Stewardship Chapter 15
Choosing Freedom, Service, And Adventure

"How?" is a Defense

How is a defense against the action.  There are more practical suggestions than we can use in a lifetime.

Three core questions underlie the majority of our discussions about getting practical:

• Is it possible to discover, claim, and live out my freedom, in the midst of community and the marketplace?
• Is it possible to do something of real value and service to something larger than myself and immediate family?
• Is is possible to also be safe and secure while pursuing my freedom and searching for ways to be of service?

The intensity of the question "How?" is an expression of our having surrendered some part of ourselves.

The answer to the question "How?" is "Yes."

The answer to the questions of safety, service, and freedom is a package deal:

• My security is discovered by experiencing my freedom and using it in service of something outside myself.
• I discover my freedom through the belief that my security lies within and is assured by acts of congruence and integrity.
• I can be of real service only when I take responsibility for all my actions

We know how.  We only have to choose it and have the courage to live with the consequences.

Democracy on the Line

There is a contradiction between the democratic values of freedom and independence and the colonial and patriarchal strategies used to manage our organizations.

Democracy is the system of government that promises to protect us from the abuse of power.

• We limit the tenure of our leaders.
• Local control gets the benefit of the doubt.
• There is an explicit contract of protection called the Bill of Rights
• The creation of an independent entity to protect these rights, the judicial system.

Our experience inside organizations dictates the likelihood of our engaging in broader forms of participation in society.

What we do in our workplace, with our marketplace, makes a difference

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Block P.  Stewardship:  Choosing service over self interest.