Friday Fable. Lubans’ Neptune and the Curlew.

Posted by jlubans on December 05, 2014

20141205-sandpiper_at_shore.jpeg
Caption: Littoral Curlew/Sandpiper.

ONCE Upon a time the curlew resided in Neptune’s pelagic kingdom. Instead of feathers, the curlew had scales and swam in the deep ocean. While he loved the water, his curiosity took him ever toward the surface. Skimming along, he could see the sandy shore glistening under a blue sky. He dove down to tell the other fish of his adventures.
Neptune was jealous and annoyed with Curlew’s description of the wonders beyond the sea. He made the curlew promise not to return to the shore.
Well, as you can imagine, it was not long before the curlew once again was swimming in the rushing surf, ogling the new sights. Alas, this time he became stranded on a sand bar, a fish out of water, gasping his last. Neptune intervened and spared Curlew but angry over the broken promise, changed him into a bird and banished him to the water’s edge, never to return to the depths of the sea.
So, the curlew now skirts the shore and wades into the water, torn between the water and the land, plaintively calling to the unhearing sea.

Moral: Set your sights to the achievable lest you perish in the pursuit of the impossible.

Leading from the Middle citation:
I ran across Michael F. Bemis’ ‪”Library and Information Science: A (bibliographic) Guide to Key Literature and Sources.” The American Library Association published it in 2013. Here’s what Mr. Bemis thinks:
‬‬…. “The ‘contrarian’ in the title stems from the author’s nontraditional view of leadership. Again and again, he shows the limiting nature of the command-and-control model used in a majority of organizations, which basically means that the person at the top gives the orders and the loyal underlings are expected to march in lockstep as they carry them out. Lubans’ view is one of true empowerment, in which everyone in the organizational hierarchy is not only allowed but expected to contribute opinions, ideas and suggestions. Quite simply the author argues for a democracy within the library, rather than a dictatorship.”

A good reason to get a copy for Christmas for your organization.

@Copyright John Lubans 2014

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