A NEW Year with new challenges

While I have obviously talked about the difficulty of District and state finances, as well as the looming next step effects of the state budget, it is a NEW year. As such, we need to be both optimistic and realistic -- a difficult combination at times.

Overall, it seems that we are EACH called on to exercise leadership within our sphere of influence. It is our contribution to our community and those around us. Within that regard I was struck by a Michael Josephson story in his Character Counts series that illustrates what leadership can "look like" for each of us. Within Josephson's story we each need to be Benny -- even when he is not around.

Let's have a GREAT year!!
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Benny: The Man on the Bus
This is a parable about leadership. A teacher assigned her 12th graders to write an essay about a leader. Most kids wrote about famous people, but one student named Julius titled his paper “Benny: The Man on the Bus.”

He wrote: “I've been taking a public bus to school for years. Most passengers go to work and almost no one talks to anyone else.

“About a year ago, an elderly man got on the bus and said loudly to the driver, ‘Good morning!’ Most people looked up annoyed, and the bus driver just grunted.

“The next day the man got on at the same stop and again said loudly, ‘Good morning!’ to the driver. On the fifth day, the driver greeted the man with a cheerful ‘Good morning!’ and Benny said loudly, ‘My name’s Benny. What’s yours?’ The driver said his name was Ralph.

“It was the first time any of us had heard the driver’s name. Soon people began to talk to each other and say hello to Ralph and Benny. After a month, Benny extended his cheerful ‘Good morning!’ to the whole bus. Within a few days, his ‘Good morning!’ was returned by a whole bunch of passengers, and the entire bus seemed friendlier. If a leader is someone who makes something happen, Benny was our leader in friendliness.

“About a month ago, Benny didn't get on the bus at his usual stop. Some thought he may have died, and no one knew what to do. The bus got awful quiet again.

“So I started to act like Benny and said, ‘Good morning!’ to everyone. They cheered up again. I guess I’m now the leader.”

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.