By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
I was almost 15 minutes late to our usual 8:30 Monday morning meeting for the purpose of conducting the latest Ronnie interview. Why? I had been completely caught up in the release of the Israeli hostages after two years of horror. The film clips of families being re-united is something I will carry in my heart’s memory for the rest of my days.
Essentially, when I walked in, Mayor Ronnie said, “We need to pray,” and so we did. We gave thanks for all that God had done to bring this day into history, and watched a few minutes of the news. We also asked that God would help this peace agreement to hold. The Abraham Accords resulting in Victory in Israel Day need divine help, and we asked for just that.
“Talk about a Crucial Conversation,” said the mayor. (For several editions of What Makes Ronnie Roll we have been talking about an excellent book of the same title.) Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High is essentially the communication skills equivalent of The Art Of The Deal, and the application of the wisdom therein that caused “peace to break out” in the Middle East is epic stuff.
Here is a description of the book and its impact that seemed especially pertinent on this historic Monday:
“The book is compelling. Yes, I found myself in too many of their examples of what not to do when caught in these worst-of-all-worlds situations! GET THIS BOOK, WHIP OUT A PEN AND GET READY TO SCRIBBLE MARGIN NOTES FURIOUSLY, AND PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE THE INVALUABLE TOOLS THESE AUTHORS PRESENT. I know I did—and it helped me salvage several difficult situations and repair my damaged self-esteem in others. I will need another copy pretty soon, as I’m wearing out the pages in this one!” –James Belasco, best-selling author of Flight of the Buffalo, entrepreneur, professor, and executive director of the Financial Times Knowledge Dialogue.
Mayor Ronnie waxed philosophical for a bit by telling stories about how you can read about something, and even see pictures, but it is not until you see something up close and personal that you get an actual dose of reality. In his case, when he worked for DHR and had to train people, there were times when he held children that had been beaten with coat hangers and burned with cigarettes. Trying to describe what he had seen and experienced to those who had never seen such things was nigh on to impossible. Those kinds of things don’t begin to describe what happened two years ago in Israel, and the fact that we have peace on any level that lasts for any significant amount of time or challenge would depend on what he called “the We’s.” The “We’s” mean the team, and if we don’t keep the “We” in our national team, state team, or the Athens team, what people have worked so hard to bring about can go sideways in a heartbeat.
“WE have so much to celebrate, so much to be proud of,” the mayor said as he prepared to head out. Though we had already prayed, we prayed again to say thanks, and then once again it was time for Ronnie to roll.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
