Tag: hope

Rise up a genuine leader

Rise up a genuine leader
Who is driven by moral character and integrity
Who commits to truth and responsibility
Who models personal discipline and accountability
Who earns respect by giving it
Who is humble in self-imperfections and gracious in others’
Who nurtures trust and collaboration

Rise up a genuine leader
Who is we-oriented, not me-oriented
Who articulates vision with clarity and infuses pride in purpose
Who disables barriers to people development
Who confronts social ills with positive solutions
Who seeks understanding and resolutions in contentions
Who fosters creativity and inspires hope

Rise up a genuine leader
Who can undo chaos and create order
Who is composed instead of clamorous
Who promotes diversity of viewpoints in unity of purpose
Who invests in people and worthy dreams
Who is transparent, trustworthy, and teachable
Who upholds faith in a better future and spurs actions toward it

Rise up a genuine leader
Who values people and ideas over profit
Who knows virtue sustains character, but its absence destroys it
Who is considerate instead of caustic
Who brings competence with candor
Who discerns realities with compassion and directs resolutions with care
Who influences people to mutually elevate lives, institutions, and ideals.

Rise up a genuine leader
Who is attentive to needs of the people and builds their spirit
Who overcomes personal ego, arrogance, and unethical behavior
Who rejects conflict mongering
Who is consistent and persistent in value-added contributions
Who equips and empowers other leaders
Who builds an enduring legacy of transformational results

Schools as welcoming havens?

not when bullying is tolerated

Our son, who has autism spectrum disorder (ASD), was often an inadvertent contributor to his problems by his lack of social savvy—but not always. Bullies can rise up anywhere and everywhere. And at any age. (Apparently, bullies never grow up.) They may even take the more insidious and impersonal form of institutional and systemic bias.

Children with physical, developmental, intellectual, emotional, and sensory disabilities often seem to have a prominent “Kick Me” sign on their backs, a seemingly irresistible target for the bullying mindset. Try as our son might to blend in or stay unnoticed, his “marching to a different drummer” routine attracted attention—especially from those kids who judged him ripe for their mocking, harassing, teasing, taunting, badgering, and bullying.

Often, bullies’ exploitive route is through their victims’ lack of peer support. Having friends can prevent and protect against bullying. But children with special needs often fail to make friends, and may have difficulty getting around, trouble communicating and navigating social interactions, or display signs of vulnerability and emotional distress. All of these challenges mark them as “different,” and increase their risk of aggression from bullies.

Stepping Stones: our pathfinding adventure with Asperger’s introduces the concepts required to continue organizational change. And to all parents and caregivers of children with ASD, this true tale offers pragmatic guidance, self-help encouragement, and real reason for hope. tinyurl.com/4c6bxw4s