DAVE GAROFALO -- Mayor’s Column

So where’s the balance. Leadership comes in all forms, all sizes.

Authority is a gift. Fear is a destructive force, useless in a democracy.

Wisdom is uncompromising.

There’s the spirit and the body. Leadership is an empowering force.

Consider: Good leaders inspire others to have confidence in them; great

leaders inspire others to have confidence in themselves. There’s the

spirit of leaders and the substance.

Compassion and sensitivity -- two ingredients in the leadership

formula. I think there are two types of leaders: Those interested in the

fleece, and those interested in the flock. The question is, how do we

look at, understand and finally choose among those who raise their hand

and volunteer, and know which ones are which.

In the next council race, that question and others will make the

difference in how this community deals with the major problems it has,

both below the streets and above. Some will want to blame others, others

will want to look you in the eye and say, “More taxes or more

creativity?”I will be there to help you answer some of those questions

and help you evaluate some of those people who want you to pick them as

leaders. Cream rises, hopefully the fat will settle.

Please bear with me today as I conclude with my new daily prayer. As I

began to say it, I realized that I was both saying it for me, as well as

you.

“Slow me down. Slow me down. Ease the pounding of my heart by the

quieting of my mind. Steady my hurried pace with the vision of the

eternal reach of time. Give me, amid the confusions of my day, the

calmness of the everlasting hills. Break the tensions of my nerves and

muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my

memory.

“Help me to know the magical, restoring power of sleep. Teach me the

art of taking minute vacations, of slowing down to look at flowers, to

chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to read a few lines from a good book.

Remind me each day of the fable of the hare and the tortoise, that I may

know that the race is not always about the swift -- that there is more to

life than increasing its speed.

“Let me look upward into the branches of the towering oak and know

that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well. Slow me

down, and inspire me to send my roots into the soil of life’s enduring

values that I may grow toward the stars of my great destiny.”

Leadership is not always a function of government office. Perhaps

leadership is a function of life. Family leadership, neighborhood

leadership, church, school, civic organization leadership -- that’s what

life is all about. The issue is, what are we all about?

Slow us down, slow us down. The race is not about speed, it’s about

survival, increasing the human experience, making it a little easier for

those who follow.

* DAVE GAROFALO is mayor of Huntington Beach.