The following contains excerpts from the book, The Daniel Dilemma (The Moral Man In the Public Arena) (Peggy Stanton).
At our music school in Midland, Texas we believe that music is more than sound, it is relationships. In the study of the subject of Leadership, relationships matter, and how integrous our relationships are become the foundation upon which all leadership is built.
“What is The Daniel Dilemma? Very simply, it is the dilemma of the principled man in the public arena, the tension between personal morality and the possession of power. In the Old Testament, the story of Daniel is the story of man’s relationship to power and the Creator of power…The king’s authority exists only by a grant from God. If the kings abuse their power, it will be taken away from them…Daniel’s faithfulness to Go0d did not remove pressure from his life…But never did Daniel defect to mere earthly authority. Never when his power was taken away, as in the lion’s den, did he cease trusting God. As a result, he always survived the circumstance. Today, swimming in an unending stream of scandalous headlines about public figures, we find ourselves wondering if Daniel was the last man to resolve his dilemma in favor of morality…What emerged was a book…stories, amazingly varied but remarkably striking in some similarities…All have achieved worldly success. Most have been recognized as leaders of their fellows. All of them believe in God…Ultimately, each was able to see his crushing letdown as a disguised benefit, a refining, a shaping, a honing of themselves, an occurrence that was inevitable and necessary for their betterment…The can accept the fact that, no matter the evidence, without supernatural aid from the Almighty, man struggles hopelessly with his existence.”
We believe, at our music school in Midland, Texas that the study of music and the arts fosters more than artistic disciplines but rather is foundational in the development of life-skills and character traits in things such as patience, perseverance, courage, poise, empathy, listening skills, and so much more.
This book shows several lives of public figures in the author’s generation (the 1970s) in America, going into detail in their struggles of leadership and their faith in God through the difficulties they faced. Although the book is dated, it gives clarity on many issues facing today’s leader in the public arena.
Gerald Ford
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- “Ford…was sincerely uncertain about Nixon’s criminal involvement in the comer-up. Colleagues claim this attitude has to do with Jerry Ford’s lifelong habit of looking for the sunnier side of human nature – a trait Ford himself admits to. ‘I’ve always felt there was far more good in people than bad,’ he says, ‘and I try to work with the good side and perhaps ignore the bad side.’”
At our music school in Midland, Texas we make it our goal to see the best in people and have as one the tenets of our ideology to establish trust and respect among all who are involved with us.
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- “On August 28, Gerald Ford held his first press conference, and…the White House Correspondent immediately tossed the fate of Richard Nixon in his lap. Would he…use his pardon authority if necessary? Ford replied, ‘In the last ten days or two weeks, I have asked for prayers for guidance on this very important point. In this situation, I am the final authority. There have been no charges made. There has been no action by the courts. There has been no action taken by any jury, and until any legal process has been undertaken, I think it is unwise and untimely for me to make any commitment…It seemed to me that I ought to ask for God’s help. Which I did, and I have no apologies for it.”
- “‘I’ve known Jerry Ford for twenty-five years,’ says Michigan Congressman Al Cedarburg. ‘In all my dealings with him…he always put the political consequences in the background.’ A number of Congressmen who observed Ford in the throes of a decision recall his frequently invoking the phrase, ‘But, what is the right thing to do?’”
- “My whole technique in discussing an issue where I have to make a decision is to let people express themselves freely and then I go off by myself and make the final decision.’…The Presidency had only served to increase his reliance on a Supreme Being. ‘After all, you do represent two hundred fifteen million people in the eyes of God.’”
- “The sonic boom resounding over the pardon caused even Richard Nixon to telephone Gerald Ford. He was sorry he caused the President so much trouble, Nixon said. Ford replied that he had made the decision, and was willing to take the consequences. ‘I didn’t feel sorry for myself because it was a deliberate decision. Sure, I was unhappy with the adverse reactions and certainly surprised they were so strong, but…when I do something and I’m convinced it’s right, I’m not going to worry about the last contest. I’m looking down the road to the things we have to do ahead.’”
- “One Republican Congressman commented, ‘If I couldn’t vote with Ford, I’d hide. Not because he’d get mad, but because he wouldn’t. he was always so decent about it; I felt terrible when I had to let him down.’…’He is a good listener,’ says former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Arthur Burns, ‘and he has an amazing memory.’…There was considerable speculation as to how Jerry Ford managed to so amiably accept the continual strafing of his intelligence, particularly since he managed, while holding down a full time job, to graduate in the upper third of his Yale law class, which contained, out of one hundred twenty-five students, ninety-eight Phi Beta Kappas, two Supreme Court justice, a Senator, a Secretary of State and a former Director of the Peace Corps. Ford never made an angry defense of his intellect, even when publicly questioned about it. Friends and colleagues attribute Ford’s ability to accept slights to an internal confidence.
At our music school in Midland, Texas we help students to see their worth, based upon their unique strengths and hard work, helping them to learn how to harden themselves from the criticism that always comes from unwitting sources.
‘His kind of personal security and knowing who he is, is the most unique characteristic about him,’ says Bob Teeter, who directed the G.O.P. polling…I think maybe he is the only President in modern times who really dealt with virtually every decision on [the basis of] whether he thought it was the right thing to do.”
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- “Defeat was hardly a relief to the President. ‘I never like to lose,’ Jerry Ford admits. ‘Losing the election after everybody had worked so hard was real saddening inside, but I’d learned over a long period of time that you have to be as gracious in defeat as you are in victory, so regardless of how I felt inside, I projected an attitude of understanding of loss…I wasn’t going to sit around and be moody and disconsolate and the thing that really burned me up were those stories to the effect that I was mentally distraught. That was one hundred eighty degrees wrong!’”
How a student perceives ‘failure’ will affect their trajectory in life and at our music school in Midland, Texas we try to instill in students that failure isn’t final. In fact, it is a necessary part of growth. How many times does a baby try to stand and fall before walking?
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- “No tribute was more meaningful than the farewell editorial from a frequent critic, The Washington Post, which read in part: The President who will leave office this week brought precisely the needed temperament, character and virtues to the high offices he has temporarily held. These qualities are regularly subsumed under the familiar general heading of decency, a word that does indeed fir the man. What is so revealing about the times in which we live…is the vaguely condescending way in which this particular tribute is paid to him: ‘Well, you have to admit, he’s a decent person’…or ‘Don’t’ get me wrong! Of course, I think he’s a decent person’ and so on. Decency, in this context, becomes as an attribute something roughly comparable to good posture or punctuality. How odd that so few of us have been willing to acknowledge that decency in the White House can be regarded as a luxury or a bonus or a fringe benefit only at our own peril…It is central.”
One of the most important ideas we teach at our music school in Midland, Texas is what we are teaching goes significantly beyond music and the arts, and helps develop attribute in students that are character-based.