Years ago I was edified by the writings of a Mennonite brother named David Augsburger. I saw that he passed away towards the end of last year. I never met him, didn’t keep track of him. I do know some of his books were helpful to me, including Caring Enough to Confront and The Freedom of Forgiveness: Seventy Times Seven. What I want to post today is from his pen. My notes say it was from something called “Man, the Leader.” I can’t find it in his list of books, although he wrote on marriage. It may have been an article. That’s all I can say in hopes of avoiding charges of plagiarism. I hope you find this edifying as I did.
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The autocratic personality |
The Christ-ocratic personality |
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Gives orders without asking questions,
without permitting questions; makes demands, dishes out directives, lays down
the law, is defensive if challenged; requires compliance regardless of
consent or agreement; pushes and manipulates one-man rule in over-under
position; says “You do, you must do, you ought to have done, you’d better do”;
depends on his own external authority to muricate others; generates friction,
resistance, resentment; separates and isolates people. |
Asks questions, seeks to truly hear,
suggests alternatives; respects freedom and dignity of others, can affirm the
truth clearly and concretely but nondefensively; values willing cooperation,
works for open agreement and understanding; leads, attracts, persuades
personal relationships in side-by-side identification; says, “Come, let’s do,
we might have done, can we try?” depends
on their internal integrity to motivate them; generates acceptance,
cooperation, and reconciliation; unites and helps persons relate to each
other. |
To be a man
Is to possess
the strength to love another,
Not the need to dominate over others.
To be a man
Is to experience the
courage to accept another,
Not the compulsion to be an aggressor.
To be a man
Is to keep faith
with human values in relationships,
Not to value oneself by position and possessions.
To be a man
Is to be free to
give love
And to be free to accept love in return.
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