[Magdalen] From +Georgia

[Ginga Wilder]

Thanks, Cady.
Ginga

On Fri, Feb 10, 2017 at 1:13 PM, cady soukup <cadyasoukup at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
> >>>
> >
> >
>