I wonder if courage isn't more closely tied to friendship (and the trust
that develops with friendship) than we often think. Gladwell writes in his
article about how a strong friendship between a group of college roommates
gave them the courage to hold a sit in at a local whites only restaurant. It
is knowing I have supportive friends on this listserve (friendships
developed over many years) that gives me the courage to sometimes bring up
controversial issues here. I wonder if some strong and deep friendships
between independent school leaders might provide a source for the courage
needed to take a stand against growing economic inequality?
Fred
On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 8:01 PM, David Withrow
<davidwithrow@harfordday.org>wrote:
> I know several heads, several board members, and at least one, if not
> two, execs of associations who have taken that approach, in large part
> because of the recession, who have expressed hesitation at putting
> these kind of ideas forward in any real way.
>
> Hard to times can make cowards of the powerful.
>
> (so how do we fit in and challenge the status quo?)
>
> I believe we (the long termed) must continue to speak out along these
> lines.
>
> There are the obligations of the fortunate.
> Sent from my iPod
>
> On Oct 25, 2010, at 7:45 PM, Fred Bartels <fredbartels@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > David,
> >
> > So many myths, and so many of them being spread via the "very strange
> > political doings afoot" that Peter mentions.*
> >
> > Recently, many of my fellow technorati jumped on Malcolm Gladwell for the
> > New Yorker article in which he questioned whether social networks and
> > twitter will be able to drive significant social change.
> >
> > http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell
> >
> > I found much of what Gladwell wrote quite convincing. In essence he asks
> how
> > will people find the courage to stand up and fight a terrible injustice?
> In
> > the Civil Rights movement the people who literally put their lives on the
> > line (not career setbacks mind you, but lives) had to trust each other
> and
> > know that there were serious organizations with substantial resources
> > watching their backs. I think Gladwell is right, we are going to need
> more
> > than blogs and twitter to have a chance at winning this fight.
> >
> > David, here is something I don't understand. There must be lots of
> wonderful
> > independent school administrators who are late in their careers (gray
> beards
> > like us) who know that economic inequality has gotten way out of hand.
> These
> > folks have their TIAA/CREF stash safely tucked away. Why aren't they
> > speaking out? Have they too fallen prey to the myth that "making money
> > separates you from the crowd."?
> >
> > Fred
> >
> >
> > *http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer
>
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