I realized by Wednesday of this week while at South Haven, Michigan with no TV, no laptop, no cell phone connect, no anything to connect me to the "outside" world, that I was truly disconnected. The sense of withdrawal weighed heavy especially coming off the constant ingestion of the previous weeks of debt ceiling partisan bickering, the markets soft, gold climbing, etc, etc. Then the sun came up on Wednesday and a strong sense of "who really cares" and "what really matters" washed over me and I realized that strange sense I was experiencing was called rest and relaxation. Felt pretty good!
The western coast of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is not famed for much but one thing that was simply astonishing was the unforgettable sunsets. I have seen sunsets at the Equator, the Southern tip of Africa, Turkey, Greenland, etc, but nothing to compare with the rich orange of God's color pack only He could use to create such breathtaking beauty. Simply amazing!
One evening Alicia and I took our lawn chairs, like old people do you know, to the Lake's edge at 7 pm to await the sunset at 9 pm. The wind was blowing at about 20 miles per hour and the sand was stinging exposed flesh but it was cool, the crashing of the five to seven foot waves was spectacular. But then my mind locked in on this most interesting lesson in leadership!
I was mesmerized for nearly two hours watching this one large seagull command and control the battalion of some twenty other seagulls. It was a strategic plan executed tactically with one purpose I realized in studying the Sun Tzu operation; to be positioned for the rich food that would wash ashore at the sun set and thus the tide crashed heavily onto the shore; their piece of the short and nothing nor nobody was going to crash their piece of the battle space!
This commander stood, being blown by the heavy wind and sand, not a foot from me. This leader stood atop a small dune of sand so better battle space observance could be established. Through wing movement, flying over to another gull to position that soldier and quickly returning to the high ground, I watched as our position was in the middle of this flock's command post in the AO (area of operation). I was there and loved it and I was narrating it all to Alicia that became interested as a result. When other birds would drop in, they would promptly be squawked at or thrown at or flown over for a nip to move them out. Minute by minute this unfolded in a military orderliness that brought back many great memories of some of my life's experiences.
As the feed time drew near, this leader has a 360 degree attack formation perfectly spaced out into a perimeter of perhaps 15 feet with the leader in the middle next to me. All the birds were rigid and facing the same direction out into the Lake. This leader lifted its head as the orange ball of sun sunk into the milky horizon and the whole battalion marched forward unabated for the rich supply of Lake supplied fish in this Seagull Battalion's AO ... they would not be denied!
This is a phenomenal experience for me and I was reminded that there are perhaps many things in this life I could be doing professionally but teaching leadership to the future in these great students I am blessed to work with each semester supersedes anything else in touching this future for a nation and a world screaming for leaders like that General Seagull! A metaphor? Perhaps! A reality check for me? Undeniably. Lesson Learned? Some time you have to disconnect to appreciate the connect to the greater, grander lessons to be learned. I learned much from this Seagull!
It is so good to be home!
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