eThoughts : 2007 New Year’s Thoughts: Soul, Integrity, and Terror

2007 New Year’s Thoughts: Soul, Integrity, and Terror

2006 seemed to be quite a year—or maybe it’s only because it’s just the most recent year. The month of December, 2006 saw some passing of well-known people. I’ll only choose three of them and those choices are arbitrary in the sense that they fit my scheme. In alphabetical order: James Brown, the “Godfather of Soul,” former U.S. President, Gerald Ford—let’s call him the “Godfather of Political Integrity,” and Saddam Hussein—he doesn’t get a Godfather title, but let’s call him the “Perpetuator of Terror.” That’s an ignominious title as Hussein is part of a rather large group of terrorist perpetuators. In any case, we’ve got someone with soul, another set on integrity, and another set on wounding. Interesting marks these three left on the world.

Through his music and dance, James Brown brought spirit to those with ears to hear and eyes to see. He was easy to like as an entertainer if for no other reason than he dared to put all of himself out there. Of course he was good at what he did—that helped. For all of that ability and soul, it seems his personal life was not so easy. Maybe his personal struggles lent soul to his social identity—can you imagine that personal life without social contribution? Still, Mr. Brown’s personal and social disparity had to hurt. But we won’t have to look very hard for the good in his contribution. That has to help both him and all of us.

Gerald Ford was a humble man, bent on integrity before partisanship. When he pardoned Richard Nixon, I was beyond suspicious—it all seemed like just another political deal. More than 30 years later, I now think I was wrong, there may have been a deal, but it was no Faustian contract. Whether the pardon helped heal the nation or not is debatable, but it sure helped to keep the wounds from getting worse. And the pardon was a death-knell for Ford’s political ambitions—he didn’t have a chance in the 1976 elections. I’m guessing he knew that and also knew his political ambitions didn’t trump what he considered the greater good of the nation’s people. That seems like a solid mark for his integrity and humility. Unlike James Brown, President Ford’s personal and social identity seemed to match. That had to feel good, even if a larger lack of recognition was wanting—let’s face it, we’re a nation that doesn’t much gravitate towards humble introversion, that’s just not enough pizzazz to keep our attention sustained. Still, his contribution won’t be difficult to discern.

Saddam Hussein was hell-bent on rule and power—and I mean hell-bent. His personal and social agenda was about exclusion, not inclusion. Apparently one was either on his bandwagon or one was dead or in danger of becoming dead. Hussein’s personal and social identity seemed like a match, and he kept our attention. However, we’ll have to search long and hard to find the positive contribution (his life served as a warning on how not to live?).

I chose these three because I think their lives lend some insight into beginning a new year. We have some ability to direct our individual and collective attention and the focus of that attention has something to do with the outcomes in our lives. So what follows is a triad of New Year’s thoughts.

Personal struggles may be usurped by positive social contributions. That doesn’t make one’s personal life a social model, but such contributions may help in transforming personal trauma into personal triumph. But that transformation is not the point—positive contribution is.

A mentor once told me that “one doesn’t have to earn integrity, one is born with it and can either keep it or give it away.” It can be difficult to keep integrity, especially in a world whose attention is polarized by power and influence. The social identity of a humble and integrity-driven person is not likely to be glamorous. Perhaps we might consider what is casting the shadow over such people—our visions of glory.

Winning at any cost is not winning. Brow-beating others with power and influence results in massive bruising. Assertiveness is not the same as aggressiveness, and the person who confuses the two is a person who is long on arrogant ego and short on mental, emotional, and spiritual intelligence.

The beginning of a New Year is a time for us to reflect on choices. Two of these three individuals represent something we might want to embrace as a future compass heading: Honoring, embracing, and nurturing soul and integrity in our thoughts, behaviors, and manifestations. The third individual represents something that we might consider regulating to the dumpster of human endeavors: A prime directive on controlling others and perpetuating one’s own agenda via terror and genocide.

Maybe I’m just telling a story, interpreted through the frames of my own intention, but ask yourself, just how bad would 2007 be with more soul and integrity and less terrorism?

Happy New Year, folks!

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