• Human Touch of Leadership

  August 27, 2010

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  Tags:  

  female   life   rights   women   issues   west-point  

  Tonight I had the opportunity to attend the first night of the four-week Writing Workshop for Women Veteran’s that SWAN has introduced this summer. Kalima, the Community Development Director, and I have been anticipating it all week. Three ladies showed up from a local shelter that provides temporary shelter for women veterans. I cannot even begin to describe how much I learned tonight from these amazing, wise and STRONG women. In order to protect their privacy, I will not describe their life stories in detail, but, put simply, each of these women has been through hell and back. Each of them entered the room shyly and quietly. During the two hours we were together, we were given about five prompts to write about and had ten minutes to write as much as we could for each prompt. When the time was up, we were allowed to volunteer to read our work aloud and gave each other constructive criticism. These women’s pieces of creative writing sent chills down my spine. Each time they read their work aloud I was in awe, I couldn’t even think of any criticism! Vivid imagery, humorous as well as chilling stories….each woman’s words blew me away. It is easy to judge those less fortunate than us, but we can never understand what others have been through, how hard they’ve fought and strongly they came out of it.
  I will never, ever forget the intense touch of the human spirit I felt at this workshop. It was different than anything I have ever felt before. Listening to these women’s stories has only made me more determined to fix women’s issues in the military and civilian world. Below is a prompt we were given that night. Audre Lourde was a famous activist during the 80s and 90s, mainly in New York City. She wrote many powerful pieces. After reading her poem together we were asked to write our own version. My poem does not even begin to compare to the other women’s but I hope it can help paint of picture of where each of us was that night. There was a force that seemed to bind us together. I believe it was the combined forces of female understanding, love, and a strong, remaining sense of selfless service to our country, whether our experiences in the service were positive or negative.

  Human touch is an often over-looked aspect of leadership. We focus on battle drills, discipline, and duties so heavily that we can almost forget that we are working with human beings. We lose track of the mental and emotional limits our soldiers (even ourselves!) have. One cannot lead without an understanding of his soldiers. Working with people on a one-on-one basis gives the leader an opportunity to tweak his leadership style in way that allows his men to be more receptive to orders, responsibilities, etc. I believe that West Point has begun to address this overlooked issue through the Professional Military Ethics Education (PMEE) program, but still has a long way to go.

  Making Love to Concrete
  AUDRE LORDE

  An upright abutment in the mouth
  of the Willis Avenue bridge
  a beige Honda leaps the divider
  like a steel gazelle inescapable
  sleek leather boots on the pavement
  rat-a-tat-tat best intentions
  going down for the third time
  stuck in the particular
  You cannot make love to concrete
  if you care about being
  non-essential wrong or worn thin
  if you fear ever becoming
  diamonds or lard
  you cannot make love to concrete
  if you cannot pretend
  concrete needs your loving
  To make love to concrete
  you need an indelible feather
  white dresses before you are ten
  a confirmation lace veil milk-large bones
  and air raid drills in your nightmares
  no stars till you go to the country
  and one summer when you are twelve
  Con Edison pulls the plug
  on the street-corner moons Walpurgisnacht
  and there are sudden new lights in the sky
  stone chips that forget you need
  to become a light rope a hammer
  a repeatable bridge
  garden-fresh broccoli two dozen dropped eggs
  and a hint of you
  caught up between my fingers
  the lesson of a wooden beam
  propped up on barrels
  across a mined terrain
  between forgiving too easily
  and never giving at all.

  ©1993, 1995 by Audre Lorde

  
  The Prompt: Write your own passage like this own. “Making Love to _____”

  
  Making Love to West Point

  
  Its all a big game
  We all play it for the fame.
  Put on the uniform
  Oh, the gray becomes so forlorn
  “Yes, sir, Yes Ma’am”
  The derivative of 65x is such a sham
  The male cadets are sexy
  The female cadets are fat.
  The Army owns you and me,
  But I guess I forgot that we’re a team.
  Tell the girls that we’re weak,
  But when we’re strong we’re a freak.
  If we tell you what to do we’re a b*tch.
  If you tell us what to do you we shant even flinch.
  That diploma is the goal,
  But why do I feel like I’m living in a hole?
  I play the game to get ahead,
  But all I want to do is go to bed!

  2010 Lauren Glass

  submitted by Cadet Lauren Glass on Aug 27 2010

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