So here I
am, sitting in a folding chair on the putting green at Mallard Creek Golf
Course, writing my monthly President’s Report during my break between my
welcome and closing comments while everyone else is playing 18 holes of golf at
our LBCC Foundation Annual Golf Tournament.
In front of me are a couple of large lawn tents under which we will have
our closing luncheon and program at somewhere around noon, while off to my
right is the burned out shell of the lodge that was supposed to be there for
us….. but now isn’t.
Stuff happens (there’s another way of saying this that perhaps makes for
a more powerful statement but, for my purposes here, the word “Stuff” will
suffice).
Buildings burn down, budgets are cut, adversity comes from unexpected
places, the sun clouds over and the rains fall.
This is the “Stuff” that happens and, for some, this is the stuff that defeats. But here I am at a golf
tournament fundraiser that feels more like a family event because the challenge
of pulling this off has pulled us closer together….. players and sponsors and
volunteers and golf course staff all together because it isn’t really about the
game or the prizes or the lodge that is a total loss. Instead, we gather on this beautiful crisp
morning because we believe in the difference that a particular community
college makes in students’ lives and in the communities that are ours to
share.
Over this summer I finally had the time to read Malcolm Gladwell’s
most recent book, David and Goliath, and in it I saw the characteristics
that I think contribute to LBCC’s success: the right size for being nimble and
quick on our feet, a passionate sense of why we are here, and a willingness to
draw together when “things” happen. Like
a golf tournament that rises to the challenge and finds something deeper and
wider than just a game, like David who defeats Goliath because he believes in
something more than Goliath does, we at LBCC find our success not in our
circumstances but in our character. And
it is in this realization that we are at our best.
