Two things happened this week, one large, one small, that reminded me of the importance of perseverance.
The major event was the U.S. Department of Interior settling for $3.4 billion the claims of 300,000 Native Americans who were owed payments on trust land. As the article said, this claim lasted through four secretaries of the Department of the Interior, for thirteen years. Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet , was the lead plaintiff in the case. How many times could she have wondered whether it made any sense to go on. Here she was taking on the federal government with its enormous funds for lawsuits, buildings full of lawyers. She didn't give up for 13 years. That is amazing.
Erich talks about "four tradition values of our ancestors", of courage, honesty, perseverance and generosity (actually, as I remind him sometimes, those are his ancestors. My ancestors are from the Caribbean, where the four values are rum, tropical vacations. Miss Universe and oil.) Often, it seems to me that we emphasize two of those values more in our courses, courage and honesty.
Yet, here in Cobell's case we see the great importance of perseverance. The saying, "You can't fight city hall" might be based in this idea that they can just keep on going for what seems like forever. They can have more hearings - 192 trial days - keep requesting documents - 3,600 filings over A MILLION PAGES of documents. And yet, she didn't give up. Ms. Cobell is my new hero.
Two lessons are to be learned here. One is the great importance of perseverance but the second is that unethical people can persevere as well.
The smaller issue that came up was on a board of which I was a member. There had been concerns about people getting promoted because they had connections, knew the right person (sound familiar?). The new promotion committee was charged with enforcing policies, no matter what, and were told the board would be behind them. When they turned down someone close to a board member for promotion, that was brought up over and over by the member. The majority of the board supported the committee.
Here is where I screwed up. That member asked me about bringing the issue back to the committee and my response was,
"It couldn't hurt. You can approach the committee and give them your side of the story."
Now, I realize, I was wrong. The committee acted on what they believe was right. The board supported them. What I should have told this board member was,
"No! The committee made a decision, the board supported it and that is final."
Unethical people show perseverance as well and we need to show perseverance in standing up against them.
The major event was the U.S. Department of Interior settling for $3.4 billion the claims of 300,000 Native Americans who were owed payments on trust land. As the article said, this claim lasted through four secretaries of the Department of the Interior, for thirteen years. Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet , was the lead plaintiff in the case. How many times could she have wondered whether it made any sense to go on. Here she was taking on the federal government with its enormous funds for lawsuits, buildings full of lawyers. She didn't give up for 13 years. That is amazing.
Erich talks about "four tradition values of our ancestors", of courage, honesty, perseverance and generosity (actually, as I remind him sometimes, those are his ancestors. My ancestors are from the Caribbean, where the four values are rum, tropical vacations. Miss Universe and oil.) Often, it seems to me that we emphasize two of those values more in our courses, courage and honesty.Yet, here in Cobell's case we see the great importance of perseverance. The saying, "You can't fight city hall" might be based in this idea that they can just keep on going for what seems like forever. They can have more hearings - 192 trial days - keep requesting documents - 3,600 filings over A MILLION PAGES of documents. And yet, she didn't give up. Ms. Cobell is my new hero.
Two lessons are to be learned here. One is the great importance of perseverance but the second is that unethical people can persevere as well.
The smaller issue that came up was on a board of which I was a member. There had been concerns about people getting promoted because they had connections, knew the right person (sound familiar?). The new promotion committee was charged with enforcing policies, no matter what, and were told the board would be behind them. When they turned down someone close to a board member for promotion, that was brought up over and over by the member. The majority of the board supported the committee.
Here is where I screwed up. That member asked me about bringing the issue back to the committee and my response was,
"It couldn't hurt. You can approach the committee and give them your side of the story."
Now, I realize, I was wrong. The committee acted on what they believe was right. The board supported them. What I should have told this board member was,
"No! The committee made a decision, the board supported it and that is final."
Unethical people show perseverance as well and we need to show perseverance in standing up against them.
Leave a comment