Good Morning - Welcome to the story telling segment of our annual meeting! As an introduction, I would like to share with you a few remarks about my personal history and heritage and then tell you a brief and very interesting story. 

My maternal Grandmother was Native American, a full-blooded Qualla Cherokee of the Eastern Band, located in the Great Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. I spent most of my early years with her and she had a great influence on my life. Through her I learned about the power, magic and spirit of the universe and how to honor and value all tribes -- all people -- and all living 
creatures both large and small. 

She delivered me into the world and following the custom and tradition named me "Open Eagle" at the "appropriate time" when I was a young boy. She gave me this name because when she delivered me, I "came screeching into the world like an Eagle," and later as a toddler I "ran to greet people with arms wide spread." 

Looking back down the dim corridors of time, I see myself as a young boy tagging along behind my Grandmother, out into the early dawn of morning, to milk the cows. To pacify me and keep me entertained, she use to give me some warm milk in a small tin cup --- warm milk straight from my favorite cow named, "Bessie." Then she would say "Open Eagle," this morning, we are going to sing songs so the sun will come up."  We sang songs and sure enough a giant, red ball climbed slowly into the Eastern Sky up, up, and over the mountain.  The world seemed wonderful and magically alive and lit up just for me - what a powerful feeling - a young boy in complete control of the sun. 

On some mornings, big, dark clouds loomed ominously overhead and I would call out, "Grandmother, let's sing songs for the sun to come up," and she would reply, "Open Eagle, this morning we will dance for the rain." To my surprise and delight, the raindrops, one by one, fell gently on my face as we joined hands and danced around my friend "Bessie." This stirred the magic in my blood and my feelings of well being and significance grew like a young, 
willow tree.  My grandmother was immersed with nature and the elements and I have a sneaking hunch that she could smell rain on the wind long before it arrived! 

These early lessons with my Grandmother greatly influenced my career as a manager and agent of change.  I strongly believe that for change to be effective, it must deal equally with both science and magic.  The science is related to the structured, technical, hard, head stuff, and the magic is directly related to the spirit, heart, love and appreciation of people. 

I spent many evenings listening and telling stories with my Cherokee relatives by a large log fire. The stories were centered around passing on the important aspects of our culture. We told stories about who we were, from where we had come, and where we were going -- and always, how to stay friendly with the spirits. And there were many, many spirits! 

Now, I would like to tell you a short and interesting story.  Please listen up!  Be awake -- for there is a rule in the tradition of Native American story telling: If you fail to pay attention and happen to fall asleep while I am telling you this story, no one is allowed to tell you what the story was about and you may wonder all your life what great events you might have missed. 

Once upon a time many, many moons ago -- following the end of the Second of the Great World Wars, the world was very tired and weary of the devastation of the earth and millions on millions of people who had perished. People longed for peace and wanted to "turn their swords into plow shears."   The full impact and horrors of the great Holocaust and other countless atrocities of war and hatred were becoming more fully known. People were shaking their heads with disgust and disbelief. Profoundly disturbing questions were being raised. (1) Was there some fundamental evil at the core of human nature?  (2) Was there hope and any way to organize people toward democracy and away from totalitarianism?  Members of the tribes were consulting with the Elders and asking, "when will we ever learn -- when will we learn better ways of communicating and understanding one another?" And the Elders of the Tribe responded, "when the people are really ready to learn, a teacher will appear." And the people waited and waited… 

According to legend, in the heat of the summer, when the corn began to stretch its leafy arms up to the sky - a teacher appeared. But was this sharp-featured, bespectacled little wiry, witty man the one to lead the people out of their pain and sorrow? Some members of the tribe were whispering that he had originated from the lands where the terrible deeds of the Holocaust were created! 

However, it soon came to pass that this little professor was accepted as a compelling teacher with tall ideas. He had appeared on the scene in response to the needs of different tribes whose chiefs and leaders were seeking better understanding between people of different races, creeds, and colors - how could they learn to appreciate and value one another? Could they learn to live and work together more harmoniously? The little man with tall ideas 
joined forces with Three Wise Men and they put together a small band of great thinkers with sharp eyes and big ears to observe and record the happenings of a circular council meeting with leaders of the various tribes and communities.

Over the mist of time many versions of this story have been told, however, this version is according to the Elders. In the seventh month of the year with new beginnings, a very unique and never before heard of event took place. The people who were being observed (by the little professor, the Three Wise Men, and the great thinkers with sharp eyes and big ears) became mutual participants into the inquiry of their own behavior. This open dialogue and its observed consequences by everyone was like a bolt of lightening in the dark night followed by the crash of thunder -- a new and powerful kind of communication was being born -- a shift in conversation in which the words flowed and flowed until they became the subject of the same conversation. 

Some of the great thinkers became alarmed and wondered how could this new way of observing meet the standards of the years and traditions -- but the little teacher smiled and said, "I think we might be on to something here!" For those who continued to hold on to their old ways, he offered the now famous line "There is nothing more practical than a good theory". 

And the legend goes on to record that all those who sat full circle and reached out for new learnings, in the seventh month during the year of new beginnings, observed with great interest the backfeed, the comparing of notes, the loud voices and later, the softer eyes that made small mountains from big ones. This new medicine -- that helped the people's voices flow naturally to the surface for greater interaction and understanding -- became known, twelve moons later at the Academy of Gold, as the "Group with the large T up front." 

Soon thereafter, this powerful new way of learning found a permanent home and sacred space near the scenic, White Mountains with the big trees and the Sunday River flowing near by.  Many tribes and nations from the 4 corners of the earth have come, for over a half-century, to this special cultural island for challenging and richly rewarding "learning that lasts for times that 
change."

And now the elders and braves have assembled in the early spring before the millenium, in the City of Broad Shoulders to tell their individual and collective stories. 

Native American Tribes, like many other ancient cultures, teach that questions are often answered with stories. 'The first story almost always invites another, which then leads to another until the answer to the question becomes several stories long. Like night dreams, stories often use symbolic language, therefore bypassing the ego and persona, and traveling straight to the spirit and soul of those who listen for the ancient and universal instructions embedded there. Stories can teach, correct errors, lighten the 
heart and the darkness, provide psychic shelter, assist new beginnings, and heal wounds (Painkiller Estes, C. (1993).  The Gift of Story.  New York: Ballantine Books).'

To be a member of an organization is to have a story to tell. They can be stimulating and fun and reflect the spirit of the organization.  They can offer memories of the past and serve as preparation for the future.  There are no good or bad stories or no right or wrong way to tell them. 

Post Script:
It is a well known fact, shared by all enlightened members of the tribes, both far and wide, that on moonlit nights when the stars shine big and bright in the sky, if you have a mind to, you can join the Spirits of the Little Professor with the tall ideas along with  the Three Wise Men at  the sacred space where the big house stands.

"Open Eagle"