[Magdalen] From +Georgia

[Grace Cangialosi]

Ginga, I noticed that at the end it said it was by Scott Benhase. He's the bishop of one of the midwestern dioceses.


> On Feb 10, 2017, at 1:05 PM, Ginga Wilder <gingawilder at gmail.com> 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
>>