Sometimes these columns write themselves. I’ll be sitting at
my desk, twiddling my thumbs, wondering what to write about. Suddenly, there it
is.
Recently, the talisman came in the form of quotes from the
October 23rd Wyoming Tribune-Eagle report on the City Council’s
decision to forego an endorsement of kindness and compassion.
It was the words of City Councilmen Rocky Case and Dickie
Shanor. It was Mr. Case who said, “Some words on a piece of paper are not going
to deter someone who is going to commit a less than kind act.” In the same
debate, Councilman Shanor announced, “I don’t believe that’s my job as a city
councilman to be generous with taxpayer dollars.”
Mr. Case has been among the most committed public servants
in our community. So, his quote gave me reason to think about the significance
of “words on a piece of paper” and whether they have the power to change
people’s lives. Mr. Shanor’s pronouncement raises the question of the meaning
of generosity and whether the trait should be avoided by elected officials.
How would Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, not to mention the
Galilean Sage whom they quoted throughout their writings, feel about the
alleged meaninglessness of putting words on a piece of paper? Surely, they
would not have employed so many words on pieces of paper had they believed
those words were without any impact on people who were contemplating less than
kind acts.
What about Thomas Jefferson? His words on a piece of paper
changed the world. The “Federalist Papers,” were nothing but words on pieces of
paper and yet they continue to influence the course of our nation.
Indeed, the job of city council members is to consider which
words to put on pieces of paper; e.g. budgets, ordinances, resolutions. Words on
pieces of paper are what it’s all about in a nation of laws.
Words elected officials choose not to put on those pieces of
paper also matter. Take, for example, the refusal of Cheyenne’s City Council
and the Wyoming legislature to put words on pieces of paper protecting gays,
lesbians, bisexual, and transgender citizens from discrimination. So it is with
the decision not to endorse compassion as a guiding principle for the city.
Perhaps Mr. Shanor’s words deserve more thought. Generosity.
What does the word mean? Why would a public official deny generosity is part of
his job in deciding how to use taxpayer dollars?
Jesus told us generous people give to all who ask. Both
Matthew and Luke put those words on pieces of paper. Elected officials cannot
do that with the public’s money. None the less, when making decisions about how
to use that money, true leaders can still be generous.
Leigh Buchanan is the editor-at-large for Inc. Magazine and
the former editor of the Harvard Business Review. She is an expert on
leadership and defines it to include generosity. The term includes a
willingness to be open to the ideas of one’s colleagues, to listen especially
to an explanation of those to which you may not be initially warm before
dismissing them or diminishing them.
Mr. Shanor quit listening the moment he learned the national
compassionate movement’s website mentioned the United Nations. He was no longer
generous. He was unwilling to consider any other information, including the
fact that the Compassionate Cheyenne movement did not adhere to the choices
made by the national organization.
Listening honestly is an act of generosity and should be an
expectation of those who hold the public trust, especially when deciding how to
use tax dollars.
The term “compassion” is frightening to many. Everyone wants
to be known as compassionate. However, some need to define the word for
themselves. Putting words of compassion on a piece of paper without controlling
and limiting their application proved far too generous for some of our elected
officials.
Fortunately, none of this affects the Compassionate Cheyenne
movement. It will boldly continue its work and Cheyenne will be better off for
it.
No comments:
Post a Comment