“The skill is important, but the will is significant.” So said Dick Vitale, as he announced my beloved Tarheels taking of the “the” out of first ranked “The Ohio State” in last night’s basketball match up. In academics as well, I say that the knowledge is important, but the will is significant. Without the will, the student won’t, no matter how much knowledge or skill she or he may have acquired. That is what I mean by “wholeness education.” To become the person she or he is capable of becoming, we have to help each student help her/himself both acquire the knowledge, skill and will.

 “The skill is important, but the will is significant.” You know, we say all semesters have an end. But, do they? Should they? When we talk of a course’s end, when we end it on the down note of a fearful final exam and the compilation of a final grade, do we leave a positive message. Or, as the final frames of a Loony Toons cartoon says, “That’s all folks!” Do we leave any lasting message at all? The transmission of the information and the development of the skills may end, but I think every course should have a forward movement, a sense of meaning and wholeness not only in a student’s academic life, but her or his life in general. I always have wrestled with ways students could give meaning to their classroom experience that would extend far beyond the calendar, grade, hours taken, and information received. If we have too tightly wrapped up a class in the information and the skill to use that information while not actively helping a student help her/himself develop her or his will, the experience becomes painfully empty and meaningless.

 “The skill is important, but the will is significant.” I am a devotee of James Allen’s “As A Man Thinketh.” This little known early 20th century philosopher focused on the significance of a person’s will. He asserted we are what we think of ourselves and we do with what we know in the manner of what we think of ourselves and others. He goes further to declare that as long as we believe we are the creatures thrown helplessly about by outside conditions, we will fail to become the rightful masters of our own lives. But, if we will do the hard work of reflecting continually to identify and modify obstructive negative beliefs and attitudes, we will be astonished at the rapid transformation in our will that, in turn, will produce an equally rapid transformation in the conditions of our lives.

 “The skill is important, but the will is significant.” So, as a wholeness teacher, I strongly feel that a course should have an ongoing experience and a lasting memory. It should underline an ongoing principle that defies the calendar of semesters and seasonal breaks. Each day I write the “Words of the Day” on the white board for us to briefly discuss. At the end of each semester I wish I was paid enough to give each student a copy of Dr. Seuss’ OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO. I, at least, read it to them. It focuses on the significance of will. Then, I end the class with a statement about donuts and holes: “As you wander through life, whatever be your goals, be sure to keep your eye upon the donut and not upon the hole.” Now, for the first time, I will give each of them this departing ethical testament as well. It may be my most meaningful legacy of the class. Their attention in class has usually been taken by practical details of doing assignments and getting grades. I want to tell them about what I consider really important, that, as Dr. Seuss says, it’s far more about who they are than what they know. It allows me to articulate my hopes, blessings, concerns, and love to each student. It’s a reminder for me what are the essentials in life. It is a dimension of spirit that can bring great meaning and intensity to their lives. It offers a model of with what I want to live: an optimistic spirit, a fervor and enthusiasm for life, a sense of responsibility and concern for others, and a sense of worthwhileness about themselves. I want to reveal two truths to them too often hidden: “The skill is important, but the will is significant” and being good is the best way to feel good. It rests on a firm conviction that values are not only about wants and needs, but beliefs, especially those about what is good and right and what constitutes a worthy life. I suppose this testament reveals that I am convinced that the purpose of an education goes beyond transmitting information and securing a job; its purpose is to transform people. “The skill is important, but the will is significant:”

May you always believe in yourself.
May you always have confidence in yourself.
May you always love yourself.
May you always have faith in yourself.
May you be smart and strong enough to find a way around every obstacle
May you always convert an obstacle into an opportunity.
May you always be willing to take risks and do something new
May you always be adventurous.
May you never place limits on yourself.
May you always be resilient.
May you never be without hope.
May you always give to everything everything you’ve got.
May you always smile.
May you always hear the birds singing.
May you always smell the flowers.
May you always swoon at nature’s scenery.
May you always see the sun even when it’s raining.
May you live each day to the fullest.
May you always laugh.
May you never doubt you are lovable.
May you feel and express gratitude.
May you appreciate the people and the things you have in your life
May you give without expecting a “thank you” in return.
May you cherish every moment.
May you always learn and grow.
May you never let unkind or ungrateful people ruin your day.
May you never surrender your integrity when the going gets tough.
May you always be kind to others.
May you be resilient.
May you always love, yourself and others
May you always be caring, for yourself and others.
May you always be compassionate and generous.
May you always forgive others–for your sake.
May you always be happy.
May you always find meaning and purpose in everything you think, feel, and do.
May you always be physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually fit.
May you always find ways to renew yourself.

And, may you do all this when it counts, which is every day.

Do all this and, oh, the places you’ll go!

Make it a good day.

      –Louis–

“Unhappy at work? Moss says mood affecting play.” So read an ESPN headline about the attitude and the less than stellar performance this season of Randy Moss, wide receiver of football’s Oakland Raiders. Mood affects play. Mood affects work. It’s true for all of us. It’s a given that we academics sometimes don’t offer ourselves. When we’re fearful, everything turns into something to fear; when we’re hopeful, everything becomes a reason to hope; when we’re are angry, anything that comes along can feed that anger; When we’re resigned, everything around us gives us reason for resignation. When we’re at peace, the world mirrors our peace. Whatever it is that comes from the depths of our being, grows more intense and more concrete as it works its way outward; whatever we hold in our hearts, we will see in our world. Try as we may to put on a face, the things inside have a way of coming out in ways we often don’t intend, cannot control, and even cannot imagine. If you wish to change what you do, you have to change what you appear to be; if you want to change what you appear to be, then you have to change what you see; if you wish to change what you see, you have to change who you truly are.

If I was a betting man, what change would you bet most academics pray for? Getting tenure? Perhaps. Getting that manuscript published? Maybe. Having a lighter work load? Could be. Yet, I sense that you’d lose. My gut feeling is that what lies beneath those professional goals is a deeper personal sadness that lurks in the hearts and minds of so many academics. So many have buried it under layers of degrees, position, tenure, and resume. But, that sadness, unfulfillment, dissatisfaction, resignation, frustration, sense of being controlled, and even fear are still down there, eating at so many souls. It hangs over them like an invisible fog; it reeks of a bad odor; it debilitates like stinging and coughing smog. Every now and then, something triggers a hidden fail-safe switch and these hidden and unspoken things make their presence known. They appear in the light of day they shun. Smiles disappear, shoulders slightly droop, and voices lower as such paralyzing words, “I don’t have tenure” or “I don’t have time” or “They won’t let me” or “I have to….” burp to the surface, often uncontrollably and unwittingly, in the course of conversation or session presentation.

What are so many academics looking for? Sustaining resilience and renewal. They want to have professional peace in their step. During four invigorating, uplifting, energizing days on the campus of Miami of Ohio immersed in the Lilly Conference on College Teaching, in conversation after conversation, in so many sessions, I found so many praying they could shout for joy each day on her or his campus. So many aching to live each day with gladness; so many yearning to praise each day with happy songs; so many longing to be free each day from suffering stress and distress. Yet, so many had heavy hearts, weighed down by concerns of getting tenure, weighed down by workloads, weighed down by disappointment and discouragement, weighed down by controlling administrators, weighed down by less than collegial colleagues, weighed down. Sometimes some had turned the TV set off, had closed the book, or had walked out of the movie as if the story was over. The vision of so many was so blurred to the blessing of each day. I’d bet that if academics deeply prayed, they’d pray for help to stay vibrant rather than, as Susan Robison said in her Lilly presentation, brown out, burn out, or rust out. They’d beg for daily resilience. They’d plead for daily renewal. They’d solicit for peace, contentment, authenticity, fulfillment, satisfaction, confidence, assurance, and wholeness. They’d implore for the alms of what Martin Seligman calls authentic happiness.

I’m not sure why I was particularly sensitive to this mood of many of those at the conference. Maybe it was because Barbara Mossberg and I gave a plenary address on renewal and resilience; maybe it was the session by Doug Robertson on engagement; maybe it was the session by Susan Robison on staying “sane in insane place;” maybe it was actively participating in Robert Kegan’s workshop on overcoming “immunity to change.” Maybe it was the surprising overwhelming number of requests for my “Spiritual Alphabet” that I explained in these sessions. Whatever the reasons, at this conference it was driven home to me that we academics are not much, if at all, different than most people. We’re good at preparing to earn a living. We know how to sacrifice years for a diploma. We are willing to work hard to earn a degree. We are willing to surrender ourselves to secure tenure. We are willing to forego peace, joy, relaxation, balance, and serenity to lengthen our resume. We cling to our worries and anxieties. We so often forget to enjoy ourselves along the way. And, we miss so much. No, we are not much different from most people though we too often think we’re a higher order of human specie. The truth is that we….are…. not…. very….good….at….living.

Remember what Randy Moss said. Remember Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic drunken tirade? Remember Michael Richards’ recent racist outburst? It’s not much different when the issue of tenure, for example, explodes on the scene or sneaks up on us. In the course of the last fifteen years, I have become very conscious of the fact that when I am fearful, everything turns into something to fear. When I am hopeful, everything becomes a reason to hope. When I am angry, anything that comes along can feed that anger. When I am peaceful, the world around you begins to mirror your peace. What comes from the depths of my being grows more intense and more concrete as it works its way outward. What I hold in my heart and soul, I will see in my world.

So, though we may try to hide things inside, they surely come out in ways we cannot even imagine. If you wish to change what you appear to be, you have to change what you truly are. So many of us talk of what’s wrong. We imprison ourselves in cells of anguish, insecurity, sorrow, and blame. We chain ourselves to safe routine and safe routine breeds complacency and complacency breeds disinterest and disinterest breeds dullness and dullness breeds apathy and apathy breed stagnation and stagnation breeds atrophy. It’s like taking a trip down the levels of Dante’s inferno. What would happen if we talked of what’s not wrong? What would happen if we talked of what’s not old? What if we talked about what’s new, wholesome, refreshing, and even healing? What would happen if began to rewrite our story by taking Dylan Thomas’ words to heart: “do not go gentle into the good night…rage, rage, against the dying of the light.” Nice words, but how do you do it. How do you do it every day? How do you hold in your heart a pure and authentic vision of all that you value most dearly every day? How do you build a solid, positive and fulfilling life within and begin to faithfully resonate with the person you choose to be every day?

We each choose carefully what has priority in our innermost being, for that is what shapes the world we experience. My experience during the last fifteen years since my explosive epiphany, sharpen by my bout with cancer two years ago and being a 24/7 caregiver with my angelic Susan the past year is that the hidden secret is to see old things–ourselves, others, surroundings–in new light. It’s the best way to feel renewed, to acquire a resilience, and to keep the light from dying. Life shrinks or expands in proportion to living this truth.

I discovered that if there’s one thing that would bring me daily hope, joy, comfort, if there is one thing that lays my burdens down, it is me. But, no one can do this for me. No one can light a fire under me. That only results in a blistered butt. To be sure, I have had and needed helpers, guides, supporters, and encouragers. But, it is me who has to light my own inner fire. It is my attitude that is the kindling. It is my attitude towards me, towards others, and towards the world around me. I motivate and inspire me. I give myself the message of hope; I give me my optimism; I give me those magic words of faith, belief, and love. I see my opportunities in challenges rather than barriers. I create my own miracles. I give focus on how young I feel, not on how old I am; I think about how healthy I am, not that I battled cancer; I explore possibilities open to me, not get mired in disappointment or resentment. No one can do it for me. Only I can do it for me and to me.

How do I do that? How do I start and continue to gently let go of those worries, concerns, ambitions, purposes, disappointments, desires so that I do not go gently into that good night. How do I focus on the things that have real meaning and taste the sweet, glorious freedom of being able to bring those hallowed purposes fully to life? How do I cleanse my spirit of the many layers of need to, have to, want to, and can’t do? How do I clear a space for me to truly live? How do I weaken those academic artifacts that we strive to hold on to that has a hold on me? How do I rid myself of the need to need, of the need to be seen, of the need to be important? How do I feel free to be authentic, happy, satisfied, and fulfilled? Whatever may be happening in the world around any one of us, there is a way for each of us to get into a zone of positive purpose and heightened effectiveness and deepened meaningfulness. Connect to the person you truly are, and you are there.

Well, I have devised a daily renewal and resilience plan for myself. I have concocted a soulful one-a-day-vitamin for myself. I have created a recipe to feed my spirit. I have created for myself “the message of the day” drawn from what I call my “Spiritual Alphabet. It is an alphabet of enrichment, renewal, and resilience. It is an alphabet of mindfulness, awareness, otherness, soulfulness, empathy, and compassion. Each letter stands for a word which, in turn, contains message for me about how I should feel, think, and act with regards to myself, others, and things around me. For example, B might be for betterment, T for trust, G for genuine, and H for happy. You get the point. It’s the message I carefully listen to, preach to myself on the practice of, heed, put into action, and, above all, live intently each day. I imagine that I have been receiving that message in every random happening I experience that day. I inoculate a meaning and purpose into each circumstance. I observe with my heart. I listen with my soul. I practice it each day. It has become woven into every fiber of my being every day. It has become the underpinning of my professional and personal life. It has become my way of life.

It’s a simple truth. Find a way to do optimism, to do faith, to do belief, to do hope, to do love. Be gloriously thankful for being alive. Be aware, appreciate, enjoy, and be enthused. You’ll get more out of the circumstance as well as life in general. The more you appreciate, enjoy and get excited about something, the more you’ll see where lay the real values in your profession and life. Putting this alphabet into action offers me a renewal and resilience literacy. It helps me get myself into that zone, a place where I can focus, where I can be effective, where I can make a solid connection to the best I have to offer. It is not a physical place, but rather a place that I can reach within yourself and from which I can reach outs. It’s that place where I can truly live your most deeply held purpose.

Here’s the alphabet and the words, not necessarily grammatically alike, for which each letter stands that I’ve devised for myself and has special meaning for me. I’ve selected words that are templates to help me strive to put into incessant action my credo: to be that person who is there to help myself and each person help her/himself become the person each is capable of becoming:

A: attentive, awareness, authentic, adventurous, accepting, adaptable, available, accessible, approachable,
B: believing, beauty, blessing, bold, blossoming, blissful
C: creative, challenge, curious, communicative, compassionate, caring, cheerful, changing, community, celebration, commitment, courage, childlike, connecting, confidence, conviction, civil
D: desire, discover, devotion, daring, dedication, dream, development, daily, delight, dancing, devotion
E: enthusiasm, energy, enjoyment, encouragement, empathy, emotional, excited, explore, effort, embracing, ecstasy, edify
F: fairness, freshness, friendship, festive, forgiving, faith, fun, fulfillment. focus
G: genuine, gentleness, growth, grace, greatness, go, gratitude
H: happy, hope, humor, humanity, heal, hear, honor, heart, hospitable, honesty, integrity, imaginative, inspiring, interaction, itch, interested, involved, intrigued, impromptu, including, improve, invest, invite
J: journeying, justice, joyful
K: kindness
L: love, laugh, learn, listen, look
M: motivate, mistake, mission, meaningful, mindful, marvelous, miracle, method, magic
N: newness, notice, now, nurture, nourish
O: openness, optimistic, oneness
P: patience, potential, persistence, perseverance, personable, playful, practice, peopleness, power, purpose, present, praise, peace
Q: quick, quiet, question, quest, query, quixotic
R: risk, read, renew, rejoice, resilient, reverent, rapport, relax, restlessness, respectful, revere, reach out
S: sympathy, support, sensitive, smile, stimulating, self-confidence, self-esteem, see, sympathy, self-awareness, sacredness, spirituality, sincerity, silence, soulful, surprise, serenity, silly, service, self-control
T: teach, trust, truth, transform, touch, transparent, thankful
U: understanding, unique, unpredictable
V; vision, vitality, vim, venture, vigor, valuable
W: wow, welcome, wonder, why, wholeness, work
Y: you, yes, yearn
X: “the mystery of it all.”
Z: zeal, zip

I have a ratty cat-in-the-hat hat. In it are a bunch of old Scrabble tiles. On the back of each tile is a word. For example, on the back of an E tile I’ve written “enthusiasm.” On the back of another E tile, I’ve written “enjoy.” Each morning, I blindly pick a tile. I read the word on the back of the tile. That word is my renewal and resilience word of the day. I think about and meditate on that word. I envision how I will….not can, not try, but will…live that word today. I leave the house with that tile in my pocket as a reminder saying to myself…..no demanding of myself….”I will live this word today. I will experience it today. I will see through the eyes of this word. I will listen through the ears of this word. I will savor that experience today.” You see it’s all in the practice. I’m not interested how I define “enthusiasm” if I am not enthusiastic about me, students, colleagues, grounds keepers, custodians, and things around me. This all brings me up to another level. I don’t allow myself drop a level with any excusing excuses; I don’t justify any justifying rationales; I don’t explain away with mitigating explanations; I don’t escape through the backdoor of escaping trys. I heed Yoda’s admonition, “Try not. Do. Or, do not. There is no try.” Like Eliza in BEE SEASON, I see that word take shape before me, dance around me, and envelope me. I let that word walk hand-in-hand with me, call to me, whisper in my ear, tap me on my shoulder. I make the word into an active verb, an uplifting noun, an energizing adjective or dynamic adverb. I let that word remind me of the peace, satisfaction, fulfillment that is available as close in each moment as my next breath, step, gaze, smile. And, at the end of the day, as I lovingly relax with a life-lengthening glass of wine and cheese with my angelic Susan, I reflect on how I lived that life-enhancing word that day.

The source of truly living a word of renewal resilience each day is both an awakened mind and heart. Each word helps me approach the day with gentleness and understanding. Living each word allows me to unlock the blessings of each day. Unwrapping the present of each day, let’s me cross over my borders and extends my boundaries. Living my alphabet is a way for me to rework circumstances that would ordinarily pressure and antagonize, slow down, and drag down in a way that allows me to be in touch with the abundant happiness and peace that’s available. It’s a way to get into habit to get away from my distracted and burdensome thinking and feeling to experience profound and renewing feelings of joy and completeness. It’s a way to find the strength and resilience to stand up, step forward, seize the opportunity of the day, make it count, and make a difference. It’s a way, as my good friend, Alex Fancy, said, to be in the moment and of the moment. It creates a mindfulness, otherness, empathy, and compassion in each daily act I perform. Living this alphabet has been for me the ultimately transforming personal, professional, and social engagement about Bell Hooks so often talks.

It sounds so easy, doesn’t it? It’s not. It looks so simple, doesn’t it. It’s not. This is not wishful thinking. This is healing work. And, it does take work. Understand that even if you throw off the crutches and proclaim, “I can walk,” you need a long time of rehab to learn once again how to walk. Breaking old habits is neither easy nor simple nor fast. Unlearning doesn’t come in a flash of flash cards. I’ve been working on me for those fifteen years, tearing away masks, cutting through dishonesty. Yes, it takes more than a little effort, more than a little time, and lots of courage. It takes what I call the “Six ‘P’s’ of life:” practice, persistence, practice, perseverance, practice, and patience. But, if you can acquire that Midas touch, you’ll give yourself a richness and value to every thing you touch. You’ll find the light to show you the way. It will help you endure the darkness by showing you the stars and moon.

Whew! Enough. Susan and I want to take this opportunity to wish all our American friends a heartfelt Happy Thanksgiving.

Make it a good day.

–Louis–

Not my morning to hit the streets. I woke up this morning about 4:30 am, walked into the guest room that doubles as the computer room, turned on the computer, walked into the kitchen, made a freshly brewed pot of coffee, waited interminably for the watched pot to drip enough to fill my cup, returned on the computer, sat down to do the Washington Post crossword puzzle, and read a bunch of student journal entries. Then, I went to my e-mail. I opened the first message. It had an innocuous subject heading of “Made It! Thanks!!” At first I thought it might be a bit of distasteful spam that had gotten past my filter, but there proved to be nothing unpleasant about it. As I read this message from a student who had been in class some years ago, I held the coffee cup to my lips, my breathing slowed down and deepened, my heart beat faster, my eyes filled, my muscles tightened. The letter ended with “Rumi must have known you: ‘Borrow the Beloved’s eyes. Look through them and you’ll see the Beloved’s face everywhere. No tiredness, no jaded boredom…things you have hated will become helpers.’ That’s you. Thanks. Your gaze met my eyes and in my heart I now hold your love, faith, and belief in me. Thanks for helping me get rid of my subconscious gossip about myself and acquire a pair of beloved eyes to look at myself and obliterate the barrier between me and myself. ”

I read those last lines over and over and over. Such poetry. I finally leaned my head back on the chair, stared at the ceiling, and sighed a deep “wow!” Then, I got up, turned off all the lights, and went on a slow, quiet meditative walk through the dark house.

Honestly? She is right. I’ve racked my brain and I still just don’t remember who she is. It doesn’t matter. Really. I’ll just say this one thing: teaching, like everything else someone does, is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual process. Have the “beloved’s eyes!” Gaze! Pay attention! Be aware! Open your heart! Understand that the most humbling realization and the heaviest responsibility and most uplifting magnificence and deepest gratefulness about teaching are knowing that we have an afterlife in each student.

Make it a good day.

–Louis–

Went out early, real early, this balmy morning. Couldn’t sleep. Had to burn off the ravages of my birthday gorging. Need I say politics are in the air? Maybe that’s what’s not allowing the autumn air to remain cool. Anyway, at this time of the year, it’s all we can breath. So, as I walked the pavement, I was inhaling thoughts of a conversation I had only yesterday with someone most people would call a student leader. As we chatted, he asked me, “What would you say to a group of student leaders?”

I answered, “I’d start off asking them a question. I’d asked them, ‘What have you done to justify the label “leader?”‘”

That started an interesting though brief conversation. He looked at me in disbelief. “Well, they were elected or appointed to some office. Doesn’t that make them leaders?”

“Does it?” I asked him in answer to his question. “I’m sure a lot of people would agree with you without batting an eye. They’d say that their official position in a fraternity or sorority or club or student government showed they were leaders. Faculty might say that having a Ph.D. or tenure or a long resume makes them classroom leaders. Administrators might say that their appointment is proof that they are leaders. I’m just not one of those ‘agreers'”

“Well, aren’t you a leader if you hold an office or have some authority?”

“I suppose. But, if position, authority, and status aren’t used in serving others, what good are they? Unless a person sees her/himself as a servant, as a servant leader, if you will, that person is merely an officeholder, not a leader, and not much leadership as I understand it will be going on.”

“What, then, is an administrative or political leader to you?”

Ah, I saw an opening. I told him that to me an administrative or political leader is the same as a teacher in a classroom: a person with a deep-seated will, a deep-seated passion, a tender compassion and empathy for every person, a deep-seated vision, a deep-seated set of values, a deep-seated love and caring for every person, and a deep-seated drive to serve beyond her or his self-centered and self-serving goals; a person who teaches, persuades, encourages, and inspires; a person who is a mind-changer, a soul deepener, an attitude alterer, an action mobilizer; a person who is a catalyst for purposeful action or meaningful change; a person who wants to make a positive difference and leave this world a better place for having been here. Then, I hit him with it: “And, maybe even a spiritualist.”

He was taken a bit aback. “A spiritualist? A leader? On an academic campus? In politics? You’ve got to be kidding!”

“Yeah, a spiritualist,” I asserted.

I went on to explain that since my epiphany in 1991 I’ve come to see that in teaching is my joy of serving, of serving more than my reputation or furthering my career. In the last fifteen years, it has become my spiritual practice. When I had cancer and was recovering from my operation a year and a half ago, and when I was struggling to help my Susan struggle to care for her dying mother this past spring, serving the students was extraordinarily therapeutic. I don’t think anyone should teach who doesn’t wish to help others help themselves become better persons. And, I told him that I meant that such help should go beyond the mere transmission of information and acquisition of credentials. I take spirituality out of the heights of the clouds and into the depths of myself and weave it tightly into what I do. Nothing invisible about it. I don’t hide that. It’s quite in the open. I wear on my sleeve. If you want to jargonize it, call it “depth pedagogy.” I’ve been here at VSU for forty years, and I find that outstanding student leadership is as rare as outstanding administrative leadership or classroom leadership. I do think there is a spiritual aspect to being a true and sincere classroom or administrative or student leader if you think of spiritualism in terms of something bigger than you, and of being a leader in terms of someone who sees beyond her/himself, and being someone who is in the service of the campus community, whatever that particular campus community may be: the institution as a whole, the student body, the general faculty, the staff, a classroom of students, whomever. Yet, too often those who are seen or see themselves as leaders are too often into themselves. By “into themselves” I explained that I meant that they’re focused on the quest of self-advancement and personal achievement at the expense of serving others. Too often they’re more concerned with their own resumes, too often concentrating on their own reputation, too often taken with their own image, too often worrying about what other people think, too often unwilling to take the risk of taking a stand. There is little or nothing transcendent about them, little or nothing about them that has to do with truly serving others. Too often they tend to be preoccupied with “small potatoes.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well, for example, as a classroom teacher should be prepared for insignificance if all he or she does is impart information–or think about workloads, getting tenure, a promotion, or class schedules–rather than helping each student help her/himself to become a better person. A student leader should be prepared for insignificance if all she or he does is focus on parking or on providing weekend entertainment or being represented on this committee or that one. An administrative leader should be prepared for insignificance if all she or he does is worry about clean dorm rooms, building buildings, adding academic programs, and increasing the size of the student body. There are bigger and more important issues on campus than finding a convenient slot for your car when you come on campus or providing something to do on the weekend or sitting in a meeting or building a building or getting a program approved or policing student dorm rooms or creating a street crossing. Not that these things should be ignored, but there’s more to being a leader.”

“What do you want them to do?”

“Publicly address the heavy stuff. Vigorously take things head-on that truly are important as well.”

“Like?”

“God, it was just Halloween. You should have read the student journal entries I read about rampant binge drinking much less widespread underage drinking at the frat houses, not to mention at private parties. And, no one really enforced our published and official alcohol policy. They just stood by with a “kids will be kids” abandon. Then, there’s substance abuse, physical abuse, date rape, pregnancy rates, STD, cheating, racism, genderism, maybe even indifferent and incompetent teaching. Those things for example.” ”

Wow. You ask a lot.”

“If I or you don’t, if we don’t demand quiet but significant service, if we don’t demand noisy speaking of truth to power even when the power is powerful, all we’ll get are narrow minded, small imagination, little creative, small office holders or degree holders or resume getters instead of leaders. Gotta run to class.”

“Thanks.”

“Think about what I said. You don’t have to agree. Just think about it.”

Make it a good day.

–Louis–