Authority with respect
Storm clouds were building up to the east. A solitary storm
cloud was hurling occasional flashes of lightning about four kilometres away.
In the tropics, one learns to count the seconds after a lightning flash. On
another beautiful early-wet-season evening in Kakadu, I prepared to hit a
five-iron to the sixth green on the Jabiru Golf Course.
At the point of contact there was a loud “crack”. I
felt a jolt of pain in the back of my head. Momentarily, my wrists went into
spasm, my vision blurred and I felt nauseous.
The doctor said I’d “got a tickle from the storm and
no harm done”. The charge from a lightning strike will run for kilometres
through the laterite (coffee rock) that runs millimetres below the fairway. A
small divot through the thin layer of sand was enough to make contact.
After a few days of blinding headaches, I returned to the golf
club. From the far end of the bar, a Kiwi from Ranger uranium mine, where I was
chaplain, yelled: “Hey, padre, hear you’ve been upsetting the
boss.” Upsetting the boss is a skill most of us learn early in life.
As eight-year-olds, my cousin and I were called “bloody
spalpeens” by our grandfather. Riding an old wooden sled on the dairy at
Woodside, we trotted Peter the draught horse around the side of the hill after
we had thrown out hay for the cows.
At what we thought was high speed, we yanked hard on the
uphill rein, and then hung on tight as Peter turned sharply and the sled bumped
and skidded sideways. We had great fun. That was when Pop Burns called us names
and threatened us with the same fate if we killed his horse. We thought we were
being kind to old Peter. Surely he enjoyed the break from obediently plodding
in straight lines.
Most groups, from families to large organizations, have their
pecking orders, management policies or chains of command. There are many
labels.
However, regardless of where we see ourselves within the
structure, we all have power and authority. The test lies in the way we
exercise that authority.
Frequently, I hear complaints about those who have upset the
boss; those upset by the boss; those thrown off balance by a powerful but
insidious charge that unexpectedly flattens them; those who can only plod in
straight lines; those who try to enforce change and those who resist change
with a passion.
The inevitability and need for frequent change can be
exhausting, especially if the involvement in change is not mutual. Our system
works on clear chains of command, which become unclear and unproductive when
rank and authority override mutuality and respect.
We got into so much mischief as kids. Our grandfather –
who threatened to kill us more than once – was also one of the most
wonderful men I have ever known. We knew his absolute devotion to us. The
feeling was mutual.
