Space Invaders? (Inclusion -- Chris Corrigan)

[J. Paul Everett]

In a message dated 9/20/01 7:48:44 AM, jdicus at ourfuture.com writes:

<<
Even though, as I said, part of me wants to let this inclusive issue go,
part of me says that it's not a trivial point.

I believe (as you wrote) that space invaders violate our own standards and
certainties as facilitators.  And I agree that it's possible that space
invaders may be operating out of passion and courage.  And I agree that
labeling people as space invaders says a lot about us.

I believe more fully, however, that space invaders not only violate our own
standards and givens as facilitators, but they violate some larger and more
generally accepted standard as well.  I believe that labeling people as
space invaders not only says a lot about ourselves, but says something
peculiar about the person being labeled as well.  These are not either/or
issues to me, rather both/and issues.

Yes, it takes a lot of courage for someone to stand against the mainstream
flow of thought and speak what may turn out to be troubling words --
disrupting the status quo.

But, I do not think it takes courage to be a space invader.  I believe that
invading space is the path of least resistance for the weak.  A space
invader does not try to rise to the occasion, rather he/she tries to lower
the occasion to their level of comfort.  A space invader trashes service in
the pursuit of selfish-interest.  These points provide a few windows into
who might or might not be a space invader.

In the end, if the container provided by the opening and holding of space
ceases to grow anything of value (in the broader sense), then the container
may contain something that does not enable.  To pretend we're not
particular about what's in the container (or not in the container) is to be
intentionally blind to our deepest shared passions and the deepest regions
of our own human structure -- our shared conceptual beliefs and values.
Does the shadow belong in the container?  Or is it best to only admit an
awareness of it?  Is there a shadow so dark that it cannot be allowed in?
I think so.

I have passion for the pursuit of sustainability.  There is, in my view,
too much political-correctness on lists.  People are afraid to be open and
say what they believe.  People instead try too hard to be accepted when
they write.  Or they succumb to the notion they won't be accepted --
deciding not to write because they believe they have little to contribute.
And of course there's always the stampede to rush in and fix people when
they offer their views.  It always makes me wonder why lists that are
supposed to be about Learning Organizations, Open Space, and Dialogue leave
so little space for a people to just "be."  To just be who they are.  Are
we not a work in progress?  Robert Fulghum said in his book (Kindergarten),
"Don't be surprised if I contradict something I just said a few paragraphs
ago.  After all, I don't know everything yet."

I'm willing to say I believe in good and bad.  In good people and bad
people.  I believe in right and wrong.  I don't believe that "just
anything" and every belief is constructive.  My mom (80) is pretty
permissive.  Her mother was over-restrictive.  I feel fortunate that I
spent a few summers on Aunt Iney's farm in Indiana.  She would cut to the
core and simply say, "John, right is right and wrong is wrong.  What you
just did is wrong. Don't do it again, okay? Good!  I love you...now go
play."  I have found that her clarity, combined with my mother's hesitance
to render consequences, a healthy place to be. >>

Dear John,

Beautifully said.  Political Correctness smothers freedom and it happens far
too often in these United States.  We are ill from it.  Because we do not ask
the hard questions.  Or, are shouted down.  I've saved your letter!!

Thank you,

Paul Everett

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