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Old 11-11-2010, 06:14 PM   #13
George S. Ledyard
 
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Dojo: Aikido Eastside
Location: Bellevue, WA
Join Date: Jun 2000
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Re: Mindful Modeling and Mentoring

Quote:
Fred Little wrote: View Post
Dear Jon,

Without regard for the values for which the variables "x" and "y" may be place markers, or the broader subject under review, it has been my general experience that making arguments about what "should or should not" be the case rarely has much utility unless I'm looking for an amen from someone in my own choir. YMMV.

Best,

FL
Hi Fred,
While I get what you are saying, I think I'd like to put in a plug for the positive argument. I think most people are extremely dependent, social beings. They are essentially herd, or perhaps more kindly, tribal beings. Most folks want leadership. If you don't give them good leaders, they will follow bad ones.

So, when folks make statements about the way they think things should be and perhaps shouldn't be, I think it becomes part of the process of people actually deciding what it is that they think. The last thing one would want, in my opinion, is to have everyone as a "ditto head" for lack of a better message being put out there.

The quote, typically attributed to Edmund Burke but really a paraphrase, I think says it...
Quote:
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing
So, in a further distortion of the original I would say that all that is needed for bad ideas to flourish is for no one to state the good ones. Which is the only reason I can see to "fight the good fight" here on the forums.

Sure, let's be realistic, who doesn't like it when the choir gives you the big amen? But I do believe it is more than that. And one really needs to be very Zen about such things, putting the ideas out there with no particular attachment to whether anyone agrees or not.

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
Bellevue, WA
Aikido Eastside
AikidoDvds.Com
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