[Magdalen] From +Georgia

Ginga Wilder gingawilder at gmail.com
Fri Feb 10 18:14:41 UTC 2017


Huh?  OH, I got it!  I thought Georgia+ DuBose had sent this article from
the Bishop of Georgia.  LOL!

So, Lynn, can you pass along the origin of this article, please.

Thanks,
Ginga



On Fri, Feb 10, 2017 at 1:08 PM, 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
>>>
>>>
>


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