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| In a Leadership magazine article, Lynn Anderson described what happens when a people lose their vision. A group of pilgrims landed on the shores of America about 350 years ago. With great vision and courage they had come to settle in the new land. In the first year they established a town. In the second, they elected a town council. In the third, the government proposed building a road 5 miles westward into the wilderness. But in the fourth year the people tried to impeach the town council because they thought such a road into the forest was a waste of public funds. Somehow these forward-looking people had lost their vision. Once able to see across oceans, they now could not look 5 miles into the wilderness. |
| There is a story to the effect that a certain society in South Africa once wrote to David Livingstone, "Have you found a good road to where you are? If so, we want to send other men to join you." Livingstone replied, "If you have men who will come ONLY if they know there is a good road, I don't want them." |
| One man, a college professor, was both intelligent and inquisitive. His sister had a hearing deficiency and in trying to invent a device to enhance her hearing, he created something more complex. After many years of trial and error and success, he was ready to take it into production. More years were spent traveling throughout New England trying to get venture capital interest in his dream. They laughed when he suggested that he could carry the human voice along a wire so that it could be heard for miles. Indeed! They laughed that he would have the nerve to assume it would work for even one mile. Nobody laughs at Bell today. Alexander Graham Bell had the self-esteem to hang in there when the only reward was his belief in himself. |
| Several years ago on an extremely hot day, a crew of men were working on the roadbed of the railroad when they were interrupted by a slow moving train. The train ground to a stop and a window in the last car -- which incidentally was custom made and air-conditioned -- was raised. A booming, friendly voice called out, "Dave, is that you?" Dave Anderson, the crew chief called back, "Sure is, Jim, and it's really good to see you." With that pleasant exchange, Dave Anderson was invited to join Jim Murphy, the president of the railroad, for a visit. For over an hour the men exchanged pleasantries and then shook hands warmly as the train pulled out. Dave Anderson's crew immediately surrounded him and to a man expressed astonishment that he knew Jim Murphy, the president of the railroad as a personal friend. Dave then explained that over 20 years earlier he and Jim Murphy had started to work for the railroad on the same day. One of the men, half jokingly and half seriously asked Dave why he was still working out in the hot sun and Jim Murphy had gotten to be president. Rather wistfully Dave explained, "twenty-three years ago I went to work for $1.75 an hour and Jim Murphy went to work for the railroad." |
| There was a study done of concentration camp survivors. What were the common characteristics of those who did not succumb to disease and starvation in the camps? Victor Frankl was a living answer to that question. He was a successful Viennese psychiatrist before the Nazis threw him into such a camp. "There is only one reason," he said in a speech, "why I am here today. What kept me alive was you. Others gave up hope. I dreamed. I dreamed that someday I would be here, telling you how I, Victor Frankl, had survived the Nazi concentration camps. I've never been here before, I've never seen any of you before, I've never given this speech before. But in my dreams, in my dreams, I have stood before you and said these words a thousand times." |
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