Leadership and a Pilot

Yesterday I taught Relief Society. The lesson was about leadership. I was immediately drawn to this lesson. I thought this is what I am striving for. I want to teach my kids to be leaders. Then I read the lesson and realized how much I needed to learn about being a leader.

Last Thursday, Jan 15th, I watched in disbelief as a story unfolded before my eyes, live via the Internet. It was the US Airways Plane that had crashed into the bone chilly Hudson River. Immediately I thought back to 1982 when a Air Florida Flight crashed into the icy waters of the Potomac on Jan 13th. It was an extremely emotional thing for me as my mind wondered back to that crash and the lack of survivors. My eyes began to tear up and a lump formed in my throat.

It is funny how children have this sixth sense and they can tell how your mood changes suddenly. Right before this we were singing and dancing, I had set down in the chair by the computer to catch my breath and as I am want to do I flipped through the Internet just to see what was up. That is when I choked up and then my little ones surrounded me.

"What is wrong? Are you okay?" they all chimed in. I started to tell them what was happening, to which Blake responded," I am never flying on a plane again." I knew I needed to change my voice and mood fast. { I also knew, because of work circumstances, a plane flight could be in our foreseeable future}...So I became hopeful and commented on all the ferry's that were close, the people standing on the wing, and that the airplane looked mostly out of the water. Then I turned off the news.

That night after the kids were in bed I scanned the Internet to find out what had happened. I was relieved to hear all passengers were saved thanks to the quick thinking and wisdom of the pilot. The different news sights were lauding him as a hero. His back ground suggest that this is defiantly the guy you would want flying. With the education, background and experience he made a quick decision to land in the river and after all were off he walked the plane twice. He was the last to be rescued. He wasn't interviewed by any news agency and didn't seek the lime light. A true leader.

The next day at lunch I talked to the kids about the plane crash. They were glad to know everyone was okay. I explained to them that they lost all their belongings, but had their lives and that is something you can never replace. {Of course Sam wanted to know if the luggage was insured} I told him, "Yes, probably." Then I talked to them about the pilot, his background, education, and how he used his experience to make a quick, educated decision.

We talked about Skip next and that even though he lost his job, he has an education and has experience to get another. Like the pilot, dad knows what he is doing and will make the right decisions for our safety and well being. The worst case would be that we might loose things, but really the most important things are our family and the knowledge of the gospel. These things we can hold onto forever and no one can take them away. I wanted them to know that their Dad was strong and would be led and guided to whatever needed to be and he would continue to lead our family on the course we needed to be on.

Leadership is a tricky thing. There are so many aspects of leadership to work on. Joseph Smith said, "Teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves." I struggle with this one{the kids are still relatively young} Christ taught us to be true leader we must have compassion and complete love. I am sooo working on this. It is like a trial I have over and over. I guess by example is one the best way to teach leadership, I need to work on this also. This lesson was for me personally and I am so grateful that I was able to read it, study it and ponder it.