In the midst of the Coronavirus Pandemic, it is my fervent hope that you are taking care of yourselves. Please do what you need to do to stay safe. (Wash your hands, don’t touch your face, and practice safe physical distancing.)

If things were like they were in the past, you know — normal — our thoughts would be turning to lighter things, like celebrating the warmer weather, flowers, etc. But April 2020 is clearly a new normal and we are all searching inwardly and outwardly for leadership to guide us through these unknown, murky waters.

The subject of April’s Poem of the Month is Leadership, and it attempts to define the qualities of an effective leader. The thoughts in this poem are based in ideas expressed by great leaders down through the ages.

I take credit only for arranging these brilliant leaders’ words into poetic form. I submit April 2020’s Poem of the Month as something to ponder.

LEADERSHIP

Leadership is about vision and responsibility,
And never about power or fame.
Great leaders don’t tell you what to do;
They show how it is done, then you do the same.

True leadership is, basically, about servanthood,
Putting interests (or safety) of others at center of decisions.
The true test of a leader is how well he does in crisis.
In crises, the actions must be made with precision.

Leaders have the courage to make unpopular choices.
And in leadership, character is more important than strategy.
Leadership is taking the reins in solving problems, 
Seeking help from experts along the way.

A leader realizes he’s not always the smartest in the room
And listens, and learns from those who are in the know.
It’s not about making speeches, or being liked.
Leadership is defined by results, it would follow.

When leadership is lacking, there is much finger-pointing,
And arguments about who is to blame.
Leadership is about taking responsibility,
With no excuses. The leader must carry the flame!

A leader must do the right thing, even if painful.
He or She must do what needs to be done,
With truth and goodness, love and compassion.
The leader should lead others to the best solution.

But before I forget to mention this one thing:
A true leader is humble enough to admit his mistakes.
He takes a little more than his share of the blame,
And less than his share of credit, for goodness sakes. 

Weighing in on the recent information and misinformation about the coronavirus scare, I’d like to offer a poem I wrote a few years ago about the subject of fear.

I call it “Fear As Epidemic,” to drive home the point that fear is sometimes worse than the thing that we are most afraid of!

H. P. Lovecraft commented that the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is the fear of the unknown!

Actually, we do not fear the unknown, but, in fact, we fear what we think we know about the unknown! “Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is,” to quote a German proverb.

Indeed, everything is unknown, and fear is an illusion. It doesn’t exist unless we create it! It’s all in our minds!

Defining moments of change occur to us when we choose to know our fear. Knowledge is power, remember??!!!

Now is the time to understand more, and to educate ourselves from reliable scientific sources. The unknown is a sea of possibilities. Explore them and learn!

I’ll leave you with two thoughts… ultimately, the other side of fear is freedom… and… courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it!.

FEAR AS EPIDEMIC

The epidemic of fear is the most contagious of all.
You can catch it over the phone; you can catch it in the mall.
I’ve even seen people with normally good sense
Catch it while talking to a neighbor over the fence.

From newspapers, from TV, there’s no end to the sources.
The fear epidemics run all kinds of courses:
On one end, negative thinking; the other end, bravado --
It manifests in crazy ways, making one a desperado!

Like other viruses, fear can bring a soldier to his grave.
A business man, a housewife, too, can soon begin to rave.
A sports nut, a nurse, a cop -- no matter the occupation --
All are subject to the results of fear and it's contamination.

Fact one is that when fear abounds the immune system is suppressed.
Blood pressure rises, the body is tense; the fatigue will make you depressed.
Over time, results are infections and cardiovascular abnormality.
Muscles can degenerate and one loses needed vitality.

Of course, the result is death, but then that’s one of the inevitabilities.
It’s just that worry and fear increase the vulnerabilities.
The biggest loss is quality of life while one is still walking around.
Fear paralyzes and stems the courage; one’s hopes are dashed to the ground.

The stronger the fear, the less inclined the person is to grow --
To start long-term projects, a career, a relationship -- with heart all aglow.
Life’s less fulfilling and less fun when fear takes hold of your soul.
It’s a miserable way to live, when fear takes pieces from the whole.

There’s more than a little confusion about who St Valentine really was… in fact, there’s the possibility that more than one St. Valentine (Valentinus) actually lived, at different times in history.

It is claimed by some that the celebration of Valentine’s Day may have evolved from an attempt by the Christian Church to “Christianize” the Pagan celebration of Lupercalia — a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture.

Much later, during the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which further enhanced the idea that Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance.

Though Valentine greetings were popular in the Middle Ages, written valentines didn’t begin to appear until after the year 1400. The oldest valentine still in existence in the British library in London, was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt.

We send and receive Valentine’s Day cards to celebrate love.

Here is my Poem of the Month on the subject.

LOVE

It’s easy to believe there’s only one kind of love,
But in reading, you’ll find there are many;
All named by the Greeks, their subtleties explained,
And repeated, repeated in litany.

The many types all come back to the beginning;
Love doesn’t exist in a plurality.
The various descriptions are just manifestations
Of love, a single reality.

To lose yourself in another’s arms
Or in another’s company…
Or to lose yourself in suffering for
All victims, and there are many…

To lose yourself in any of the ways,
Some of which are described above
Is the only way to find yourself.
And the word for it is “love.”

Of all the powers love carries the most clout;
It has no counterpart.
Love alone can conquer the final bastion;
It can win the human heart.

But also it can be as powerless as a kitten.
By itself it remains impotent.
It needs direction and gentle prodding.
It can do nothing except by consent.