I am recalling an old American pop song from the 1950's, made famous by Doris Day, I believe. A portion of the lyrics, including the title (in Italian) goes something like this.
Que sera, sera, Whatever will be, will be, The future's not ours to see, Que sera, sera. (The song's story line was that of a young girl asking her mother if she will grow up to be pretty, find romance, marry a handsome guy, etc. The mother replied in the song's chorus, as above.) As for our wonderful "Whatever happens..." principle, it's sort of like a system condition for open space. To me the words are not as important as the underlying idea that we'll be happier, more comfortable, and more productive as a community if, as individuals, we let go of the the need to exercise control. If we can get this across, it may not matter exactly how we say it. And on the other hand, I'm recalling something I learned in my communications courses in graduate school. I don't recall the author, but these worde remain burned in memory: "If you make something so perfectly clear that no one could possibly misunderstand, somebody will." We can fuss over wording all we want, but ultimately we have no control over the way people hear or interpret our words. (In other words, whatever happens... The principle applies to us in our role as facilitators, too.) Ralph Copleman * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist