[Magdalen] From +Georgia

[Lynn Ronkainen]

This is from the bishop of Georgia (see bottom 'signature'). He does a mail 
out weekly. I'm on 'the list' because I've displayed at their convention.
Lynn

website: www.ichthysdesigns.com

When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not a 
single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me." 
attributed to Erma Bombeck
 "Either Freedom for all or stop talking about Freedom at all" from a talk 
by Richard Rohr

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Ginga Wilder" <gingawilder at gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2017 12:05 PM
To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] From +Georgia

> 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
>>