At a recent reunion, a small group of dear friends were enjoying dinner at a nice restaurant. As a group, we have shared our victories and challenges since 2005, so when we get together, we take time to go around the table and “check-in” with personal updates.
The updates are an intimate sharing about family, faith, career, health, etc. They are substance, not fluff. During my turn, my friend Steve held my hand, offering his support and kindness. I gladly accepted this sibling-like gesture. At this table, there was no divide of politics, gender, geographic loyalty or otherwise.
Steve and his family have been to my home and sat at my kitchen table. We share numerous passions, including an appreciation for Bernie Dunlap’s TED talk “The Life-Long Learner.”
Here, Sandor Teszler’s journey from surviving the Holocaust to using his textile entrepreneurial skills to challenge racism in segregated South Carolina in the late 1950s is revealed. Teszler, the inventor of a double knit process, ran a successful fully integrated plant and paid workers double the going rate.
I can’t resist pointing out the social, political, and financial power of great innovative business leadership.
When I had the chance to ask Bernie about his talk, this incredible orator, Wofford College president, poet, opera writer, Liberty Fellowship founder and Aspen Institute partner said he was nervous to be speaking to such a different audience and was not sure how he would be received.
His TED talk concluded with a quote from Gandhi: “Live each day as if it is your last. Learn as if you will live forever.” Darryl Hannah led the standing ovation.
This month I heard an even more impressive talk by Bernie Dunlap. He encouraged us to lead our nation to a brighter future. He talked of his days at Boys State when all of the attendees excitedly anticipated an integration speech by South Carolina Gov. James Byrnes.
The governor entered and stated, “I have spent a lot of time fishing and as long as I have been fishing I have never seen the white fish swim with the black fish. And I have spent a lot of time hunting and never have I seen the white birds fly with the black birds. There will be no integration in South Carolina.”
The governor departed even more quickly than he had arrived. Bernie, angered but not defeated, grabbed the microphone and before the governor could leave called out, “It’s a good thing we’re not birds or fish!”
Listening to Bernie’s tale of the 1950s in the rural south came on the same day we studied Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have been to the mountaintop” speech. Reading this speech or MLK’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is a January ritual for my family.
My favorite line is “Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness.” As part of The Creative Coast, I witness daily the immense power of unselfishness in teams of mentors, board members, volunteers and supporters of an innovative community.
Last Sunday I had the pleasure of hearing a sermon by Ben Williams of Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church. Pastor Williams had actually attended MLK’s last speech on April 3, 1968, in Memphis. Hearing MLK announce the day before his death, “I may not get there with you, but we as a people will get to the promised land” played a major roll on Williams’ calling to lead a church for 38 years.
The friend I mentioned happens to be Steve Benjamin, the mayor of Columbia, S.C. Columbia and Savannah are similar cities with similar opportunities and obstacles.
Not the least of these is a racial divide and the chance to build a better community by offering and demanding unbridled excellence to and from every member of the community.
As I sat holding Steve’s hand, the fact his skin color is darker than mine hadn’t entered my mind. Yet today, as we work to improve the lives of all Savannahians, I wonder if the image of our interlocking hands might not serve as a roadmap.
Bea Wray is the executive director of The Creative Coast, a not-for-profit organization that promotes the creative and entrepreneurial community within the region. Bea can be reached at 912-447-8457 or bea@thecreativecoast.org.