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The
trouble with many leaders is that they lack one or more of the necessary
characteristics of leadership. One person is an excellent administrator
but lacks people skills. Another is a charmer but a cad. Still another
is compassionate but completely disorganized. When a man or a woman comes
along who has all the required characteristics of leadership, then we
have a George Washington, an Abraham Lincoln, a Martin Luther King, a
Mother Theresa.
In this profile I would like to celebrate two leaders
who have it all: Dr. Mitsumoto and Mrs. Maura Del Bene.
Not only is Dr. Mitsumoto a brilliant doctor and researcher,
in my case he recognized immediately that my emotional
and physical survival depended in large measure on
my continuing to paint my watercolors. So when I told
them that I was losing my ability to move my hands
and thus to paint, he immediately said, “ Well
then, you can paint with your mouth.” He sent
me to the Helen Hayes Rehab center where sure enough
I learned to paint with my mouth. At a recent reception
for Michael Beier, a great man, a friend, and unfortunately
an ALS patient, Dr. Mitsumoto showed his compassion
for me by giving me no less than four big hugs. Talk
about morale boosters!
While we are on the subject of morale boosters, this
is Maura Del Bene’s specialty – though
of course she is also a brilliant researcher, nurse
practitioner and administrator – and an art promoter
to boot. It was she, along with Sandy Green, who arranged
to have an art show for artists with ALS whose work
also is part of the Permanent collection in the MDA
Gallery of Art Headquarters in Tucson AZ. My paintings,
several of them done with my mouth, were displayed
at the art show held in N.Y.C. Three hundred people
attended the show. Again, talk about morale boosters!
Perhaps what I appreciate most about Maura is that
on her day off she met with my wife over coffee and
discussed with her matters pertaining to the life of
a caregiver of a husband who was about to undergo a
tracheotomy.
This is why I – and all my friends and relatives – love
these two great leaders and why they occupy a high
place in my personal pantheon. I am sure that some
day they will occupy a high place in heaven for agreeing
to be the compassionate hands of God on earth. God
bless them both.
__Bill
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