From: Cindy.Hallenbeck@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Cindy Hallenbeck)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: what is a team player
Date: 12 Aug 92 19:02:40 GMT
Reply-To: Cindy.Hallenbeck@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA
X-Fidonet: Blink Talk Conference

Index Number: 23730

[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 DC>   my view of the
 DC> organization is mor like that of a union than a club.  If a
 DC> union is involved in a strike action the union can't put on a
 DC> public display of disunity because that defeats the whole
 DC> purpose of the strike action.  I think the nfb looks at life as
 DC> a strike action.  This is gross over-simplification, but I'm
 DC> only trying to communicate why I believe Jernigan believes team
 DC> play is so important.  If you put a religious organization on
 DC> one extreme and a club on the other,organizations like the nfb
 DC> come somewhere in the middle.
I think you are right about this union thing, Doug.  I think the N.F.B.,
in our efforts to assist blind individuals with their employment
problems, as well as with other areas of discrimination, must have a
very unified spirit.  If we are always quibbling about small details of
a case, we could never get anywhere.  However, I think we must always be
able to have a point of view and discuss it openly with Mr. Jernigan, or
anyone else with whom we feel it is important to discuss it, and I think
we should be able to feel we can do that without reprisals.  I think
sometimes that does not happen.  We do, however, have a somewhat
religious leaning as well, but I think for those of us who have a really
strong faith in something, we do not worship anyone at the top of any
organization, whether it is religious or the N.F.B.

 DC>               In that religious organization I used to belong
 DC>  to, what happened is that the clergy began to identify
 DC>  themselves too much with God,and interposed themselves between
 DC>  the rest of us and God.  They taught that commitment to God
 DC>  equaled commitment to the organization.  Logically, then,the
 DC>  organization equals God.  It sounds to me like you guys are
 DC>  saying that in Jernigan's mind and in the minds of staunch nfb
 DC>  supporters that the cause equals Jernigan.  If what you say is
 DC>  correct, then the same thing will happen to the nfb that
 DC>  happened to the religious organization I used to belong to.
 DC>  After Jernigan is gone there will be a power vacuum and some
 DC>  egos will try to fill it not having the understanding of the
 DC>  cause or commitment to the cause which supposedly motivates
 DC>  Jernigan, bu will only be interested in holding the same power
 DC>  he has. disciples away after themselves and split the
 DC>  organization.  I rendered an ineffective ruin.
I think what you have said here is a concern.  I believe that when any
person is in power for a very long time, it is hard to let go of it,
particularly when that person has invested so much of life and energy in
it, and if that is true, the kind of power struggle you speak of is a
real possibility.  Many are being groomed for this eventuality, so
perhaps this will never happen.  Perhaps those of us who have that
concern are just over reacting.

I personally am very much committed to the cause and not the leadership,
and I hope that people can see this difference.  Many of us really do
feel that way.

Cindy Hallenbeck

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