Point of Crisis

[Michelle Cooper]

I am reminded of a concept in the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. I can't find
the passage at this moment (but I am thinking that I will pick it up and
read it again)
...The earth will survive, it is humankind that may not. If we think we own
and control the world, if we think there is just one right way to do
things....
Ishmael's solution, not to blame and make change a negative (stop doing
this, don't do that is not inspiring), but to create a new vision for a
better world that inspires change...
Michelle

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]On Behalf Of Ralph
Copleman
Sent: 27-Jun-02 19:54
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Point of Crisis


Here we go again...

I'm about to head off to the shores of Lake Superior in Minnesota for three
and one-half days of open space and reflection on "organization
transformation".

When Harrison and others started this particular show in 1983, they
understood (before anyone else) the world was in a condition that would push
or pull organizations into or through a transformation, a leap off a cliff
into the unknown.  We all climbed onto that bus.  It was danger and
opportunity, the classic paradox, all wrapped into one searing realization:
get with it or get lost.

Now the stakes seem to me so much larger, the bar so very much higher.
Forget the troubles of organizations.  We've got bigger problems to face.

The fraudulent bookkeeping practices of a handful of corporations?  There
are over 10,000 publicly-held corporations in the US.  Some very small
number of them have been caught screwing up (and screwing everyone around
them, too).  Is this a trend?  Or is it just the loud noise of headlines?  I
certainly don't know.  Are there others who haven't been caught yet?
Probably.

It matters, yes.  But it isn't the crisis we need to have our eye on.  It
isn't the transformation that could be insistently, hotly breathing down our
necks.  I think that's perhaps what Ethelynn Owen had in mind when she made
her comment.  (Does she care to elaborate?  Did I even spell her name
right?)

My opinion?  We humans are messing up the planet something awful.  We are a
frog drinking up the pond in which we live.  We will not get away with it
for very long.  So, can we open some space for the really BIG picture?  Or
shall we only be moved by what is close at hand?

Ralph Copleman
(Recovering History Major)

P.S.  As someone pointed out at one of those OT events years ago.  There's
nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html