August 16, 2008

Melanie had surgery on her right knee this past Wednesday. I spoke with the surgeon and this one seems to have turned out better than the left knee on June 21. She's home resting, but feeling a lot of pain. The partial replacement of the left knee will likely happen soon. The poor girl is running out of knees.

My dear friend Lori Anne is again video blogging on Youtube. In view of the broken marriages and what often place between families and friends, this is worth viewing. Relationships do not have to dissolve merely because a person decided to become a whole person, rather than just walking through life. You can see it here.

There is occasional discussion in the community about leadership and activism. I think they have commonalities, but are not necessarily the same.

Is a leader not someone who sets an example for others by the way he/she treats others?

To be first, one must first become the least. To be looked up to, one must first be looked down upon. We speak of our abhorring labels. Yet, some of us may seek the label of 'leader', which is perhaps the least desired label of all. It is in embracing the term that we may become least effective as a genuine leader.

In large measure, it is part of the eternal conundrum. The greater our quest, whether through a misplaced sense of altruism or self promotion, the less our chance becomes of providing what our world needs, people who can lift up each other, rather than talking down to them; people who can look someone in the eye and tell them it really is okay to be who they are, rather than talking about their own accomplishments.