On Mere Opinions

"Those who profess to favor freedom, yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."

Frederick Douglass, American Abolitionist, Letter to an associate, 1849

"Aquellos que profesan favorecer la libertad, y sin embargo desprecian la agitación, son hombres que quieren cosechar sin arar la tierra. Quieren lluvia sin truenos y relámpagos. Quieren el océano sin el estruendo espantoso de todas sus aguas. Esta puede ser una lucha moral, o puede ser física, o puede ser a la vez moral y física, pero debe ser una lucha. El poder no concede nada sin una demanda. Nunca lo hizo y nunca lo hará."

Frederick Douglass, American Abolicionista, Carta a un asociado, 1849

There are not false assumptions in politics and for the same matter in anything else; as dear they appear or could be to us, they are still only assumptions, and so our paradigmatic edifices are in the end made only at best of deep-rooted beliefs and assumptions, many of which are far from the reality and let alone could  bring a fair resolution over our social and economic as political issues and dilemmas; although, I still believe, in a very romantic idea that this is possible and so we have the capability to resolve our issues and differences and live in a more humane and civilized manner.

Our democratic values seem to be one of the many "instruments" that we have envisioned especially in our western civilization.  As Aristotle explained and compared the government of the one, with of the few and of the many and better from, for and by all, we have understood the more effective route for the development of our societies and for each individual that are part of them.

In quoting President Lincoln, you might need to read more about the civil war and its underpinnings, war whose one of the principal protagonists was, incidentally, Lincoln, the President of, for and from our Union.

In addition, as an engineer, and by more precisely, by understanding and applying the techniques of FEA (Field Element Analysis), you know very well that a current state of any system is a result of previous states, and therefore, any present situation is effectively historically-affected by past forces and determined not by any fate or oracle but by causes that can be partially and sometimes totally understood. Again, every state of any system is determined and so in fact it is a consequence of previous circumstances, plus the responses and the free-will embedded in the unpredictable behavior of their actors and parts, in this case power groups and parties formed as a reaction or action against the transitions or events manifested in the system.

Every person have an opinion, obviously you have yours, but if every opinion is equal and valid, in science as in politics, why we are committing time, money and effort to find truth and any pragmatic, effective, sustainable solution as rational derive from this findings and understandings?

You stick with what you know, you have been specialized and so you have not opportunity to understand at this moment the background in the necessarily depth and seriousness that these complex and "elastic" subjects demand. You can start again learning about it though, but you have to change your mindset and your entirely attitude about it. Something that could be as difficult as asking a testicle's cell to become a neuron.

It takes years, thirst, hunger, and determination to do it so.  But whereas you are not a cell, and still it is difficult but you can change even though, you are like a bended tree, [you are] hard to be curved to search for light in any other side but than from the one that you are already used to.

If you really want to understand you will but you cannot do it just right now, you need to study and think and practice, then you will need to apply and fail and fail once again and fail many times more and perhaps you will understand someday somehow somewhat and better. These issues are much better understood in that way, and therefore you have exhibited very little concern or little understanding of what is really going on as stating some of your analyses.

This have nothing to do with your intelligence but with your disposition of your mind towards these issues. I have spoken with you and I knew then that you and me would eventually find each other in writing, as Hector was found by Achilles. In writing, I shall archive our discussion(s) much better, and you perhaps will learn by my example something from me other that trying to show your lack of research and competence over something that could appear to you so superficial and simple as it is how our societies' struggle to become more effective and our markets more flexible and sustainable no for the few, no for one, if not for all. This inquiry is the problem of everyone and it does not mean communism neither exploitation, and it does not need to mean the end of the capitalism, or the "death of the salesman" either; it means that we are humans and as we adapt we are intelligent beings to solve our problems and improve our social systems as well.

Do not worry you will suffer a cognitive dissonance and most probably you will hide your head and soul from me. It will be fine as well since you will find perhaps a better part of yourself only if you strive, as I know that you have the curiosity and the desire to know.

Moreover, and getting back to the main theme, let's say as for the purpose of illustrating it: That we know poverty is caused by multiple factors but we are lazy and we just think of poverty as the an indispensable or necessary evil for the fabric of our societies, or as the result of a set of specific behaviors or vices, such as a type of a constant or a normal in the survival of states. As saying without poverty, there would not be any society, we need poor people, wee need struggle, agony, precisely the Greek "Agon". So we would think of property as a set of properties not only of those who are sick or weak or evil; a essential quality of the misfit and/or the uneducated or anything else that is derogatory and belittles or wrongs the human being but also a dynamic attribute in the history of every nation. I am opposed almost completely to this perspective. Poverty is a product of our incapacity to understand much better our rights and obligations as a citizens, as members of state, of a city of neighborhood, of a club, of a family, and at large as a human being.

For instance, the present economical moment or turmoil that is experienced in Greece and in USA, and other industrialized countries, and everyone is expecting China to come over the same crises, presently, has been caused by multiple factors as well, and not precisely by what you have called the "weak", or the indigents, poor, or immigrants, or to whom really knows what you are trying to mean or point or blame to, by using that aforementioned Lincoln's quote.

However, all the contrary, the enormous debt, as the "foreclosure revolution" and other maladies were done and are being done, incidentally by the many of the supposed strong, fittest and finest people of the world; who just are used to exploit the situation, which also happen to be the greedy, the most powerful stomachs and the "richest" as holes of this, form time to time, mechanistic world.

Could you parse this better?

And I repeat: "Many"  not all of them but indeed the majority. Perhaps, there are some like the "Mother Theresa of Calcutta"  I guess, although I have not found none as yet [not that I like Mother Theresa in any way either] but I am still looking as Diogenes did with my lantern by day, especially by midday in which there is more light at the very top; remember, I bought my new glasses just for continuing doing so.

I give you one tiny little example of how their putrid influence is extensible in all societies: The so-called charities and non-profits have proliferated in the last decades, more so in New York than in any other places in the world.

What  have they really done? Are the "weak" weakening the strong? Who are the weak precisely anyway? Are those who do not have money? Are those how are considered the second or third class citizens? Those who are "Hispanics", "Latinos", "blacks", "Asians" or "Greeks"?  Who are the powerful? The chosen ones? and Who could divide so accurately all or some people of the world in such a simplistic manner?

Now are you coming with a new kind of religion? Are you an extreme Republican, right-wing fellow, who is  confused about the separation of the church from the state or the domestic affairs of the governments and the well-being and privacy of their people?

Do you believe in the constitution or how you interpret it? Do you believe that the sharks own the oceans and the economy of the nations as well of their wealth? Do you want that those big tigers and bloody sharks and spiders to have slaves? Do you think that they owe to be fed by the carcass weakest elements of our society?

Therefore, why we need or owe to have a government in the first place, we might be happy with a tribe or an emperor or a tyrant, why not with an Ayatollah in place of a President?

Why we need to be humane or why are we calling ourselves humans? What is the quality that separate us from the rest of the animal kingdom? Why do we want to have a decent society if we can act as hyenas as well? Why we just don't live in the feudal times again, full of lords and the rest of the bullshit, including the beheading, and the inquisition?

As you have stated the society [for you] is like a pyramid in which those who matter the most are at the top and the rest of people and herds, which should be at the bottom feeding recursively those who matter the most. Isn't it, Manos? Come on now,  write to me, I am here Manos, can you really justify or how could you support this claim of yours? Explain me your views in detail, I am  eager to know, I will read you anyways. Do you want to be read?  However, remember it takes years, and it is not baloney as the one which is sold around your marketplaces.

I remind you of a true American: Henry Ford, who stated,

"Time and money spent in helping men to do more for themselves is far better than mere giving.”

Some experts share this Henry Ford's view.  As it is the case, at least of the richest man of the world, no Manos, he is not Gates or Buffett, they are the ones who are making our economy as it weakest point on history, and this society much worst of what it should be and unnecessarily for the most part too. Those are the real miserable.

The richest man of the world, according to Forbes Magazine, as you might already know, is Carlos Slim, a Mexican, just in case, he already pronounced his views about charities.

So some, again not all, of these people, who apparently you call the powerful, the rich, are not with their philanthropic bullshit really helping, what they are doing is maintaining the status-quo, they are taking and weakening the initiative of people. That is the reality and no the other way around, and it is very bad for any nation as for everybody as well, it is absurd and it is an immoral activity for say the least.

Now, in the very personal environment, and about your remarks about my person or future; Please, if you could, and I am imploring you this, kneeling in from of your sacred attitude but with my ass in front of your face, that just be happy to have known me the way I am, at least I am happy to show you who I am; although somewhat aware of my shortcomings, I am striving to improve as much as possible, and of course I wish and work for becoming the best person that I could be everyday.

I do not have, neither I had, any desire for political power, more so than the power that I already have as a simple human being, which is having the ability to make some decisions and to create artifacts, paintings and writings whereby I transmit my thoughts, feelings and emotions, none of which is propelled primarily by a desire to make money. Siddhartha, "told me", that "the true profession of a human being is to know thyself" incidentally Socrates spoke about the same need as he just only use his critical thinking and argumentative skills to influence the people around him. I declare my existence and I document my essence theretofore as is.

Do you have any problem with that?

I will be in my tomb naked and I will be more powerful than many. You are not and Spartan, let lone an ancient Greek, for which neither you understand what is really power and how to obtain real freedom; it seems that is not in where you are in any predetermined moment, and does not consist in what you have or your position in a specific society, or whom you know out there in the "uptown", that is only part of the bullshit. Your real freedom starts from inside out and it does not depend in nothing tangible. Ask Viktor Frankl, by the way, he would tell you, through his biography and his logotherapy.  By all means, I hope that you can become the next Manos the Zorba, since you have most of his qualities. Make an effort, you still have time.

I have written and I have been published, as I have released and shared openly what I have thought, as I have put all my might in the things that I have truly believed in, but I have never sold my values.

If I had failed, I had blamed none but my own,

If I have succeeded I have shared the benefits

with almost all those who where around myself at the time.

I have few things to fear and fewer things to loose

Because none of my possessions I will take

No one bone, when I finally forever would be gone

The fewer things that I fear,

It is fear the most to cause any harm

Whether intentionally or unknowingly

To another human being, animal, mineral or plant

I have never acted and neither I will act

With malice towards anyone,

But sadly I do not believe and with all my might

In Dons, secret societies  or on the chosen ones

Although I recognize the right of people to form groups

because any common ideas and of any type.

As long they respect the rights and freedoms of everyone.

I am an individual and a Human Being.

However I am proud to be Peruvian and that is it.

Now you Manos, you have been always free, I have never been an obstacle neither I will preclude you to do whatever your will, mind or soul dictates,  whether this be: To go to kiss your own hairy and stinky ass, or to go to suck the tips of some ugly bitch over the edge of a bridge is that would be your itch.

As for me I have many things to do, such as cooling the data flow in the information of this pity inferno.

... And please do remember very well another quote of that great man and President of United States of America, whom you have quoted before, Abraham Lincoln:

“This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor”

Sometimes, I found by mere inspection, as many people think, that it is exactly what we are becoming, more an more materialistic, like a monotonous piece of plastic, pieces that by the span of each hour all along on our way to the moment in which we will tragically succumb into the so-called singularity.

John M. Kennedy Traverso  © all rights reserved ◙ NYC ◙ 2011 - release at version 1.2 3:52 [one rev.]

Managing This Crisis with Truth: Right is of not Sex - Truth is of not Color

Frederick Douglas' motto in his antislavery newspaper, "The North Star", was "Right is of not sex -- Truth is of not color"

“... And Aren't I a Woman”

Sojourner Truth

by John Manuel Kennedy

Founder of the Center for Human Development
The Plow of the Sea Inc.

"It is time to change many things in this country, especially one, that four power or the fifth wheel of the "super-ultras" and how they are profiting from the misery of other people through their bastard propaganda; it is altogether a new form of slavery. These idiots are enslaving our mere democracy and with it our freedom and rights"

JMK

Rationale

In times of crises and extreme uncertainty, whether be economic or psychological, or both, like incidentally the world in which we are living by now, in these, the last years, of the first decade of the 21st century. These are the days in where those sad and deceitful “Macro, Medium and Mini-Madoffs” are all shown by the media at the global stage as if they were a parade of a group of capriciously painted cows. Today, when the news agencies are competing on how to make us sicker and, sicker, by reading to us, word by word, and presenting speechless but eloquent images and videos, over the already ubiquitous High Definition Television, or HDTV, about the bloodiest and most brutal assassinations all beyond our imagination. Thanks, to those cameras now we can watch the unbelievable reality of today’s world from our couch and yes, we still eating, without hesitance though, our chip potatoes and, the children their cheerios, all the while at our screens we can watch how somebody is getting kill somewhere. It is all part of the probability of the epoch in which we are living, it does not seen bizarre anymore, we can say it is natural that these events could or would happen; "[do] you know? from movies to reality or from reality to movies, and now we have the "added-value" of those video games as well, and therefore, everything for some people appears to be possible", a guy was explaining to me the other day, he was trying to make sense of our present violent days.

Yes, “These are the days my friends,” and the news are running on steroids and, within 360 degrees of the same facts, written in the same way, gesticulated in the same manner, salivated by four or five seemingly important mouthpieces, and of course, there is not doubt about all of it. Madoff acted “alone” or, the suspect was the criminal and, this is very important because now we know that we were not the victims. YouTube's cutest dancing dog needs to be beating-up by [y]our own video, “send your videos and win a T-shirt: ha-ha; wait...wait, we need to interrupt this program for giving you the latest breaking [you] news….” And thus, it is everyday. Does all of this, or part of it, help us to live better? What do you think? Perhaps?

The agents of the press make the millions, they become celebrities by supporting those people who are able to pay them more in cash. In contrast, they are trying very hard to convince us that they are [all] the professional independent voices of our nation, the faces of the best journalism ever; when in reality, what they really... really are, only the puppets of the worst kind of individuals, as Bloomberg put it in one time, of "those who can move" and pay and do what they want with the lives of the other people and the systems created precisely for improving and protecting the people. Yes, correct, of those who are selling even the debts or our debts at a global level, the debts and dreams of all of the Americans, and by the way, making a lot of money by doing it.

“Change” is what we are all looking for, a "change" in which everyone, or a least the majority, could believe in; but it is hard to change anything in a positive way when there are so many interests over other sort of interests, which are based evenly on motives of yet another interested parties who care less about the well-being of others, well they do care in their own special "way or move"; as for example, those people who not only implemented the system of slavery but they had the idiocy to fight against its abolition. Today good, positive and sound “change” must be geared to all people of all the nations of the world, as I have stated before, in time of chaos and lack of stamina to overcome shortcomings and injustices, or when one feel lack of courage to face what is wrong, we should or could look towards the actions and lives of those leaders, that evenly facing abominable systems, indescribable pain and hardships, had the valor and integrity to distinguish the time when and the way of how to fight for what is was right. Some of them were risking their well-beings by doing it and, sometimes evenly they lost their own families in that long meanwhile. Some of them were imprisoned, humiliated, ripped of their jobs, reputations and belongings and, many times some of them lost their own lives. However, they managed to change those unjustified policies, doctrines and practices by opposing to them with reason, while others remained silence because they were terrorized or intimidated or both.

If we use terror to terrify what really are we? if we torture the torturers, aren't we torturers as well? -- Yes, we need to defend ourselves, but we need to look into the "roots", the original causes of these conflicts; it is just very easy to hate, to blame, to point fingers, to destroys homes and lives, by using all sorts of gadgets, like espionage on citizens, so called domestic intelligence, or other means. I tell you this... yes I do, probably, it was the way in which the west was won, and the way used by some people in the United States to enslave other people, The "move" to stolen the lands of the original peoples of America, and the way some groups decided to brake into other governments in the world for creating puppet democracies, perhaps this was more successful than the "audacity" done in Vietnam and/or Iraq, because instead of invasion and persecution, they used persuasion, sabotage and again "intelligence".

Well, now that you use Google maps and social "Wikipedias", "twitters", "Facebooks" and "Myspaces", now that everyone is considered a suspect, a potential terrorist, I hope you can "see", "think", "feel" and "act" accordingly, because this is not the way, shape, form or reason, why many people came to America in the first place. I won't talk about the Africans, because, the majority of them were obliged, forced to came here, and also I won't talk about the original peoples of America, because they were here before all of us, 25,000 years ago, but now they live in "reservations" because many of them, preferred to honor their ancestry, something that was not and it is not very well accepted by the powers that were and are, incidentally the same ones who just took these lands, to sell in good price over the next foreclosure.

The hate has been managed a little bit, America in one point were the laughing stock of the world during the previous administration, and now we have a new president. His ancestry and background in the White House has epitomized again this country, as a country made of people who strive for liberty, equality and justice for all, the land of the brave and the free. Perhaps, "I am a savage...but this I know... everything is connected", and therefore now, we need to reconnect with people in the very especial ways America was able to do it before, in a past not too far from this, with the blues, Jazz and Rock.

America again, leading the people to the greatest good for all, but not creating a culture in which everybody is or can be rewarded to become an informant or a 911 operator; or a bastard noisy spy, who just make money on the misery of those who are having an affair on the streets and in secret living their fantasies or escaping their demons; or from those who are as blatant as, Thomas Paine, who can state clearly what needs to be said, written and done. Remember, Paine was English and what he stated in those times in favor of the independence of United States were in direct opposition to his King and Kingdom, the most powerful empire on earth at that epoch.

I am telling you, yes, I do, I beg your pardon, for my lack of touch, but also I am exposing, though never imposing my ideas to none. What is wrong is wrong, no matter whom you think you really are. How many missiles you have or how many nuclear weapons you can fire at once, it does not matter that your enemies are all the way wrong up to the end of the times; of course, terrorism is very wrong, extremely wrong and unacceptable, but in spite of all the aggravations, highly likelihoods of risk and uncertainty, within and architecture of choice, you cannot become what you, by law and by decent, diligent and well-intentioned effort, and moreover by reason, try to eradicate in the first place; read this word, "eradicate", again, that is the solution not only to terrorism but also for poverty and other maladies, at least we did it with the bubonic fever, didn't we. Eradication, it does not mean annihilation, that is different, because in that annihilation we are killing our own culture too, we are giving out our freedoms, justice, and our way of life, our own way of being us, just by doing the same or worst things that they [the terrorists or other seemingly extremists of both sides of the spectrum, left and right] were, or are able to do to us. Take a look what has happened in Iraq. It is all horrible and it is all wrong...

The most significant phrase that President Obama has uttered, I heard it lately, when he stated in a conference press, "I am only the president of United States", now that it is all that we need to do preemptively, looking for improving continuously our mainland, with creativity, like Thomas Alva Edison, or Tesla, Steve Wozniak, but please not trying to emulate people like Steve Ballmer or Bill Gates or Warren Buffett or Bloomberg, these people are obviously motivated by greed and power [We also need to take all them out of any Philanthropic capacity, they really do not understand nothing about it, because they feed from a schema of things that need few at the top and the rest at the bottom.]

We need people that inspire us, like Charles Lindbergh, Neil Armstrong, Benjamin Franklin, Henry David Thoreau, Cassius Clay, Martin Luther King Jr, Louis Armstrong, Abraham Lincoln, et al. Those and others are the real and eternal Americans, they had improved our lives in many ways, they made diligent efforts to put up with the obstacles that they faced in their lives and, they did it without interest [you can read credit or Buffett in here] and for the well being of others, and we are all grateful that they did all this because thanks to them we are better off today, this is tangible and we can feel it; there are many others, unknown heroes that every day deliver their care to make our children laugh and grow, like those grandparents, and those parents who in turn, everyday need to go to work to face the "Madoffs" of their times, the "Gates", the "Buffets", the "Bloombergs" and many other miserable type of "Bottom-liners" and assholes like the aforementioned, that unfortunately, it seems so, will be always around us. These are people "that can move and make moves", they just are dedicated to profit from, well sucking is the appropriate action verb, and the substantive, is exploitation, of the most "weaker links" in this blindly unjust market place, same market that so far has failed dramatically to bring the American Dream to its constituencies, now merely debtors, this within US and also over the rest of the world.

Now, again what is intelligence? Change to where we were in one point and them continue together growing, not an alignment or alienation, but a civilization of peace, with people who are working together as individuals with their own mind, not as ants or zombies without any discernment. Working or making efforts to improve their lives in the most humane way. This is possible and it is fair and over all this is the real American Way. "E Pluribus Unum".

Therefore, this paper is about one of those individuals, in reality, I wrote this paper circa 1998, when I was facing tremendous stress and somehow some of my colleagues told me, “well, aren’t you like Sojourner Truth, yet?” Up to that day, I had never heard about her, so this paper is the account of my search over who the real Sojourner Truth was and; and more importantly still, how she could provide me with examples on how to deal and manage positive change for my organization and elsewhere, facing a terrible crisis and a lot of stress.

Introduction

Before I present my ideas to the reader, I would like to explain part of the process that took place in the creation of this document. I guess that this process is worth to be mentioned because it illuminates areas that otherwise would remain unperceived or lost.

The situation that propel the writing of this paper were complex and very challenging, so I did want to recreate another real scenario but much worst that the one I was experiencing at that moment. On one hand, I wanted to understand how the content of this research could be important not only for myself but also for other managers and on the other hand, how its elaboration would fit the interest and taste of many readers as possible, because I thought that managing change in positive ways was everybody's task, a task for people in their organizations, at their homes, churches, and schools, whether students or teachers, workers or administrators, churchgoers, atheists or reverends, managing change in our lives and helping others to reach better status, that is [the true] America and this global adventure all about.

I was focusing on many apparent successful personalities, in the world of business, such as Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs and even Marc Andreessen, all of them young living billionaires in this current digital age. Suddenly, I noticed an intense pain, I understood that some of my neurons were clogging in my brain around mainly two issues.

First, what the world excellence means for most of us, rational beings, and second, what excellence means in a world who needs more human services than those that are purported nowadays, more and more by automated computers alone? I knew well then that the aforementioned figureheads should be disregarded from the content of this paper, but my headache did not end just there.

My quest for that example of a “critical situation-magic solution” started with the word “excellence”. Facing a great degree of uncertainty a manager must execute the right things, and all famous managers are know to be excellent and that excellence is founded on the timely decisions that they could take no matter how big the opposition or the trouble is, once they study the many shapes and forms of the events and their consequences they hedge into action with unequivocally determination and dexterity. As Coretta Scott King wrote about the thoughts of Martin Luther King Jr.:

I want you to be in love. I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be the first in generosity. I want you to be important, wonderful. If you want to be great, wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.

(Krass, 1998, p. 7)

When I read the lines that appear above, I remembered those people that have somehow influenced me the most. Some, as my mother, my father, my teachers, to all these fine people I have met them personally, but still others that I did not, such as Simón Bolívar or Mary Wollstonecraft, for example. In one way or another, I appreciate all these Human Beings because of their services to their particular societies. Like Bolívar and Wollstonecraft, there are others who did not work only for themselves or for the good of their families alone; they sacrificed their own lives for the well-being and betterment of other people. These are the real managers of change in our history. Through their efforts and ideals, the nations have improved the quality of life that they can offer to their constituencies. They have given example of altruism... of real love, compassion, and true excellence.

How easily then I was able to select the “role model”, again suddenly, but this time in contrast, my headache just disappeared ...bluff! Vanished, it was completely gone. It was a neuronal alignment, I imagined all my neurons forming exotic fractal designs with their dendrites and I saw in my thoughts two names: Mohandas K. Gandhi or Sojourner Truth.

I decided, at last! for Sojourner Truth because, for one thing, I knew Gandhi since I read about his life in the Reader's Digest when I was a ten year-old boy and also later on, I watched the movie; while from Sojourner Truth, I did not know nothing about, even more importantly the events surrounding segregation, slavery and especially those issues of race and gender were and are somehow important to me. Even though, in America these issues have been improved over the years, but obviously there is still a need to do more about them. Sojourner Truth was an active and positive agent of these causes, Woman Rights and Abolition of Slavery, when people would have been imprisoned, lynched or evenly killed for only participate in one of these events or uttered words in favor of these causes.

A System That Influenced Sojourner Truth

Therefore, I wanted to perform a psychosocial on Sojourner, i.e., I wanted to know how was her childhood and early adulthood; what was the cause or event or situation that propelled her success. In addition, I did want to understand which personal beliefs helped her through those tough and challenging times, did somebody help her?

Not too far away from where I am writing this paper, precisely in town that must be called Hurley, in New York, Sojourner Truth was born, yes it was around 200 hundred years ago, yes in the year of our Lord of 1797. She was born to see the light as a slave. She was considered a property, a commodity...a thing that can be bought or sold. She was named Isabella by her parents James and Elizabeth Baumfree who in turn were the property of the Colonel Hardenbergh. [46 year later she change her name to Sojourner Truth.] As commodity she was sold many times under different circumstances.

Slavery, what can I tell you? It was an old system, very well established and profitable, by the time Isabella arrived to this “new world” full of old tricks. Since 1626, Dutch settlers began importing slaves from Africa, (they were the first in doing so) to work in their farms. The British continued the “tradition” and by 1723 the Africans made up about the 15% of the entire New York population. Of course as you see slave were a very important part of that economy, if we can called that way.

Isabella Change Forever after her mother told her and her younger brother, “My children there is God ... He lives in the sky. ... When you are beaten, or cruelly treated, or fall into trouble, you must ask help of him, and he will always hear and help you” (Krass, 1998, P. 23). The mother assured them that they were under God's protection. Isabella would survive many atrocities because she had developed strong self-confidence and beliefs. She faced successfully all kind of adversities because she was convinced that God was safeguarding her at all times.

I think, the event that started Sojourner to think that she would be free one day was when she witnessed the pain when she witnessed the pain that her mother experienced when the slave traders took her children away from her. She would understand that something was very wrong about all of that.

Isabella also would be sold and so was separated from her mother when she was only 11 year-old and then her “master” became John Nealy, he also bought her brother, but nobody wanted her father because he was crippled, therefore she was separated from her both parents at that time.

Isabella, who spoke Dutch, did not understand the language of her new mistress, English, so she usually was cruelly beaten. Sojourner would describe her life with this family as a hell.

She always would have a strong Dutch accent, but she was fluent in English. She, as a female slave, would work in the fields and in the home. This factor would make physically strong. She was considered a reliable worker when she reached her teens. Isabella was a tall woman who could work as hard as any man in the field, and as efficiently as any woman for the chores at home.

She married with an old slave name Thomas with whom she never became too close yet they had a number of children together. Her first child was Diana, and after the next 12 years, Isabella gave birth to four more children: Elizabeth, Hannah, Peter, and Sophie. They learned the same lesson that Sojourner learned from her mother: Never steal, never lie, and always obey your master.

Year after year, she would juggle her duties in the field, planting corn, chopping wood, and hauling buckets of water for the family that owned her at the time [the Dumonts] with her nursing and caring responsibilities as a mother.

On July 4, 1827 slaves in New York celebrated “Freedom Day”, it was the day that the legislature had decreed that al slaves over the age of 28 would be free. Sojourner was free due that she was bought by a Quaker family who would set her free because they did not believe in slavery; nevertheless, all her children except Sophie were slaves. She was one of the first black American women in the United States who won a lawsuit. After this incident, I believe she would understand that she had a mission, and the power to carry on this mission. fro this brief biography we can understand that Sojourner Truth's life was affected by the slavery system, but her values and strong determination would make her dreams can true. The Van Wageners were her mentors; they set her free, and helped her by giving her their spiritual and material support.

The Mission of Sojourner Truth and Her Leadership Qualities

There are many types of organizations; mostly we can divide them in profit and no-profit. Sojourner Truth fits in the organization chart as founder and CEO of a non-profit organization. So let us explore how this it is so.

Peter Drucker (1995) wrote, “For the ultimate test is not the beauty of the mission statement. The ultimate test is action.” One word that could describe Sojourner Truth is precisely: “action”. From the early stages of her life until her very last days. She always was building up her character. She was recognizing the “holes” in those systems of her time.

Peter Senge (1993) explains that leading organizations concentrate in both, generative learning and adaptive learning; by generative learning, he meant the natural impulse of human beings to learn, it involves creativity. In contrast, adaptive learning is about coping. (pp. 7-9)

Sojourner Truth, learned to cope with her situation, she worked hard as few people would, and she learned English. Although she could not read or write, she published her experiences as a slave by narrating them to one of her friends.

The organization that she adapted to in the first place was the slavery system, and then based on her own experiences she realized that women were also deprived of their rights as slaves were in those times. She decided to connect with leaders of the women's rights movement to aid their causes. Therefore, she ended liberating herself and she even decided to fight for the rights of women.

Because of her purpose and her commitment and most importantly her achievements in spite of all the adversities that she faced in her life, it is my understanding, that Sojourner Truth is the Chief Executive Officer and the Chairman of the Board of the Human Rights movement at least in America.

I have the pleasure to write that she was considered an electrifying public speaker that she was a successful fundraiser for organizations that helped African Americans, and supported the Women's Rights movement. She encouraged and supported President Lincoln during the Civil War.

In many ways, I feel that the thirteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution was her mission statement, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude... should exist within the United States nor any place subject to its jurisdiction.” (Krass, 19880).

Peter Drucker was the first to realize the importance of focusing in the means of production instead of the ends. Sojourner Truth realized this concept too. She did what she did because she had a firm conviction that slavery was wrong. Somehow, she was able to focus on those people who were suffering that unjust system.

The anti-slavery activist accomplished her goals by focusing in the means ...the people. She understood the importance of motivating and encouraging people that were interested in fighting the injustices therein in slavery and the lack of human rights. In this way, Sojourner seemed to just follow the dictum of Peter Drucker about commitment; let us imagine living 30 years as slave, and more than 50 years working for the liberation of slaves and for the women's rights. She was obviously committed all her life to her mission.

Drucker (1995) also mentioned the need to establish concrete action goals (pp. 4-5). Sojourner stated that she had received her mission from God himself/herself, so she thought that she possessed God's vision, a vision that she wanted and shed did follow till her final days and with all her energy. Hence her assurance to plan and implement her goals and objective; for example, first she wanted to be free, and then she wanted her sons to be free, next she wanted women to be able to vote. Thereupon, she wanted equal rights and better opportunities of employment for women and African-Americans. At that pint, she understood the importance of hospitals and health care for African-Americans.

Sojourner ended up meeting two presidents in the White House, Lincoln and Grant. People that were inspired by her speeches wrote poems in her name, in fact they still doing this nowadays but with more frequency. She published her book in 1850, “The narrative of Sojourner Truth,” she was 53 years old by then. She accomplished all these by, as Drucker stated, setting concrete action-goals. “Non-profit institutions exist for their mission. They exist to make a difference in the society and in the life of the individual. They exist for the sake of their mission, and this must never be forgotten.” (Op. cit., p. 45)

The Northampton Association of Education and The Industry and Freedmen's Hospital were the two first institutions that addressed the needs of poor people funded by the Federal Government of United States. Sojourner Truth joined both organizations, because she had understood their mission, she wanted to make a difference and she did it indeed.

Thus, when Peter Senge (1995) talks about that leaders are designers and the teachers who have the skills to build a shared vision (pp. 8-13) he seems to be talking about Sojourner Truth. In addition in “The Fifth Discipline: A shift of Mind,” Senge (1997) presents the idea that a “system thinking” is the ability to think in the wholes, the capacity to recognize connections: Sojourner indeed had this discipline since she understood completely that slavery was only the beginning for improving the civil rights in United States. She was able to see the big picture in the fabric of the society in which she lived.

Lessons Learned From Sojourner Truth

 

The most I like about Sojourner is her attitude, because she would strongly challenge adversaries. I remember reading her debate over the “Weak Sex”. She would stand up with her six feet tall frame and with her deep voice and strong Dutch accented English would say:

“Where is so much racket, there must be something out of killer. That 'something' was the domination of women and blacks by white men,” the turning to the then minister who has states previously that women were took weak to deserve equal rights she responded, “How could that be? Nobody had ever helped me into carriage, or ever carried me over a mud puddle, or even given me the best place anywhere,” and pulling her arm she voice louder but without screaming at the audience, “And aren't I a women? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have planted and plowed and gathered into barns, and no man could head me. And aren't I a women?” (Krass, 1998, p 17)

The plenty of things that we can learn and emulate from Sojourner, even her name is 'singular', but what personally I like the most about her is her commitment and her ability to work with people with different background, education, economic status, race and gender. Therefore, looking the life of Sojourner Truth, we can discover how our perceptions influenced the way we think, feel and behave with others or towards others and how this awareness can facilitate and improve our lives, at work, at home, and within our communities. As I described before, I was interested in discovering what some people would do when they face a crisis and high degree of uncertainty with the end to improve my managerial practice. Sojourner has given many incentives and ideas, I found one of the most important tools, her ability to strategies, i.e., strategy management. He approach towards people in power and her alliances confirms that she was able to influence people because she knew how to use different approaches, what we called the business-level and corporate-level approaches for instance.

Strategic management is the most delicate detail for the success of an organization, in other words, formulating and implementing start with the most fundamental purpose of the organization, i.e., the mission. Who can doubt about what was the mission of Sojourner Truth?

Equally important is the application of the traditional SWOT analysis, this shall help managers-leaders to formulate effective strategies by avoiding weaknesses, neutralizing treats, and exploiting strengths and opportunities.

In closing, the concepts of turbulence and uncertainty have assisted me to understand somehow how Sojourner throughout her strong beliefs, purpose and perseverance was able to manage both of them. She was able to anticipate problems, and skip barriers and/or obstacles in her way, this is particularly important for all managers of positive change. Sojourner it is an example that is set of stone, an example that could help us all to face and overcome or even better avoid, if we just could, the crises and calamities that we, now, do not have other choice but change. Thank Sojourner your courage is an standard [that] I must follow.

Partially review by JMK on 08-11-09