Every Wednesday Emily from Notorious MLE and Torrie from A Place to Share and I are making lists. Not just any list, this is our Listography project. The book, created by Lisa Nola, is here at Chronicle Books.
Week four….
List leaders who inspire you….
When I saw this topic I wanted to try and avoid the typical leaders…I wanted to try and get a bit creative with this. I decided to highlight leaders in my city, in Oklahoma City. I chose three, Oklahoma State Senator Andrew Rice, Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips and Oklahoma City Thunder Forward Kevin Durant.
Andrew is the Senator for my district, but he is also a close friend. RBB has known him since they were teens. Andrew and his wife Apple have two kids….one is Bonham’s age and one is 2 years older. There are many many reasons that Andrew inspires me. As a political leader in Oklahoma he represents the minority party and fights a tough fight. Beyond representing his party, Andrew truly works to create cooperation among both parties and to achieve the greatest good for our city. I started to summarize his bio, and I can’t. It’s all worth reading. Please click here to read about him. It tells you about him better than I can.
I listed him here as a leader for 2 reasons. One is what I summarized above, his leadership in Oklahoma City. The second is a more personal reason. Andrew has taught me forgiveness and compassion. He is a leader for all of us in learning how to “be”…to be noble, to be good. Andrew’s brother David was killed in the World Trade Center on September 11th. In November 2002 Andrew was among a small group of people who met with Zacharias Moussaoui’s mother at her request. You can read the entire story here at the Forgiveness Project, but I will end this passage with one quote from it.
“One day I’d like to meet Zacharias Moussaoui. I’d like to say to him, ‘you can hate me and my brother as much as you like, but I want you to know that I loved your mother and I comforted her when she was crying’.”
I have never met a man with as large and wonderful a heart as Andrew. He shows it in his actions and in his words. He shows it to his family, to his friends, to his city and his country…and even to those mis-guided souls who caused his brother’s death. Andrew is a true leader for all of us, and I am proud to call him a friend.
Ok…let me wipe away my tears from writing about Andrew. Shake it off. Ok, on to Wayne Coyne. I can best describe Wayne as a modern day pied piper. Being at a Lips show is being in a room of love surrounded by music. It is hard to describe but it is much more than just being at a show. You are part of it. You are part of the magic. Everyone in that room is creating an energy and a feeling and Wayne is leading the way. As I am typing this it sounds so corny, but anyone who has seen the Flaming Lips live, who is reading this, has to be nodding their head in agreement.
Beyond his ability to lead a show, Wayne has become a leader in Oklahoma City. He grew up here and still lives here. I think it is great when people “make it big” but stay loyal to their roots. Wayne supports the arts in Oklahoma, is a fixture in his neighborhood (especially at Halloween when he puts on a huge show for the kids) and is someone who genuinely loves life. This is from an NPR article by Wayne from Feb 2007.
“I believe this is something all of us can do: Try to be happy within the context of the life we are actually living. Happiness is not a situation to be longed for or a convergence of lucky happenstance. Through the power of our own minds, we can help ourselves. This I believe.”
I listed Kevin Durant as my third pick. He is a leader on and off the basketball court. He is active in community service and represents the Thunder well in our community. Beyond that, he always has a smile on his face, is an extremely hard worker and is just kind of an over all good guy. He is what you want your kids looking up to. He’s not showy or spoiled. He works hard and contributes as part of a team, not as a superstar. His leadership by example philosophy sets him apart from many others in the league. This story tells why he wears #35, it is to honor a coach of his who passed away. The story shows how much heart Durant has. This quote is from Sam Presti is about Durant being named Oklahoman of the Year
“Kevin personifies so much of what our organization is trying to be about. Those qualities run parallel with the values of this city and state. His commitment to giving back to the community in which he lives really establishes the fact that he is a true citizen who values the support he’s received and is focused on returning that support with his time in other philanthropic endeavors.”
I’m not sure I hit the nail on the head as far as being on topic with this post, but these three men are people who I consider to be great leaders. They are also three men who I would love to put Bonham in a room with, if even for 15 minutes. They could each teach him a unique lesson on life.
RBB had an addition to this post that I wanted to share with you. He suggested that I include Bud Welch. I agree with RBB that it is appropriate to include him on this list. Bud’s daughter was killed in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Much in the same vein as Andrew’s meeting that I talked about, Bud met with Timothy McVeigh’s father and sister. He realized that they too were in pain and hurting like he was. You can read the story here on the Forgiveness Project. Bud spoke out against the death penalty then and still does now. He, much like Andrew, is a leader to me in how to “be”. To live with forgiveness and empathy. He leads by example and with his words.
“I was opposed to the death penalty all my life until my daughter Julie Marie was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing. For many months after the bombing I could have killed Timothy McVeigh myself. Temporary insanity is real, and I have lived it. You can’t think of enough adjectives to describe the rage, revenge, and hate I felt. But after time, I was able to examine my conscience, and I realized that if McVeigh is put to death, it won’t help me in the healing process. People talk about executions bringing closure. But how can there be closure when my little girl is never coming back. I finally realized that the death penalty is all about revenge and hate, and revenge and hate are why Julie Marie and 167 others are dead.”
I hope that you will click on some of these links and read more about each of these leaders. I think each of them have stories worth telling.
Did you play along this week and write a list of leaders who inspire you? If you have it in a post, then link up! Click on the widget below and link to your post. No blog post? No problem…share your list in the comments. A special thanks to those Bloggers who are joining every week and linking up. So fun to have everyone doing this together!!
See you guys next Wednesday…up next, list places you’d like to visit.
