something to hope for.

- Chalmers

 

 

If I could never really be like other people then at

least I would be like myself and make the best of it.

- Christy Brown

My Left Foot

 

 

If the misery of the poor be not caused by the laws of

nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.

- Charles Darwin

Voyage of the Beagle

 

 

There are not office hours for leaders.

- Cardinal Gibbons

 

 

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a

man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

- Chinese Proverb

 

 

A young branch takes on all the bends that one gives it.

- Chinese Proverb

 

 

"Every psychological extreme secretly contains its own

opposite or stands in some sort of intimate and

essential relation to it... There is no hollowed custom

that cannot on occasion turn in to its opposite and the

more extreme a position, the more easily may we

expect... a conversion of something into its opposite."

- C.G. Jung

 

 

I plan to spend the rest of my life in the future, so I

want to be reasonably sure what kind of future it is

going to be. That is my reason for planning.

- Charles Kettering, Industrialist 1950

 

 

"Come to the edge", he said

They said: "We're afraid."

"Come to the edge", he said.

They came.

He pushed them...and they flew.

 

 

Faith is an outward and visible sign of an inward and

spirtual grace.

- Book of Common Prayer

 

 

Tzu Kung asked: "Is there any one word that can serve

as a principle for the conduct of life?" Confucius

said: "Perhaps the word 'reciprocity': Do not do to

others what you would not want others to do to you."

- Confucius

 

"The way out is through the door. Why is it that no

one will use this exit?"

- Confucius

 

 

The Apostle Paul had mixed feelings about his own

disability:

And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance

of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a

messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being

too elated. Three times I besought the Lord about this

that it should leave me; but he said to me, "My grace

is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in

weakness." I will all the more gladly boast of my

weakness, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with

weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and

calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong.

- 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

 

 

 

 

 

Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching

them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on

the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides,

and following them you will reach your destiny.

- Carl Schurz

 

 

There is just cause to celebrate the frail but stubborn

budding of a new vision -- based on the oldest wisdom

we contain. If we nurture that vision with the

likelihood of our ideas and our efforts, we -- and our

children .. may be rewarded with a future worth

living."

- Charlene Spretnak

 

 

The mission of the Department of Mental Retardation is

to join with others to create the conditions under

which all persons with mental retardation experience:

- Presence and participation in Connecticut town life

- Opportunities to develop and exercise competence

- Opportunities to make choices in the pursuit of a

personal future

- Good relationships with family members and friends

- Respect and dignity

- Mission Statement, Connecticut Dept. of

Mental Retardation

 

"Government has the divine task of preserving the

world."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer Ethics p. 344

 

 

Leadership: the art of getting someone else to do

something you want done because he wants to do it.

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

 

Though force can protect in emergency, only justice,

fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally

lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

 

If there is among you a poor man, one of your brethren,

in any of your towns within your land which the LORD

your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart or

shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall

open your hand to him, and lend him sufficient for his

need, whatever it may be.

You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not

be grudging when you give to him; because for this the

LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in

all that you undertake.

For the poor will never cease out of the land;

therefore I command you, You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in the land.

- The Torah/Deuteronomy 15.4,12

 

 

A LANGUAGE OF ACCEPTANCE

We are coming to understand that our mission is to help

persons experiencing disabling conditions to find:

home, friends, family and work. These are the central

activities of life, they are important to each of us

and are present in the every day aspects of each of our

own lives.

 

In our roles as professionals helping persons find

home, friends, family and work we are often the bridge

between an individuals past and future. In this role

it is important to not introduce artificial barriers to

acceptance. Our language is a powerful influence on how we perceive each other, directly leading to degrees of acceptance and rejection. Gordon Alport, In "The Nature

of Prejudice" observes that language is always the

first step in the process of separating an individual

or group from the larger society. The use of words

that identify a person or group as being different

creates a focus on that difference. It defines the

difference and communicates that difference to

increasing numbers of other people. This is an

insidious process, for verbal disenfranchisement

deepens attitudes, creates consensus on the fundamental

nature of the differentness and leads to active forms

of discrimination, separation and ultimately

victimization. The process of separation feeds and

builds on each element. Attitudes create words, words

create and deepen attitudes, attitudes lead to action,

and actions then require more sharply defined words.

Can words and language be used to encourage acceptance?

 

The reality is that special language will always

communicate differentness and separation. The language

of acceptance can only be the language found in the

daily experience of friends, family, home and work. The

test for a language of acceptance is the presence of

words in our own relationships with our own friends and

family. Non of us would ever call a family member a

client, a resident, a consumer or folk. Instead we

would call people that are important to us by there

name. At the end of a long day, each of us goes home.

Few of us return to our group home, our program, our

ICF, our CLA or our facility. People with valued roles

have friends, relatives, co-workers and neighbors as

the major persons in their lives. Those of us with

valued roles will rarely identify people in key

relationships as our staff, our RSW, our advocate, our

team leader or our volunteer. You and I go to work in

the morning. Why must some people go to their workshop, their day program, their supported work placement or their partial program. In addition there are many other

words that do not seem to have counter parts in regular

lives. These include: MH/MR, slot, beds, team, PD,

QMRP, intake, mentally retarded, mentally ill,

placement, utilization, discharge, incontinent,

ambulatory, self preservation, deinstitutionalize,

agency, system, BSU, IPP and meds. What is so stunning

is that these words rarely add useful information to

our communication as is evidenced by the language of

John O'Brian and Robert Perske.

Recently, Patrick Worth delivered the Keynote address

to over 2000 persons at the national TASH conference in

Washington. Mr. Worth is president of People First in

Ontario and identifies himself as a person who was

labeled as being Mentally Retarded. Mr. Worth, in

speaking of the power of words, charged that

application of the word Mental Retardation is a life

sentence and for some is a death sentence.

As a society we have become very sensitive about the

power of racist and sexist language. Why is it that

more of the persons that are the targets of a language

of rejection do not counter charge "disableist"? Is it

possible that our language has already forged a

debilitating social role of eternal "clienthood"?

As friends, family, neighbors and professionals we have

a choice. Would any of us ever say: "Hello my name is

John, I'm a client in a Community Living Arrangement

for MRs. I was discharged from the State Center and I

now go to a sheltered workshop during the day." Or

would we simply say: "My name is John Wilson. My home

is on Second Street in Camp Hill and I work at General

Electric."

I have discovered that confronting my language forces a

struggle with basic values and attitudes. It is not

easy and it is not simple. This is not an issue of a

list of approved and non approved words. It is about

the roles, perceptions and expectations that exist

among and between persons that are currently

experiencing disabling conditions and those that are

not. Our language is a public window on our deepest

feeling about those attitudes. I invite each of you to

join in this very challenging and worthwhile struggle.

- Northstar Gallery

 

 

BY THE ELEVATOR

She sat by the elevator,

Slumped in her wheel chair.

There was twelve of us waiting.

She did not acknowledge us.

We did not see her, she was becoming invisible.

Her presence was so fragile, like that of a ghost

The elevator came.

I hesitated, was she really there?

I returned

Eye contact

Her face exploded into a smile

- dwf

 

 

BUS STOPS

Today, Janelle and I were in my office which overlooks

front street and the M. Harvy Taylor Bridge. I was

looking out the window and my attention was caught by

a young women. She had climbed over the rail onto the

superstructure of the bridge. She was about 100 feet

above the Susquehanna. She then grabbed the top rail

with her hands and dangled over the water. I dialed 911

gave my name address, phone number and the nature of

the problem. While I was dialing 911, a bus turned

onto the bridge and as it approached the woman it

stopped immediately in front of her almost like it was

a regular bus stop. The bus door opened and the bus

driver literally shot out and grabbed the young women

around the shoulders and pinned her against the rail

of the bridge. Cars in front and behind the bus stopped

and their drivers rallied around the bus driver leaned

over the rail, captured the young woman's legs and

hoisted her to the sidewalk where they gently and

securely held her. A police car arrived and the care

of the women was assumed by the police officer. The

whole episode from beginning to end was over within

three minutes. No evidence of the drama remained.

This episode was a window on a major dilemma of our

society. When do we as individuals, as friends, as

neighbors, as passers by reach out to another person

and when do we defer to the formal intervention of the

system. Increasingly our response as a society is to

defer, to dial 911 and then hesitate to reach out, to

help in a private, personal and individualized manner.

At issue is that caring, which is freely given from one

person to another, communicates a concern that is

profoundly different from concern that is essential

but professionally rendered. The essence of this

episode would have been fundamentally different if the

bus driver had not risked and stopped. It is possible

that a crowd would have gathered and a young woman's

personal despair would have become a public event.

For those of us that are professional care givers,

care that is voluntary and freely given and not part

of our formal responsibilities can affirm our own

personal service mission. Bogden writes about a

sociology of acceptance where a person enters into a

private and personal relationship with a person who is

poor, disabled or in need. In such a relationship a

person reaches out, offers help and gets to truly

know the person experiencing the need and begins to

understand that person's life experience. Such

relationships can offer a deep understanding of the

individual's joys, fears, hopes and pain. Ultimately

the relationship transcends that of helper and

helped, and becomes a relationship of equality and

acceptance. In such relationships of acceptance mutual

joys, fears, aspirations and pain are shared and the

person that was in the helper role now identifies with

the realities of their friend's life.

At times all of us will need professional services.

When this is the case we want them to be effective and

timely. We also want help and support from our

friends. In seeking balance between formal and informal

services, professional care givers must be very wise

so that we do not render services in a manner where

the bus drivers no longer stop.

- dwf

 

 

HARVARD

I hear with ears well formed

I see with eyes that see much

I think with a mind that is better than most

My thoughts, hopes and fears are lost in a voice box of

confused cords

My arms and legs flap as pant legs and shirt sleeves

wedded to a buffeted clothesline

You talk to me like I'm a child

You don't see my eyes

I'm lecturing at Harvard next month

You should come

A PROMISE KEPT

A cell too creative

A disappointment from birth

A promise lost

A body whose only use is as a container for me

A mirror for you

An offer of salvation

 

- dwf

 

THE MONSTER

I'm a monster.

I frighten children.

I have never been loved.

People say I would be better off put away.

I live in terror of being hunted.

I reflect your horror of being and of not being.

You need me.

You will not survive without me.

 

- dwf

 

"WE MUST NOT LIMIT OUR COMPASSION TO THOSE WE JUDGE DESERVING, FOR WE OURSELVES DO NOT DESERVE THE COMPASSION OF GOD."

- DECLARATION OF FAITH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE U.S.

 

 

WHO IS HE?

Entering a side door I frequently use, my eye caught

the image of a man sitting among the trash cans. Our

eyes met, for only an instant, I thought about stopping

but didn't and in a moment I was in the building and

the instant passed. I remember thinking that I only had

a dollar or two and that would not be enough if I

offered him some money to get something to eat.

That lost moment haunted me for weeks. I kept looking

for him, hoping to have a second chance, but he was

never there. I wondered if the experience really

happened. Was it really conceivable that someone could

be homeless adjacent to a large social service agency?

This morning he was there and our eyes again met, I

said good morning and once more walked through the

door. Had the moment again passed? I continued through

the building, out the front, around the side and

returned to the area of his residency. We talked and I

found we were both from the same area and were about

the same age. We both spoke about our daughters and he

explained how he lost his home and told me about being

interviewed on the radio and television about his

opinion on homelessness in Harrisburg.

I asked if he needed any money to get something to eat.

He asked if I was inviting him to lunch. I stumbled

and said "no", I was offering him something to buy some

food. He said "no thanks, I'm in pretty good shape".

- dwf

 

 

"Asking "what if?" helps remind us that we probably

created the reality in question to begin with."

- Dudley Lynch

 

 

LEADERSHIP

In an environment requiring moral leadership during

periods of

rapid change, turbulence and conflict, a successful

leader:

Has a Vision, a view of how things should be an din

ability to transfer Vision to reality

Experiences passion for what is being done and for what

might be.

Exercises uncompromising integrity, and a willingness

to speak the truth, doing so with power.

Is able to extend immediate forgiveness to self and to

others.

Pushes the envelope

Understands how to use the power of trend and flow in

order to achieve.

Learns early

Learns quickly

Learns lastingly

Is willing to fail

Creates choice

Avoids drama

Is able to change the meaning of events

Thrives on doing more with less

Is willing to stand the heat if it matters

Is willing to retreat if it does not matter

Is able and willing to exercise appropriate retaliation

Avoids stupidity

Successes and failures are Mission driven not ego

driven

Is intellectually curious

Asks questions and seeks answers

Understands the value and danger of data

Reads

Is able to apply an experimental methodology

Is disciplined

Has energy

Uses mistakes to test and define the environment

Continuously collects and integrates ideas and external

information.

Uses the power of order

Uses the power of surprise and novelty

Values elegant solutions

Sees opportunity and creativity within chaos

Prospects for an array of alternatives

Leads

Self corrects

Self directs

Self perturbates

Is comfortable with complexity

Is comfortable with ambiguity

Is comfortable letting go

Understands followership

Experiences responsibility for actions of the group and

the organization

Is able to subordinate self to a greater cause

Sees the greater picture

Takes responsibility

Perceives moral leadership as a political endeavor

Creates conceptual products

Lives both in the future and the present

Knows when to let go

Is open to information arriving from the future

In a leadership group:

Members independently develop and contribute conceptual

products. Each member helps expand and explore the

concepts which ultimately become group concepts.

Members independently identify questions, engage in

analysis and share observations and insights.

Members collect external ideas and intelligence that

form an information base of the leadership group.

Members respond and interact conceptually and

intellectually with each other.

Members find deeper conviction and courage for doing

the hard things.

- D. Lynch

 

 

In war there is no substitute for victory.

 

 

By profession I am a soldier and take pride in that

fact. But I am prouder--infinitely prouder--to be a

father. A soldier destroys in order to build; the

father only builds, never destroys. The one has the

potentiality of death; the other embodies creation and

life. And while the hordes of death are mighty, the

battalions of life are mightier still. It is my hope

that my son, when I am gone, will remember me not from

the battle but in the home repeating with him our

simple daily prayer, "Our Father Who Art in Heaven."

- Douglas Macarthur

 

 

"The healthy society, like the healthy body, is not the

one that has taken the most medicine."

Believing that constantly increasing levels of

regulation will keep the social environment of

vulnerable people safe and healthy is like believing

that constantly increasing doses of antibiotics will

keep a malnourished child healthy. It deals with only

the symptoms. In its potential for misdirecting our

attention from deeper causes, it can unwittingly do

long-term harm to the fabric of human relationships

through which the life of mankind really works.

- Dave Schwartz

 

 

Client relationships are typified by distorted patterns

of relationships and by approximations of friendships

with staff.

-Relationships are almost exclusively with staff and

care providers.

-Virtually all time and Relationships are staff

mediated or controlled.

-Few or no Relationships exist with handicapped

(including house mates) or non-handicapped peers.

-Clients have no "best friend"; few or no close friends

and few enduring relationships.

-Some continuing family relationships exist, but they

are not necessarily close.

-Staff readily perceived many relationship obstacles

but had more difficulty identifying facilitators.

-Staff/care provider "approximations" to friendship are

ambiguous, and not consciously considered.

-Staff often have conflicting roles - Realtor,

facilitator, mentor, employee, guard.

-Social Supports Research Project

David I. Specht, Ph.D.

Michael Nagy, Ph.D.

December 1986

 

 

The fundamental law of human beings is interdependence.

A person is a person through other persons.

- Bishop Desmond Tutu

 

 

Call, visit or write someone in need every day of your

life. Demonstrate your faith by passing it on to

someone else.

- Dennis Waitley

 

 

Happiness can not be traveled to, owned, earned, worn

or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of

living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.

- Dennis Waitley

 

 

"Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the

only one you have."

- Emile Chartier

The new idea either finds a champion or dies...No

ordinary involvement with a new idea provides the

energy required to come with the indifference and

resistance that major technological change provokes....

Champions of new inventions display persistence and

courage of heroic quality.

- Edward Schon, M.I.T.

 

 

There is no meaning to life except the meaning man

gives his life by the unfolding of his powers.

- Erich Fromm

 

 

"It is a paradox that in our time of drastic rapid

change, when the future is in our midst devouring the

present before our eyes, we have never been less

certain about what is ahead of us."

- E. Hoffer

 

 

"The World breaks all of us

then some become strong at the broken places."

- Earnest Hemingway

A Farewell to Arms

 

 

He who angers you, conquers you.

- Elizabeth Kenny

 

 

Your brother needs your help, but you meanwhile mumble

your little prayers to God, pretending not to see your

brother's need.

- Enchiridion

 

 

"God has scattered among us....rare as the possessors

of genius...[people with mental retardation, with

blindness, with deafness,] in order to bind the rich to

the needy, the talented to the incapable, all men to

each other, in one tie of indissoluble solidarity."

- Edouard O. Sequin

1885

 

 

A Man's house should be open wide to the north, to the

south, to the east, to the west--so that the poor would

not be put to trouble in finding entrance.

- Ethics of the Fathers

 

 

Once upon a time it happened to my people, and now it

happens to all people. And suddenly I said to myself,

maybe the whole world, strangly, has turned Jewish.

Everybody lives now facing the unknown. We are all, in

a way, helpless.

- Elie Wiesel

Viewpoint ABC

Nov 20, 1983

 

 

The question is not that one man could be so evil but

that so many had not the courage to be good.

- Elie Wiesel

 

 

You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you

were strangers in the land of Egypt.

You shall not ill-treat any widow or orphan. If you do

mistreat them, I will heed their outcry as as they cry

out to Me, and My anger shall blaze forth and I will

put you to the sword, and your own wives shall become

widows and your children orphans.

The Torah/Exodus 23.20

 

But Moses said to the Lord, "Please, O Lord, I have

never been a man of words, either in times past or now

that you have spoken to Your servant; I am slow of

speech and slow of tongue." And the Lord said to him,

"Who gives man speech? Who makes him dumb or deaf,

seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and I

will be with you as you speak and will instruct you

what to say." But he said, "Please, O Lord, make

someone else Your agent."

 

 

 

The Lord become angry with

Moses, and He said "Their is you brother Aaron the

Levite, He, I knows, speaks readily. You shall speak to

him and put the words in his mouth - I will be with you

and with him as you speak, and tell both of you what to

do - and he shall speak for you to the people."

The Torah Exodus 4.10

 

Our curiosity will drive us...It is our nature to

strive to explore everything, alive and dead, present

and past and future. When once the technology exists

to read and write memories from one mind into another,

the age of mental exploration will begin in earnest.

Instead of admiring the beauties of nature from the

outside, we will look at nature directly through the

eyes of the elephant, the eagle and the whale. We will

be able, through the magic of science, to feel in our

own minds the pride of the peacock and the wrath of the

lion.

- Freeman J. Dyson

Infinite in all Directions

 

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to

the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we

provide enough for those who have too little.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

Two men look out through the same bars: one sees the

mud, and one the stars.

- Frederich Langbridge, Pessimist and Optimist

 

 

The ultimate leader is one who is willing to develop

people to the point that they eventually surpass him or

her in knowledge and ability.

- Fred A. Manske, Jr.

 

 

Nothing on earth consumes a man more completely than

the passions of resentment.

- Friedrich Nietzsche

 

 

 

Let the lips of the poor be the trumpet of thy gift,

lest in seeking applause thou lose thy reward. Nothing

is more pleasing to God than an open hand and a closed

mouth.

- Francis Quarles (1592-1644)

Emblems

 

 

One act of charity will teach us more of the love of

God than a thousand sermons--one act of unselfishness,

of real self-denial, the putting forth of one loving

feeling to the outcast and "those who are of the way,"

will tell us more than whole volumes of the wisest

writers on theology.

- Frederick William Robertson

(1816-1853)

Sermons

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and

you help them to become what they are capable of being.

- Goethe

 

 

Free and fair discussion will ever be found the firmest

friend to truth.

- G. Campbell