Frame of Reference - Coming Together
"Frame of Reference - Profiles in Leadership" and "Frame of Reference - Coming together" are conversational style shows with local, national, and global experts about issues that affect all of us in some way. I’m, at heart, a “theatre person”. I was drawn to theatre in Junior High School and studied it long enough to get a Master of Fine Arts in Stage Direction. It’s the one thing that I’m REALLY passionate about it because as Shakespeare noted, “all the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players”. Think about the universality of that line for just a moment. Think about the types of “theatre” that play out around us every day in today’s world. The dramatic, the comedic, the absurd, the existential, the gorilla theatre (it’s a thing, look it up) that is pumped into our Smart Phones, TV’s, Radios, and PC’s every minute of every day.
Think about the tremendous forces that “play” upon us - trying to first discover, then channel, feed, nurture, and finally harvest our will power and biases in order to move forward the agendas of leaders we will likely never meet. Think of all these forces (behind the scenes of course) and how they use the basic tools of theatre to work their “magic” on the course of humanity. Emotionally charged content matched to carefully measured and controlled presentations.
With that in mind (and to hopefully counter the more insidious agendas), I bring you the Frame of Reference "Family" of podcasts, where the voices of our local and global leadership can share their passion for why and how they are leaders in their community and in many cases, the world. Real players with real roles in a world of real problems. No special effects, no hidden agenda, just the facts and anecdotes that make a leader.
And at the risk of sounding trite, I sincerely thank my wife Ann and my two children Elisabeth and Josiah for continually teaching me what leadership SHOULD look like.
Frame of Reference - Coming Together
Memorial Day Memories
Happy Memorial Day everyone - and to any Veterans out there that might listen - Thank you for your service. I keep bringing this episode back for two reasons:
1) We need to remember the profound significance of this day. This is one day where any other self label (Dem, Rep - whatever) must be placed in the backseat so that we all just call ourselves Americans with a shared debt to those we sent off to war. Back in 2019 I was honored by being invited to accompany a cohort of the Badger Honor Flight organization as a media Representative. It was a transformational experience for me.
It's one thing to celebrate Memorial Day as a respectful citizen, but an emotionally and spiritually different thing to get a glimpse of what it really means, through the eyes and recollections of those that fought for our country and lost friends and comrades. These veterans are the first to tell you that THEY are not heroes. Their friends that paid the highest price for our freedoms are the REAL heroes. The stories I heard that day bear repeating over and over and over again. They make this holiday real. Not with pomp and circumstance and political posturing, but with the heart and soul of humanity. Their stories made me sad, made me laugh in some cases, but mostly made me appreciate the real people behind this holiday.
2) These are stories that need to heard and shared. It was and incredible honor to share in this day. I feel a responsibilty to continue to rebroadcast it as much as possible so that people hear and ponder the significance of these stories so that they can perhaps understand more about what it truely means to be a patriot. These are people that filmed scenes set in a war, these are the folks that were there, taking fire, and didn't run.
P.S. For the only time in my broadcasting career, I began the day feeling hoarse and by the end of the day completely lost my voice. At the time that seemed like a catastrophe, but as the day went on, I realized it just might be God's way of telling me "shut up and listen". I had no choice but to do so. Good choice.
P.P.S. At the end of this episode I tacked on a portion of Steven Curtis Chapman's song "We Remember". If you don't have a copy of it, GET ONE! It is by far one of the best songs ever written as an anthem of praise and thanks for our Veterans and all those who made sacrifices for our freedoms. Let's stop fighting with each other over who said what and who voted for whom and. . . just listen.
Thanks for listening. Please check out our website at www.forsauk.com to hear great conversations on topics that need to be talked about. In these times of intense polarization we all need to find time to expand our Frame of Reference.
