Grace

"Everybody can be great. ...

You only need a heart full of grace.

A soul generated by love.

~Martin Luther King Jr.

Writing about "grace" has been on my "to-do" list for almost two years. As one involved in public education for more than 40 years, I believe that in many of our educational settings we have allowed grace to be replaced with a coarser, more sterile, approach to our dealings with each other, and, more importantly, with the children entrusted to our care. Please do not consider this observation as either a criticism of the institutions or their personnel, rather a concern that, if not careful, all of us will lose an element that is so vital to a healthy educational environment, and our humanity.

Before proceeding any further, let me clarify what I am referring to when I speak of "grace" in the context of this document. Jack Winspear, I believe, states it very well, “Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live.” Not that the former is not important, it is simply a different concept than the one we will be exploring here. Some of you will remember a similar perspective shared in the recent movie The Karate Kid (2010) when Jackie Chan's character - Mr. Han - defines "Kung fu" to his student - Dre Parker: "Kung fu lives in everything we do! It lives in how we put on the jacket, how we take off the jacket. It lives in how we treat people. Everything is Kung Fu." Quite similarly, grace, or its absence, in the life of individuals, in my opinion, has a great deal in determining who they are, and what kind of persons they become. Karl Barth animates grace when he suggests, "Grace must find expression in life, otherwise it is not grace."

Many of you reading this entry may be able to discuss the essential elements of grace better than I will do in the following paragraphs. That is wonderful! I hope that you will be motivated to join in the discussion and add your thoughts and insights on the subject. Personally, I believe much about grace remains a mystery to the human psyche, and I am in agreement with Anne Lamott when she notes, "I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us." However, for many of us, leaving the concept of grace to remain a mystery is disconcerting, and our natural tendency is to reach for something more concrete; a definition or description. Therefore, let's examine some attempts at extracting grace from the realm of mystery, while giving it understandable shape and form.

Our first challenge at coming to a clear definition and/or description is that our best attempts may still leave some readers unfulfilled due to the intangible and esoteric qualities of the phenomenon. For example, William Hazlitt's attempt to define grace, "Grace has been defined as the outward expression of the inward harmony of the soul," may still not meet the test of clarification for those who are more comfortable with something that can be analytically assessed and measured. For those seeking that level of explanation, the closest I can provide at this juncture, might best be expressed in the following two quotes:

"This is how I define grace: you're on the main stage, and it looks like it has been rehearsed 100 times, everything goes so smoothly. That's where I get my confidence and success, from knowing that I have an edge because I know I'm prepared."

~Alex Rodriguez

"Grace is the very opposite of merit... Grace is not only undeserved favor, but it is favor, shown to the one who has deserved the very opposite."

~Harry Ironside

Of grace, the actress Marlene Dietrich spoke to the alchemy resulting from the combining of courage with grace stating, "Courage and grace are a formidable mixture." Ernest Hemingway refined the courage-grace formula a bit, from his perspective, writing, "Courage is grace under pressure. Being of a somewhat different mind, Friedrich Schiller suggested, "Grace is the beauty of form under the influence of freedom." So there you have it. You may take your choice. You may choose to consider grace to be an expression of compression, or expansion. Either choice ultimately will lead to a similar observation that grace is best expressed through action rather than a state of stasis.

A higher level of thought concerning grace reveals its transformative and transcendent qualities. Although some readers may find Yrjo Kallinen's attempt at explaining the meaning of grace a mite too esoteric to fully appreciate, it is believed to add welcome value to our current discussion. If nothing else it is beautiful and graceful in and of itself. Kallinen writes of grace:

"Grace means more than gifts. In grace something is transcended, once and for all, overcome. Grace happens in spite of something; it happens in spite of separateness and alienation. Grace means that life is once again united with life, self is reconciled with self. Grace means accepting the abandoned one. Grace transforms fate into a meaningful vocation. It transforms guilt to trust and courage. The word grace has something triumphant in it."

The full value and influence of grace gains significance the more it expands from the realm of the individual, permeating the collective social and cultural consciousness. As Barth noted above, grace must find its expression in life. Therefore, grace, even "grace observed," involves others. Obligingly, or not, if we are to individually work toward the attainment of grace in our lives the "others" must be considered in order to truly attain our goal.

As is so often the case in the human being's effort to attain some level of personal development, s/he must start with small steps and small efforts. Henry Harland speaks to this thought with his question, "Do you know that the ready concession of minor points is a part of the grace of life?" The idea of our starting out small is also expressed by Jennifer James in her observation, "The accumulation of small, optimistic acts produces quality in our culture and in your life. Our culture resonates in tense times to individual acts of grace."

The journey towards grace often requires many sacrifices, and a resignation to the realization that many things in life cannot be controlled by the individual. Yet that should not discourage the individual, or collective group, from journeying forward. Discernment becomes a very important attribute in our decision-making, and assists in our determination of which obstacles to our efforts are accepted, and which are challenged. Speaking to restrictions often encountered under the guise of laws of one form or another, and how one should advance towards grace through that maze, Joseph Fletcher is of the opinion, "The motive and purpose behind the law... is to make it clear exactly how much you must do and no more. Grace refuses to put a ceiling or a floor on concern for the neighbor." Similarly, William Hazlitt, gives the sense that demonstrating grace puts one "in the moment," or in the natural "flow" of life, in his often quoted statement, "Grace is the absence of everything that indicates pain or difficulty, hesitation or incongruity."

It naturally follows that in order to attain the level of grace we are attempting to paint in our discussion selflessness must replace selfishness in our lives and in our actions. Sri Sathya Sai Baba is relatively straightforward in this notion of moving toward selflessness in his statement, "The minimum qualification for Grace [is] surrender of ego." An even simpler expression of extinguishing the ego is shared by William Gurnall: "Humility is a necessary veil to all other graces." Or, in the words of Samuel Richardson: "The grace that makes every grace amiable is humility." Richards embellishes this thought, with the observation, "Humility is a grace that shines in a high condition but cannot, equally, in a low one because a person in the latter is already, perhaps, too much humbled. "

It is no mere coincidence that one of the notable (and perhaps noble) attributes of a good leader is the virtue of humility. And, although we don't often hear the use of the term/concept of "grace" in regards to leadership, it is hoped that by this point the reader has already deduced that grace is a quality sorely needed in a leader. As in any other life situation, grace as it applies to the leadership role can be manifested, and expressed in may ways. Walter Lippmann weaves the virtue of grace into the leadership paradigm stating, "The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully." Max de Pree believes that grace as a leadership quality/attribute can be gauged by the response of the followers. He notes, "The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Serving? Do they achieve the required results? Do they change with grace? Manage conflict?"

Let's not forget that within all of us is the potential - and sometimes the obligation - to assume the role of leadership. Therefore, acknowledging our need for humility is inherent to our success in such a role when, and if, called upon to do so. Ideally, we can become that person Aristotle talked about when he said, "The ideal [man] bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances."

Finally, a few thoughts on how grace plays into the lives of children and families seems in order before closing this entry. Naturally, grace displayed and modeled by the adults in children's lives not only improves the quality of their immediate environment, but also guides them toward an adult life rich in grace. Remembering that a child's parents are his/her primary teachers, they, therefore, play a big role in the teaching and transference of grace to the child. This often requires that the parents do little more that demonstrate humility in their acceptance of change in the family dynamic as the children grow and develop, and mature in their family role. As exemplified in the words of Christopher Lasch, "Parents accept their obsolescence with the best grace they can muster. . . they do all they can to make it easy for the younger generation to surpass the older, while secretly dreading the rejection that follows." In less traumatic, emotional, life situations we can pass on grace to our children by enriching their minds with healthy, and character building, knowledge and ideas. Walter Scott expresses this thought when he suggests, "Teach your children poetry; it opens the mind, lends grace to wisdom and makes the heroic virtues hereditary." Perhaps one can argue against Scott's commissioning of poetry as being of such great value in the development of children, but, hopefully, not against the qualities Scott believes poetry imparts to the child.

In the end, each of us has to determine the value of grace in our lives. Personally, I share in the vision of the late John F. Kennedy: "I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty,..." That is truly one of my dreams. I hope some, or all of you share in that dream, and are willing to help our children share in the rewards of that dream, as well.