[Magdalen] From +Georgia

[cady soukup]

http://ecrozier.georgiaepiscopal.org/

It's this week's communication.

Cady


On 2/10/17, Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com> wrote:
> Our Georgia+ isn't a bishop yet, I don't think.
>
> Marion, a pilgrim
>
>
> On 2/10/2017 1:05 PM, Ginga Wilder wrote:
>> This is how to tell the truth.  Lynn, did Georgia send a link to the
>> article?  I would love to share it but don't think that I will do that
>> without also including its origin.  (DT might accuse me of putting out
>> fake
>> news.)
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Ginga
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 10, 2017 at 12:20 PM, Lynn Ronkainen <houstonklr at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> There's a scene in the 1977 film, "A Bridge Too Far," that's stayed in
>>> my
>>> memory. The scene is of a thousand wounded British soldiers spread out
>>> on
>>> the ground awaiting boats to take them to safety after an epic battle
>>> during WWII. The camera pans over these soldiers lying there exposed and
>>> helpless and a lone soldier stands and begins singing the hymn, "Abide
>>> with
>>> me." Soon all the soldiers join in forming a great choir:
>>> Abide with me, fast falls the eventide: The darkness deepens, Lord, with
>>> me abide:
>>> When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O
>>> abide
>>> with me.
>>>
>>> Eventually, they make it back across the river safely. This film is
>>> about
>>> an actual military battle called Operation Market Garden. In 1944,
>>> British
>>> Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery believed the Allies could parachute
>>> nearly
>>> 35,000 soldiers behind enemy lines, cut off the enemy's supply lines,
>>> and
>>> change the course of the war. He convinced himself that the paratroopers
>>> would face little resistance, only youth and old men with guns, even
>>> though
>>> reconnaissance photos provided by his subordinates and reports from the
>>> Dutch underground showed two German tank divisions and front line troops
>>> present. The operation was a disaster and Allied soldiers paid the
>>> price.
>>> Of the 10,000 British paratroopers sent, history reports only one in
>>> five
>>> returned.
>>>
>>> This film isn't about a military battle or even military strategy,
>>> really.
>>> That's merely the dramatic container for an important history lesson.
>>> It's
>>> rather about the hubris of leadership and the consequences when leaders
>>> don't listen to those who may know more than they do. Montgomery failed
>>> a
>>> basic test of humility with respect to leadership. Believing something
>>> doesn't make it so. And failing to listen to divergent voices,
>>> especially
>>> provided by the "rank and file," often leads to disastrous decisions.
>>>
>>> The real hubris in this situation (and in others since then) is the
>>> leader's willingness to actively ignore facts that don't fit what he
>>> wants
>>> to believe. So, we witnessed over 400,000 dead Americans and Iraqis over
>>> non-existent weapons of mass destruction that UN Inspectors had said
>>> clearly didn't exist. We get the near collapse of the world economy
>>> caused
>>> by banks' institutional hubris even though there were plenty of warning
>>> signs everywhere about the housing bubble. And today we see refugees,
>>> who
>>> are vetted for 18-24 months before entering this country legally, denied
>>> entry. None of them come from countries, like Saudi Arabia and Egypt,
>>> that
>>> have produced terrorists on American soil and not one refugee vetted and
>>> brought to America has engaged in terrorist acts.
>>>
>>> Once again, we're witnessing the hubris of leadership, which demands a
>>> circular logic that goes something like this: "Because I'm the leader and
>>> I
>>> believe something is so, then it must be so, because I'm the leader."
>>> The
>>> cost of leadership hubris is rarely paid for by the leader. It's most
>>> often
>>> the weak and helpless or those who are bound to follow orders that pay
>>> the
>>> price. Wanting to believe something doesn't make it so. Willfully
>>> ignoring
>>> the facts isn't a leadership virtue.
>>>
>>> Help of the helpless, O abide...
>>>
>>>
>>> The Rt. Reverend Scott A. Benhase
>>> Bishop of Georgia
>>>
>
>