Thanks so much for your feedback on April’s Poem of the Month, Leadership! Your words of praise put my “doing” brain to work and as a result, from me…

1. All 50 Governors received a letter with a copy of the poem in it.

2. Mayors of the largest 116 cities in the United States received the same.

3. A couple of days later I sent a letter and the poem to all 100 Senators.

4. And finally, I selected 114 Congressmen and Congresswomen to be the recipient of a letter and the poem.

The subject of May’s Poem of the Month, I believe, is a natural next step in the chain of subjects about which each and every one of us must certainly be aware. It is Interdependence! Our interdependence on others was demonstrated admirably this past couple of months.

The Covid-19 Pandemic has shown us just how incredibly interdependent all mankind is… all of us around the globe play a very important part in each other’s lives, whether we have ever met or not. Think about it.

A big thank you to the Front Line workers (medical, police and fire); to all the “essential” workers who risked exposure, and to all of you who safely distanced and washed your hands and didn’t touch your face.

We cannot survive without each other, and this Pandemic has brought this fact home to all of us.

Please enjoy the Poem of the Month for May. It was such a pleasure to write.

INTERDEPENDENCE

“Interdependence is a fundamental law of nature!”
Did you understand the words in the above line?
“Interdependence is a fundamental law of nature!”
They’re the wise words of the Dalai Lama, not mine.

Interdependence means that what affects you directly
Will affect everyone else in an indirect way.
We are all individual parts of a magnificent whole,
Combining our efforts with others’ to make headway.

“No man is an island, entire of itself…”
John Donne, a 16th century poet, made this statement.
We belong, all of us, to one human family,
Surrounded by nature and our environment.

The further a person drifts away from nature
The less able he is to practice interdependence.
As our interdependence increases, on the whole,
We do better when others do better; there’s evidence.

Interdependence is a device only independent people can make;
There is no such thing as a “self-made” man!
We are all made up of thousands of others’ inputs —
Kind deeds, or words of encouragement, help us do what we can.

“Before you even ate breakfast this morning,
You’ve depended on more than half the planet.”
Martin Luther King, Jr., said those words; and he’s right!
(And you’ve depended upon many more by sunset.)

All people and things are interdependent.
No nation can solve its problems alone.
We need each other, and the sooner we learn it,
We’ll survive the storm together, truth be known.

Resolution of the problems is dialogue, and lots of it,
When people, or countries, or cultures collide.
With honesty and courage and an ear to listen,
Dialogues occur and differences subside.

We should be evolving with a new world view
That maintains one simple proposition:
That all of nature — humans, animals, earth —
Are interconnected and interdependent, and not in opposition.

In the midst of the Coronavirus Pandemic, it is my fervent hope that you are taking care of yourselves. Please do what you need to do to stay safe. (Wash your hands, don’t touch your face, and practice safe physical distancing.)

If things were like they were in the past, you know — normal — our thoughts would be turning to lighter things, like celebrating the warmer weather, flowers, etc. But April 2020 is clearly a new normal and we are all searching inwardly and outwardly for leadership to guide us through these unknown, murky waters.

The subject of April’s Poem of the Month is Leadership, and it attempts to define the qualities of an effective leader. The thoughts in this poem are based in ideas expressed by great leaders down through the ages.

I take credit only for arranging these brilliant leaders’ words into poetic form. I submit April 2020’s Poem of the Month as something to ponder.

LEADERSHIP

Leadership is about vision and responsibility,
And never about power or fame.
Great leaders don’t tell you what to do;
They show how it is done, then you do the same.

True leadership is, basically, about servanthood,
Putting interests (or safety) of others at center of decisions.
The true test of a leader is how well he does in crisis.
In crises, the actions must be made with precision.

Leaders have the courage to make unpopular choices.
And in leadership, character is more important than strategy.
Leadership is taking the reins in solving problems, 
Seeking help from experts along the way.

A leader realizes he’s not always the smartest in the room
And listens, and learns from those who are in the know.
It’s not about making speeches, or being liked.
Leadership is defined by results, it would follow.

When leadership is lacking, there is much finger-pointing,
And arguments about who is to blame.
Leadership is about taking responsibility,
With no excuses. The leader must carry the flame!

A leader must do the right thing, even if painful.
He or She must do what needs to be done,
With truth and goodness, love and compassion.
The leader should lead others to the best solution.

But before I forget to mention this one thing:
A true leader is humble enough to admit his mistakes.
He takes a little more than his share of the blame,
And less than his share of credit, for goodness sakes. 

Weighing in on the recent information and misinformation about the coronavirus scare, I’d like to offer a poem I wrote a few years ago about the subject of fear.

I call it “Fear As Epidemic,” to drive home the point that fear is sometimes worse than the thing that we are most afraid of!

H. P. Lovecraft commented that the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is the fear of the unknown!

Actually, we do not fear the unknown, but, in fact, we fear what we think we know about the unknown! “Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is,” to quote a German proverb.

Indeed, everything is unknown, and fear is an illusion. It doesn’t exist unless we create it! It’s all in our minds!

Defining moments of change occur to us when we choose to know our fear. Knowledge is power, remember??!!!

Now is the time to understand more, and to educate ourselves from reliable scientific sources. The unknown is a sea of possibilities. Explore them and learn!

I’ll leave you with two thoughts… ultimately, the other side of fear is freedom… and… courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it!.

FEAR AS EPIDEMIC

The epidemic of fear is the most contagious of all.
You can catch it over the phone; you can catch it in the mall.
I’ve even seen people with normally good sense
Catch it while talking to a neighbor over the fence.

From newspapers, from TV, there’s no end to the sources.
The fear epidemics run all kinds of courses:
On one end, negative thinking; the other end, bravado --
It manifests in crazy ways, making one a desperado!

Like other viruses, fear can bring a soldier to his grave.
A business man, a housewife, too, can soon begin to rave.
A sports nut, a nurse, a cop -- no matter the occupation --
All are subject to the results of fear and it's contamination.

Fact one is that when fear abounds the immune system is suppressed.
Blood pressure rises, the body is tense; the fatigue will make you depressed.
Over time, results are infections and cardiovascular abnormality.
Muscles can degenerate and one loses needed vitality.

Of course, the result is death, but then that’s one of the inevitabilities.
It’s just that worry and fear increase the vulnerabilities.
The biggest loss is quality of life while one is still walking around.
Fear paralyzes and stems the courage; one’s hopes are dashed to the ground.

The stronger the fear, the less inclined the person is to grow --
To start long-term projects, a career, a relationship -- with heart all aglow.
Life’s less fulfilling and less fun when fear takes hold of your soul.
It’s a miserable way to live, when fear takes pieces from the whole.