Saturday, October 20, 2012

Leading By Example – A Great Service


All my life I have been profoundly influence by those working to serve for the greater good. My father exemplified this tireless serving as a Congressional lawyer assisting the passage of Medicare and other laws benefiting others.  My father’s other great feat was helping start the Capital Hill Tennis Team.  Learning how to serve in the game of tennis is one the most important and difficult skills.  The act of “best serving” has a different meaning regarding how to best live.

How I best give to my world is how I perpetuate further happiness.  This is about me listening to my heart.  This humbling process is for me is about greater reverence and less righteousness.  Unfortunately key challenges and opportunities are not even being talked about.  For me my personal well-being is interconnected  how I can be a spark plug for future prosperity.  Taking care of myself also extends in how I can best care for all things on this Earth. I am interdependent compassionate human being. I have been a pioneer in resource conservation and I have enjoyed bountiful opportunities in profiting from numerous pollution prevention triumphs.  Showing by right example has been gift similar to appreciation that keeps on giving.  Such wisdom arrives when I alert my mind to exercise greater courage fully opening my heart.

Our greatest challenge is to prioritize what is fact and fiction about our prosperity. Addressing explosive national security issues not getting the national attention it deserves.  For example agricultural, water, and population are all rapidly depleting our natural resources.   Attracting people’s attention that our future depends on how we better care for our soil, food and water affects every living thing here.

I was just alerted to several amazing TED (www.ted.com) presentations regarding challenges and success stories. For example, Jonathan Foley presented,  The Other Inconvenient Truth.” Agriculture is the number one human contributor (30%)  to  greenhouse emissions. Besides emitting the largest amounts of CO2, methane and nitrogen, agriculture uses 40% of the earth’s land and 70% of our fresh water.  Every year there is born a new population the size of Germany on this planet or 75 million additional people. So how are we going to deal with 9 billion people by 2040?

There are amazing other TED video showing ingenious leaders engaging communities and  implementing ingenious community solutions to our emerging challenges.  These visionaries share one common theme- leading by example and kindly working together. The tenor of the times is for everyone to come to the table.  Let us show not through words but deeds how we can best give back to this wonderful world what treasures that we have blessed with in our lives. People of all walks will benefit greatly when we unite together.  America is the greatest nation only when we generously assist our neighbors and help those in need.  Our full potential will arise when we show ingeniously ability to address our common threats.  We can all lead by actively making a difference just by a simple act of positive example.

As a trail blazer in the recycling and other tipping points I know firsthand the importance of virtue of leading and giving my best by example. Teaching tennis for four decades also helped me learn how to inspire improved play. Also I have been generous helping others and volunteered thousands of hours to diverse community and public service activities. I have been elected official and testified at every level of government.  Yet still I feel called to give much more back since I have been given so much by so many selfless Americans.

Our freedom is entrusted since we are interdependent not independent.  Calm yet alert to potential future perils we are endowed to give a hand and  give our best. Our liberation is rooted in our relationship with all things and our ability to respond by doing what is off benefit to all. There is no higher good or greater gift in life then to be of service. For me, leading by example benefits all things in including our collective well-being and happiness.

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