Sunday, September 29, 2013

A Symbol of Integrity

This flag, which we honor and under which we serve, is the emblem of our unity, our power, our thought and purpose as a nation. It has no other character than that which we give it from generation to generation. The choices are ours. It floats in majestic silence above the hosts that execute those choices, whether in peace or in war. And yet, though silent, it speaks to us — speaks to us of the past, of the men and women who went before us, and of the records they wrote upon it.”
~ John Philip Sousa

Recently at a ceremony I attended I was asked about an American flag lapel pin that I wear. I have a small horizontal commendation bar depicting the American Flag with three stripes. The pin is a replica of the one issued police, fire, and emergency services personnel working the days during the tragedy and attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001.

As I was telling about the pin, my years in the fire service and about my family’s involvement in volunteering and service to others and to our country, I got to thinking about the flag and what it means to have a symbol to represent that spirit. It is interesting to me that when we speak of our flag, our country or our freedoms, we are not talking about a rectangular piece of cloth, a geographic location or a document, rather we are speaking of ideals, emotions and feelings.

Wikipedia synopsizes a brief history of flags in this manner:Flags were used to assist military coordination on battlefields. Flags have since evolved into a general tool for rudimentary signaling and identification, especially in environments where communication is similarly challenging such as maritime environments. National flags are potent patriotic symbols with varied wide-ranging interpretations, often including strong military associations due to their original and ongoing military uses. Flags are also used in messaging, advertising, or for other decorative purposes.”

Thinking about how flags are used for signaling, identificationand sending a message, I wonder what others would think of themany flags of my own personal life that might be flown to depict me and my ideals. If I were to choose my flags there would be many I would fly. First and foremost I would fly the Christian flag, the American flag, and the Simpson family crest. I would fly the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity flag to represent my association, the flag of the Sons of the American Revolution, and a flag to represent the fire service. I would fly a flag for thegreat state of Mississippi, a flag for the University of Southern Mississippi (To the Top), a flag for Delta State University (Fear the Okra) and a flag for my high school. I would also fly flags for an assortment of things to depict things I truly enjoy in life such as Ole Miss Football, good barbeque, music, and all sorts of recreational activities I enjoy with my wife and boys.

There would be many opportunities for the viewer of these flags to draw assumptions of who I am and what things have impacted me in my lifetime. But would those assumptions be correct? Would the flags I choose to fly tell a true representation of me and my life, or would they paint the picture I would like others to see? As a small child my grandmother would always tell me, “Larkin, be careful, because not everything you see is what it appears to be”.

There is a fable that illustrates this point better than I can. It goes something like this: A prince had some monkeys trained to dance.  Being naturally great mimics of men's actions, they showed themselves most apt pupils, and when dressed in their rich clothes and masks, they danced as well as any of the best entertainers.  The spectacle was often repeated with great applause, till on one occasion a member of the audience, bent on mischief, took from his pocket a handful of nuts and threw them upon the stage.  The monkeys at the sight of the nuts forgot their dancing and became (as indeed they were) monkeys instead of actors.  Pulling off their masks and tearing their robes, they fought with one another for the nuts.  The dancing spectacle thus came to an end amidst the laughter and ridicule of the audience.

I hope no one ever accuses you of not being any better than a dancing monkey, but I do sincerely hope that the flags you fly in your life, the ideals and issues you support and the morals of your character are rooted in a solid foundation. As individuals, we have the opportunity to paint the picture for others to view of us; as a community we can sell outsiders an amazing story about us, but if we are not rooted in strong morals and built upon individuals with solid character, people will see through our facades like looking through the holes of a battle worn flag. Our standards, our morals, and our integrity must stand the test of time, not break down at the site of a handful of nuts on the stage.

Good luck. Raise your flags high and let the wind catch them for the entire world to look upon with pride and amazement. If you do, I know our community will be better off for it!


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* This article was originally printed in the Sunday, September 29, 2013 issue
of The Chronicle's"Planting Seeds" column under the alternate title "Fun with Flags"

Sunday, September 8, 2013

What Are You Throwing Away

“A man is not as big as his belief in himself; he is as big as the number of persons who believe in him.”
~ Woodrow Wilson

I love this time of year. Every year about this time our Chamber of Commerce unveils its new class of Leadership Jones County participants. We have an orientation and reception, a nice dinner and then spend two days at an off-site retreat. The purpose of these events is to break the participants out of their comfort zone, introduce them to new perspectives, let them learn a lot about themselves, the makeup of the community, weaknesses and opportunities we face together and help them bond with one another as a class.

This year was extraordinarily special, as other classes have been in the past. I really like the process because as a self proclaimed “people watcher” I enjoy watching how the participants interact. I like to guess their points of view and how I think they might react to something we offer during the retreat. In addition to all the other team-building activities we offer, we also have a personality profile done by Mississippi Power Company’s Community Development Division. This document really gives the participants an in depth analysis of their personality, how and why they react to certain things and how they and others can use this information to enhance their communication abilities.

It is always fun because before we hand out the reports, all the participants try to guess which of four personality categories they and their classmates fit into. Several of the personalities are strong enough that you can guess without question, others are very surprising. As I was thinking about this, I thought about a story I once heard about a man who thought he knew the contents of something by its outward appearance, but he truly missed the potential of what was on the inside. The story goes like this…

“One morning a man was out exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found an old and dirty canvas bag with a number of hardened clay balls. It appeared that someone had taken the time to roll up a bunch of clay balls and then left them in the sun to bake and dry.

The clay balls didn’t look like much, but the man was fascinated by them. He took the bag out of the cave. As he walked along the beach he would see how far he could throw each of the clay balls into the sea. He didn’t really give it much thought until he dropped one.
The ball had been accidentally dropped on a rock and cracked. Inside he found a beautiful precious stone. Breaking open the remaining clay balls he found each one contained a similar precious stone.

Fortunately for this man he had found hundreds of dollars in the remaining 20 that were left. Unfortunately, as he later realized, he had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their treasure into the sea; lost forever. He could have taken home thousands of dollars and maybe even more, not just hundreds.”

Many of us think we have great teams; that we know the people we work with and do business with. Are we sure? Could we be throwing away individual potential? As leaders it is very common and easy for us to jump to conclusions. But we must be careful of being judgmental.  Judge too quickly and we might miss out on a real treasure!

It is up to us as leaders of the community to see the individual potential in others. This leadership story demonstrates the need to look beyond the clay and the outward appearance. To discount the individual potential of those you lead could result in throwing away more than money.

Every leader ought to lead because they care about others. Great leaders get their greatest satisfaction from seeing people succeed; seeing others doing better than they believed they could, or doing things that they didn’t realize they could do.

I want to encourage you to be involved in the success of others; to look beyond the clay and the outward appearance; to get to know one another on a deeper level. I guarantee if you invest your time in the success of others, we all will grow because of it and your community will be a much better place to live and do business!

To your success!

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* This article was originally printed in the Sunday, September 8, 2013 issue
 of The Chronicle's "Planting Seeds" column.