I enjoy the process of writing one-page papers. The subjects come from you or me, and I allow each word to suggest the next until the thought is developed and a paragraph is achieved.
Being a former storyteller, folksinger, leader of organizations, and student of the world, I still feel like creating. But now, I am a writer of my thoughts and those others suggest. So, feel free to do so.
An example is my recent paper about Beethoven’s 9th. I have loved the classics and opera as far back as I remember, and as I wrote, I owe this to my brother Pete. As an aside, in the fifties, when I picked up 8 to 10 kids at their homes and drove to Malibu Canyon, I would sing and tell the stories of the operas. Yes, and I sang the parts of both the men and the women. I know the kids enjoyed it because they often asked me to repeat my performance.
And life goes on… In the sixties at Camp Shasta, the kids, staff, and I made a deal. From the morning to after lunch, I played recordings of their music on the loudspeakers. In the afternoon, we’d play the classics. The give and take that was camp worked!
Today we live in a world where our camp’s philosophy could not work. Not because learning to live well with others and be responsible for oneself is old-fashioned, but because I believe the concept is too complex and removed from technology, which rules our world for most people today.
Again, I come back to the problem that is one of leadership. By that, I mean leadership that nurtures and seeks to grow those the leaders are responsible for. This has nothing to do with technology but everything to do with “dialogue.” In my world, dialogue is an equalizer.
Sy
