What We DO Is More Important Than What We SAY
Also in this Issue: Mercer on Value - An Update
Mercer on Value, my personal blog, was introduced in the last issue of Value Matters.™ It was created to provide access to a new direction in my writing. I have been writing and speaking on technical subjects for many years and that will certainly continue; however, this blog provides a vehicle geared to less formal and less technical writing.
To date, my most commented-upon posting had nothing to do with valuation, but quite a bit to do with values. Posted on May 1, 2005, "What we DO is more important than what we SAY" is reprinted below. If you like it, I encourage you to go to the sequel posting, "What we SAY should influence what we DO," which reflects a personal experience of being challenged to practice what I had just preached. This post can be found at http://merceronvalue.com/archives/2005/05/what_ we_say_sho_1.html.
Post on May 1, 2005 on Mercer on Value
What we DO is more Important than what we SAY
This past weekend was one of the most unusual l've spent in many years. I attended the Grace St. Luke's Men's' Retreat at St. Columba Episcopal Conference Center beginning Friday evening and ending on Sunday morning. St. Columba (521-597) was a missionary saint who was responsible for converting much of Scotland to Christianity. He is said to have written some 300 books, only two of which have been preserved to this day. However, it is what he did, rather than what he said (wrote) that caused the Catholic Church to elevate him to sainthood.
The retreat was led by the Reverend Canon Ed Wills, Jr., rector of St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Little Rock (that's in Arkansas, the home of former President Bill Clinton, a person of the other political persuasion, but that has nothing to do with this posting). Amazingly, I have known Father Ed's father and younger brother for many years at my home parish (church). Ed was just old enough to be "gone" when I arrived in Memphis in 1975, after a few years with Uncle Sam.
Needless to say, it was a pleasure to connect with someone I knew, but barely, and in such a different way. That's all about why what we do is more important than what we say. I discovered that he has done so much, and I had no idea of what he has said along the way.