Category Archives: Unsung Heroes

Everyday Heroes: “Their Name Liveth for Evermore.”

Activist Heroes, Unsung Heroes, , ,

By Clark Baxter

American national civic life is in disarray. The legislative branch of the United States government has voted several times to expel its leader, and any bill that finds its way to the President’s desk is widely regarded as the work of a profile in courage by the current speaker. American national dysfunction of this kind and to this degree has never happened before—even during the run-up to America’s Civil War 163 years ago.

But while the United States has gradually lost the ability to govern its national affairs in an orderly way over the past 25 years or more, local governments and communities—in every region, representing every political orientation of the country—have carried on, and many have prospered.

What and who has made this possible? The answer is local leaders—best referred to as “everyday heroes.”

The journalist James Fallows and his wife Deborah have spent years visiting these functioning communities and reporting the civic engagement that has transformed regions, cities, and even neighborhoods that spark the kind of positive civic activity that eludes our national leadership. The Fallows have collected the stories of several of these community transformations in a book called Our Towns.

As James explains it, “we wanted to look at parts of the country generally missed by the media spotlight. This would mean reporting in places often considered ‘flyover country’—small to medium size cities and rural areas that capture media attention only after a national disaster. We looked for places that faced adversity of some sort and that looked for ways to respond.”

In other words, to borrow from Joseph Campbell, Fallows went to places that needed a local “hero” to reimagine what the community might become, to lead the transition, and to inspire other to follow.

What follows is a brief overview of three communities that Fallows visited, a word about an undertaking that helped transformed them, and the local heroes whose imagination, charisma, and determination made this transformation possible. In the words of the poet Christopher Smart these transformations were, thanks to everyday heroes, “Determined, Dared, and Done.”

You will notice that none of these stories involves the military or sports—settings in which we’re most used to hear stories of heroes and heroic activity. Instead, the three stories I will briefly summarize involve how the vision of local “heroes” helped bring to life a revitalization of their community through efforts in commerce, education, and the arts.

First Stop: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh has already gone through a significant transformation from the manufacture of steel into a center for education, health care, and technology. But the population is half of what it was two generations ago and as in many cities, certain neighborhoods were left behind in the prosperity that followed this transformation.

In 2003 Henry Reese and his wife, the artist Diane Samuels, established something called “the City of Asylum,” intended as a sanctuary for exiled writers. They bought a former crack house, fixed it up, and invited Huang Xiang, an exiled Chinese writer and dissident who spent years in a Chinese labor camp, to accept a two year residence as the first “writer in exile.”

Over time Reese and Samuels bought an adjacent row of townhouses—which Huang Xiang and others have covered with art and calligraphy—and writers from 9 other countries have followed, each for a two-year residency.

This act of compassion for exiled writers has led to a “jazz poetry” month and a participatory art installation called “a river of words.” In turn, these things have brought this neighborhood of crack houses and other signs of urban despair back to life. New restaurants, a public garden, and a dynamic street life have transformed The City of Asylum, formerly an urban ghetto, into one of Pittsburg’s most visited attractions.

Next Stop: Greenville, South Carolina

As many of you know, South Carolina is, to say the least, politically conservative and its growth has depended on the appeal of an anti-union culture that has attracted several large companies—including most of New England textile industry—to relocate to SC and especially to Greenville.

But, as Fallows heard from many local leaders, when outsiders were and still are approached about moving to Greenville to start a new business they most often respond (and here I’m quoting a local business leader) “Greenville? You’ve got to be kidding?”

Greenville needed a re-boot.

One of the objections behind “Greenville? You’ve got to be kidding!” was what outsiders imagined was absence of first-rate schools for their children. So two local educators got to work.

In 1980 Virginia Uldrick, a local musician, teacher, and according to Fallows ”a force of nature,” founded a summer program that, over time, became The Governor’s School for the Arts, a public (underline public) boarding school (underline public boarding school) for art, music, writing and other expressive arts. In time, the city of Greenville donated an 8 acre landscaped campus and $27 million in seed money. The school opened full time to high school juniors and seniors in 1999

The Governor’s School attracts students from all over South Carolina. About a third qualify for free lunch and pay modest fees as they are able. Many come from Columbia or Greenville; others from small towns that the kids who grew up there themselves describe as “the third bend in the river.”

By the metrics, “The Gov,” as students call it, has proven itself: National Merit finalists, Presidential Scholars in the Arts recipients, and, as of the publication of Fallows’s book, 100% acceptance to such premier colleges and professional schools as Juilliard and The Rhode Island School of Design.

In addition, the success “The Gov” led to the formation of another innovative place—the AJ Whittenberg Elementary School…of Engineering. Let me repeat that—an elementary school for engineering—a product of the imagination and drive of Phinnize J. Fisher, a local teacher.

When Whittenberg was preparing to open, in 2010, few people had heard of it and applications were spotty. A year later, local high school kids were hired to canvas Greenville neighborhoods. And as word got out applications spiked. Once parents learned about “The Gov” interest became so strong that the local Lowe’s home store offered discounts on camping gear for parents who camped out on the campus waiting for a chance to place their kids on the wait list.

Whittenberg’s applied science orientation is a perfect fit for Greenville’s business climate: parents working at local GM, BMW, MIchelin, Duke Energy, Lockheed Martin and other engineering companies were eager to enroll their kids in a school where 1st graders explored the physics of hoisting in the air the Wicked Witch of the West at the school’s production of The Wizard of Oz; 2nd graders do their school work on their personal iPad, and older kids join a nationally ranked robotics team that was headed to Germany to compete internationally.

SIdebar—the Google page of the Whittenberg Schoool does not list a “founder.”And when I called the school to see if they could name a founder or two the woman I spoke with suggested that Margaret Thompson, the school’s first principal, was “heavily involved.”

Google does not include an entry for Margaret Thompson, making her a true and unsung local hero

When kids graduate from Whittenberg, many move on to the Phinnize J. Fischer Middle School, which recently opened with a STEAM curriculum—STEM with an additional “A” for “Arts.” As Fallows reports, “part of the push to STEAM came from the local business community, which wanted to nurture a workforce steeped in technology and practiced in the softer skill of communicating, teamwork, organizing, and public speaking.”

Fallows does not mention specifically how and how much the local business environment has benefited from these innovative schools. But the growth of Greenville by 21% just since 2010 suggests that families are moving here in droves; and it isn’t a stretch to suggest that innovative schools like these have addressed the “Greenville? You’ve got to be kidding” problem head on.

Next Stop: Columbus, Mississippi

A generation ago the socio-cultural climate of Columbus was generally similar to that of Greenville—only worse. Mississippi ranks at or near the bottom of any economic ranking of the 50 states. At the time of Fallows’s visit, the median household income of the families in the US was a little over $50,000. It was about $37,000 in Mississippi and closer to $30,000 in the Greenville area.

The region needed jobs.

Introducing Joe Max Higgins, the co-founder of the Golden Triangle Development Link, a non-profit that has attracted capital to improve the airport and other infrastructure. These improvements have in turn attracted such companies as Eurocopter, the Golden Triangle’s first major success.

In the words of Mr. Higgins, a born and bred southerner, “Eurocopter was a really big deal. In a county and state where most people think that women are all barefoot and pregnant—and we’re all members of the Klan—we’re now making shit that flies!!”

Other companies followed, but—as with Greenville, only after Columbus turned to initiative #2: improving and even creating local schools—like The Mississippi School for Math and Science .

Time prevents my detailing everything that makes this high school special, but picture a classroom with an 8 foot grandfather clock in the corner—that a student made himself out of brightly colored plastic pieces. A lab in which students programmed a robot to conduct search and rescue missions. Or a humanities class in which high school students—most of them preparing for a career in science or engineering—read a short story set in India and discussed whether a person’s immigrant status accelerated their self discovery.

As Fallows notes: “Abso-stinking-ikely” was one hearty response that pretty much revealed the energy and engagement of the class.

And a sidebar: The persons who founded the schools were by any definition local heroes. But observe another hero—the teacher in Mississippi—in a school ostensibly focusing on math and science—who got his kids excited about a story set in India. That’s a hero too.

Fallows goes on to report that “many alumni of MSMS have already reached their dreams of of becoming doctors, engineers, veterinarians, and academics. One of the grads he met was headed to Harvey Mudd College, a top engineering school in California. But after that he plans to return to Mississippi to start his pwn engineering company. The rising generation of well-educated Mississippians intending to start a local business—mission accomplished.

James and Deborah Fallows dropped in on and wrote about 29 cities. Other journalists, including Judy Woodruff on the PBS NewsHour, have done the same. It remains only to ask about the obstacles these local heroes encountered. Every hero faced difficulties raising money and marshaling the attention of Covid leaders. But the main obstacle they stared down and overcame was not outright resistance… but indifference.

Obstacles, whether a lack of money or an impossible physical barrier can be overcome with tactics, energy, and skill—as witness Columbus’s voyage across the un-crossable Atlantic and NASA’s sending a man to the unreachable moon.

But indifference is harder to overcome. If, as Joseph Campbell, had suggested the usual hero adventure begins with someone “who feels there’s something lacking in the normal experiences of his society,” it seems axiomatic that the the more generations of people who say “I like things as they are,” the harder will be the journey to replace the inadequate present world with the better one the hero alone sees.

The Bible teaches that “the poor you shall always have with you. To which some heroes in America’s Bible Belt and elsewhere, respond “Let’s see if we can fix that.

Local heroes have lived among us for millennia—as witness the 44th chapter of the apocryphal book of Ecclestiasticus, which opens as follows:

Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us. The Lord hath wrought great glory by them through his great power from the beginning. Such as did bear rule in their kingdoms, men renowned for their power, giving counsel by their understanding, and declaring prophecies: Leaders of the people by their counsels, and by their knowledge of learning meet for the people, wise and eloquent are their instructions:
Such as found out musical tunes, and recited verses in writing:
Rich men furnished with ability, living peaceably in their habitations:
All these were honoured in their generations, and were the glory of their times.

There be of them, that have left a name behind them, that their praises might be reported. And some there be, which have no memorial; who are perished, as though they had never been; and are become as though they had never been born; and their children after them. But these were merciful men, whose righteousness hath not been forgotten. With their seed shall continually remain a good inheritance, and their children are within the covenant. Their seed standeth fast, and their children for their sakes. Their seed shall remain for ever, and their glory shall not be blotted out. Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.

Everyday heroes do not “rule in their kingdoms.” And many “perished as though they had never been born.” But their name “liveth for ever more” in the communities they enriched by their vision of a better future for their communities, by their courage in facing head-on the many obstacles that stood between their vision and the future they saw, and the strength and courage to overcome them.

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The Heroism of Whistleblowers

Unsung Heroes

By Nick Inge

Who knows what it takes to tell the truth? The only people that really know are those that have done it and have spoken up — those that have spoken up about the wrongdoings of others. It takes a few to stand up for the many. Whistle-blowers do whatever it takes for them to reveal those who commit wrongdoing, for if they didn’t then the wrong-doing would continue. Unfortunately, in some cases, it has.

Whistle-blowers take the complicated and often very difficult decision to speak up whilst the vast majority of others, having wrestled with the decision, decide not to. Speaking up takes courage, tenacity and a clear sense of right and wrong to stand up for integrity in a world where it is easier to turn a blind eye. Whistle-blowers expose themselves to extreme scrutiny and invite forensic examination of their character and motivation.

Organisations that promote a healthy speak-up culture of openness and honesty not only improve the way they operate but develop a culture of trust and belief in all of their stakeholders. This culture has meant that those issues that have been highlighted by those who speak up have increasingly led to positive change in governments and in the behaviour of large corporations. They have exposed the unlawful behaviour of high-profile individuals in the fields of commerce, entertainment, politics and sport.

However, the vast majority of whistle-blowers have concerns relating to their work and their surroundings. For many the concept of whistle-blowing may sound daunting, terrifying, disloyal and for some, difficult to accept. It puts many people in a position that makes them feel extremely vulnerable. Vulnerable to losing their livelihoods and all that entails. They go through a rollercoaster of emotions and many challenging situations.

Whistle-blowers are those of us that possess dignity, respect and a sense of doing something rather than nothing. Whistleblowing at any level is not for the faint-hearted. It takes courage, resolve, passion, belief, faith and perseverance. It involves using every ounce of one’s integrity as well as a great deal of support from friends and family to do the right thing. This is dependent on someone’s morals, ethics, age, support network, and experience. Providing information about bullying, harassment, corrupt practices, poor leadership and back-handers takes a lot of backbone.

Whistle-blowers are brave. It takes guts and a fundamental belief in justice to stand up and be counted. To see right prevail over wrong. Those who blatantly flout the rules and think they can get away with it, because of their position, need to be held accountable. There are those that make the system work for themselves at the expense of others and this is what drives people to speak up. It takes resolve and perseverance. It takes an unwielding belief by those that report wrongdoing that they are 100% correct in what they witness.

‘It takes the few to stand up for the many’

This article highlights the issues that people face when confronted with the dilemma of whether to speak up or not, what then motivates them to do so, the personality traits of those that do and the lessons that we can learn from them, both from an individual perspective as well as from society as a whole.

The Difficulties Facing Potential Whistle-Blowers

How does it feel to speak up and how do people do it? Do they mainly do it overtly or covertly? That’s to say do they do it not worrying about being in the spotlight or do they do it, for example, via an anonymous hotline? If they do it this way what would happen if they were identified? How do people feel if they are labelled as a ‘grass’ or a ‘snitch’? What is it like to be labelled as someone who cannot be trusted with a secret?

When is the exact time and moment that people tell someone what they know? Will they be believed and will they be taken seriously? Would whoever speaks up become paranoid? Will they be ready for any backlash from friends, colleagues and potentially their employer? How will they cope and what will be the long-term effects?

Below are a few emotions that people who speak up experience and questions which they may want answers to. The following ones are those highlighted as being the feelings that they are most likely to experience:

Isolation

Telling the truth to someone about another person may make them feel terribly isolated, disloyal, angry, in despair and vulnerable.

Why Me?

People may wonder how they ever found themselves in that position. Those that speak up at work probably complied with all the policies and procedures that were put in place to protect them but they find themselves in a position that they had no other option other than to speak up. It may feel to them  like they are on the outside of the situation looking in on someone else’s. It can be a strange place being caught up in the middle of a situation which they cannot control other than to ‘do the right thing’ and then make a disclosure. It is normally an invidious position to be in.

Disapproval

People may approve, disapprove, support or not support those that speak up. Those that speak up may find that they themselves have an adverse effect on their family as well as their friends. They may think that they are going mad. It can be an extremely stressful time of any-one’s life and one which they would not envisage or want themselves to be in. It is nothing that anyone can really prepare for. Those that speak up may need counselling in the very early stages of the process of having made a disclosure to help them come to terms with what they have done. They should not be afraid or embarrassed to take it.

Paranoia

Those that speak up may feel paranoid – are those that they reported on watching them? What will be the consequences of telling the truth? Will there be any backlash? It is a time when in my experience people wonder whether the organisation that they have made a disclosure about is out to get them.

Escape

It may feel easier for people who speak up just to run away but this is not likely to be possible. People have careers, families and financial commitments amongst other things and it really is not feasible for people to disappear and wait for the dust to settle.

Sleeplessness

They may wake up in the night because they cannot get the situation out of their head. This is a common issue that is faced by those who have yet to speak up and have got to do so. Medication may be the answer for some.

Obsessive Thoughts

They may be constantly thinking about conversations and scenarios (past, present and future). The stress of the situation is relived in people’s minds and it goes round and round in their heads.

Information

Whistle-blowers may obtain snippets of information from friends and colleagues which allow them to piece together their next move. The state of high alert that people find themselves in ensures that they hang onto every word that may be of relevance to the disclosure that they have made.

All the good qualities that they may have had as a person may well disappear as they want those that they have reported on to admit the truth (which they may) and, if they do not, suffer the full consequences. They may wonder whether other colleagues who may have witnessed wrongdoing stand by them. It may be that whatever they say initially in support of the whistle-blower may evaporate as time passes and the wrongdoers curry favour with those left behind.

One of the major problems that people will encounter when faced with the dilemma of what to do concerns who to tell. Do they tell their friends, family, the wrongdoer, colleagues, or even an anonymous whistleblowing hotline or app? Would they perhaps use the media? The first person that they are likely to tell is their partner or a very close and trusted friend. This person may have nothing to do with their work but are someone for them to offload on. Someone that they can trust who will listen and who will be sympathetic – someone to give them advice.

‘There is another way. The right way’

 One of the questions that any would-be whistle-blower might ask themselves – is it worth all the angst and worry compared with their anger and sense of justice should any enquiry prove to be unsuccessful and those that commit the wrongdoing go unpunished? This could be weighed up against the maximum punishment that could be brought against a wrongdoer and a sense of justice be found, ie. will it all be worth it?

My advice to anyone who is thinking about speaking up is know everything about what the process is before embarking on a whistle-blowing journey. What would they want out of it? They have to ask themselves what will realistically happen. Will they be happy with the outcome of an investigation or is it simply enough to know that they have done their bit? They should also make sure that what they do is valid, ie. is it in line with the organisation’s speak-up policy? It may well lead to them questioning their morals, their principles and values, their sanity and their religious beliefs.

With all these questions in people’s minds they may be thinking – what is the point? Nothing appears clear and there is no apparent right or wrong way of getting through the journey. My advice to them is this – look at yourself as a human being. If you can say with 100% certainty that you know what others have done is wrong and regardless of the outcome, you can leave this planet knowing that you were honourable, true to your word and courageous, then do it. Do not do it solely for the benefit of others. Do it so that you can look the wrongdoer in the eye and know that you are right and they are wrong. Once they have determined that they are in that place then making a disclosure will be an inevitability.

To make this happen and see it through to the end they need an appetite: a massive appetite. A desire to let someone know what has happened and then stay the course. Whistle-blowers need a positive outlook, a motivation to ensure that the full facts emerge and the stamina to see it through to the end.

Desire

Desire is half the battle. If you think you can, you can. If you think you cannot, you will not. Whistle-blowers need to believe in their own ability to do what they know in their heart is right and indeed that hunger has to come from deep in their soul. Only they know how hungry they are for the truth to be revealed. Only they know what this will mean for other people. They have to put themselves in their shoes. How hungry would they be for someone to have the courage to speak up on their behalf.

Determination

The determination to reveal the truth doesn’t just come from those who speak up. There are others who do not even know about the wrongdoing but will give the whistle-blower added determination once they have revealed any wrongdoing. So they have to do not do it just for them but do it for others who have been directly affected as well as for a wider group of people who will want them to do this in the interests of morality, ethics, and justice. No-one wants to see those committing wrongdoing get away with it. Whistle-blowers have to be the one who stands up and who are counted.

Do the Right Thing

How many times throughout history have we seen the domino effect where something begun by just one person turns into an avalanche of claims that uncover wrongdoing on a massive scale. Mark Felt (Richard Nixon), and more recently Christopher Wylie (Facebook/Cambridge Analytica), are examples of how just one person can change the course of history for the better. Without these people the world would have been none the wiser and further cheating, wrongdoing and deceit would have been carried out. Without whistle-blowers there would be unknown continuing victims of sexual abuse, bullying, human trafficking, or breaches of data protection on an industrial scale – and those people would still be suffering.

What motivates them

Why on earth would you want to provide information as a whistle-blower? What would impel you to speak up and provide information about others? The list of reasons as to why people provide information is infinitely long and highly personal to each and every person who does so. They are unique reasons based on that individual’s experience, age, situation, and knowledge.

What have you done recently that you are proud of? Is it helping out a neighbour or guiding an elderly person across the road? It may be something different. Could you help a colleague who is being bullied at work by identifying and providing evidence against the bully to ensure your colleague no longer suffers? Could it be that, by revealing the truth, in years to come someone you helped at work with whom you are no longer in contact thinks of you and thanks you for your selfless act?

The important fact is that those who speak up are motivated to stand up and be counted, instead of looking the other way and not doing anything. It is easy to do nothing, far more difficult to say something. The act of doing good with regard to whistleblowing is not an easy one and is something the vast majority of people would not do. It is generally carried out as a one-off act of bravery. Due to its very nature there are no professional whistle-blowers! Therefore those who decide to speak-up are part of a very small exclusive club. They can have an amazing feeling that they have changed someone’s life by being brave.

‘See evil, feel evil, hear evil. Do something about it’

Listed below are the main reasons that drive people to provide information about others, both in a criminal and in a civil context:

Moral

Everyone knows the difference between right and wrong. The vast majority of people know when something is right and when it is not. And everyone knows on a sliding scale where the boundaries are crossed. For example, if you are a passenger travelling in your boss’s car, you would be very unlikely to report them for speeding if they went 5km/h over the limit; however, if they drove at 100km/h an hour that would probably be a completely different situation. Your reaction will depend on your relationship with that person, your position in the company, your age and experience, and your background (have you just had a speeding ticket?). The moral maze is very complicated one and hazardous to navigate.

Dislike

I know very few people in life who go through their working week without disliking someone. I’m not just talking about a mild dislike, I’m talking about a complete disdain for another human being; someone you dislike because they’ve not been nice to you and whose every action irritates you. It might be someone who you have had to be nice to for a very long time, who keeps getting away with things, knows how to “play the game” and about whom you know that, but for a small amount of digging, someone could find the truth and teach that person a lesson.

‘There is a big difference between knowing the truth and telling it’

Religion

You may not be religious in any way. My religion involves having a good heart and faith in humanity. There are good and bad people in every organisation. Having faith is your faith. Believe in what you believe. If your religion tells you that certain things are right or wrong, then that is fine as long as what you believe does not conflict with the law and the policy of your organisation. If this is the case, revealing wrongdoing becomes easier because of your faith. You may benefit from having someone in your faith that you trust and can turn to for advice, and this can be of great value to you. Whistle-blowers can find faith in religion and this may be one of their motivating factors.

Excitement

Some of those that I have met have honestly got such a kick out of passing on a secret. There is a particular thrill involved in knowing a secret and then telling it to someone. We have all had conversations where a friend says to you …“Psst. Do not tell anyone that bla bla bla”. You then reply, “I promise, I really promise”. Then you meet someone that would like to know what you have to say – you say to them, “Psst. Do not tell anyone. Promise not to tell anyone. I mean promise. Really promise”. You then tell all. How do you know that that person is not going to go and tell someone else? You hope they do not. How will you feel if they tell someone in the same way you did? The secret you have may be very difficult to keep. You want to tell everyone and the excitement when you do, mixed with all the other emotions, will be part of this process.

Loyalty

Loyalty develops slowly over time. It depends on age, experience, trust, rewards, and family. It has to be based on real actions, not phony ones. This is what motivates some that speak up.

Revenge

Revenge is sweet. It involves getting back at someone who has done you a disservice, or someone or something that has upset you. You do not need any other reason to blow the whistle. You just want the person to know they have been found out and there can be no better reason than that. Whatever you do, always tell the truth and no more. Those that speak up should not embellish the truth to suit their needs as it will come back and bite them. However, tempted they are to tell more than they actually know, just seeing the wrongdoer caught out or undone by their own actions should be satisfaction enough.

Jealousy

Although not a common reason to speak up, it is common enough to feature here. It might be that those who work for an organisation find that nepotism and the old boy network have got to them over the years. They may have been passed over for promotion, side-lined for political reasons, or there has been a complete disregard for their loyalty and service to the organisation, along with very little recognition of the hard work that they have put in. This be their chance to tell the truth and see that person receive some justice. It may well be that they have reached a tipping point on their ‘axis of anger’ and that they have seen someone promoted to a point where they think enough is enough.

Money

Some say this is not the main driver. However, this is nonsense. Wave cold, hard cash in front of people and they will talk. Money matters and money talks. Even if someone initially says they do not want money in return for information, in the vast majority of cases, they will take it if offered. To some people it is their main driver, to others it helps them through the month. Some may even give it to charitable cause.

When offered money, the majority of people find it hard to turn down. Information is very difficult to put a price on – how do you value it? This may depend on the amount, the quality, the nature of the situation, and the risk the whistle-blower took to obtain it? Its value is very subjective. To someone who has nothing, any amount may be seen as huge – to a wealthy businessman, it could be seen as insulting. It is a difficult call to make and few people want to be insulted.

In the criminal world, whistle-blowers pay no tax or national insurance. If you had little income and received a large monetary reward, how would you account for this? How could you spend it safely without friends becoming suspicious? How could you store it safely? The management of reward money is a major factor in keeping whistle-blowers safe and rigorous safeguards are put in place to ensure accountability.

On most occasions, whistle-blowers will have their expenses paid, such as the cost of getting to the venue, telephone calls, perhaps a drink or food when meeting their handler. Large amounts of money are generally paid in stages to avoid suspicion from friends and family as to how they obtained such large payments without seemingly working for them. Large amounts must therefore be risk-assessed so that the whistle-blower is not exposed by having to account for them. Small amounts have to be carefully managed so that, for example, drug users do not potentially overdose on the money they have been given. Oh, if money was simple to manage – the root of all evil and good!

The correct use of money is invaluable in terms of gaining outstanding intelligence. You cannot obtain an insight into the activity of those you are interested in by not paying decent amounts of money.

The vast majority of people have a price. What would yours be? £5, £10, £100, or £1000? Would you exchange information in return for money? What information do you have that someone else would pay money for? Could you accept ‘blue money’? Would it be a step too far? In my experience very few whistle-blowers refuse money – the majority take it. In any case, who cares? As a covert whistle-blower you do not have to tell anyone.

Is money really the root of all evil? Think of the good a well-placed whistle-blower can do. For example, they could:

  • Recover stolen property that is of sentimental value to the owner.
  • Arrest someone who has committed a crime.
  • Reveal a crime.
  • Provide insight into the minds of those who wish to do harm.

How can this be measured? Is it worse to be the informant or the authorities? What you know could be the last, vital piece of information in the intelligence jigsaw. It is all highly subjective, but intrinsically you have to be fair, honest, subject to scrutiny, and full of integrity. The list goes on.

Money is a way of saying thank you. Thank you for your time, thank you for your effort, and thank you for your information. I have never heard someone who manages a whistle-blower say that they have paid too much to someone. If anything, it is normally not enough. The risk people take to pass information on and regularly meet their handler should not be underestimated. The risk of compromise is very real and places whistle-blowers under considerable stress. To be paid small amounts of money on a regular basis – £50, £100 or £150 – is, in my opinion, not worth the gamble. To entrust the authorities with your life is unlikely to be seen as worth the risk. Very few informants I have met have been genuinely satisfied with what they have been given. Everyone always wants more. Authority budgets have been reducing, leading to increased pressure being placed on formal budgets to provide more value for money.

Whistle-blowers will generally never become rich by providing information. The money will help get the car serviced, buy a nice meal, and generally help out with household bills. It is a gesture, no more than that. It is true that some whistle-blowers are given large sums that can make a massive difference, but this is not a common occurrence. Obviously, the more the risk the higher the value of the commodity, and the time saved by the authority is always in favour of the amount paid. The figure is always a round one and never paid until the very last moment. This is for ease of payment and shows that paying for information is not an exact science.

I have known whistle-blowers to be paid considerable amounts that may appear excessive to the public. I can understand the sentiment but, balanced against the time saved trying to catch increasingly sophisticated criminals, I believe this is money well spent. In comparison with not catching people, or even when the authorities are trying to catch people, the rewards paid in relation to the cost to the taxpayer are very small. The press periodically publicise the amount spent on informants, but do not set this against the overall cost of covert policing – a legitimate tactic – and, when used properly, how cost-effective this method of intelligence gathering can be.

‘The challenge is doing the right thing. To ignore is doing the wrong thing’

Having dealt with literally hundreds of whistle-blowers over nearly twenty years I have witnessed similarities in the character of all those who have spoken up. They may have differed massively in their personalities and motivations but those that speak up are in the main strong, humble and determined to do the right thing. Those that provide information over a protracted period of time remain patient and resolute. They are principled, steadfast in their belief that they are right and all take a leap of faith when they decide to speak up. They normally reach an age with a certain amount of experience and life skills when they decide that morally they cannot keep quiet any longer. They normally have a deep sense of justice and are tenacious.

To speak up is not for the fainthearted. They have a sense of intolerance to wrongdoing and a strong sense of self belief in what they disclose is right. They are generally outraged by what they have witnessed and are brave individuals as they know that, if they do it anonymously and should they be identified, then they could suffer repercussions for both their career and personal life.

There are many lessons that can be learnt from those that decide that enough is enough who decide to speak up. In order to help quantify the issues that people face when deciding to speak up I conducted a short survey (Survey Monkey, May 2020). This was based on a sample of 40 people:

  1. Would you speak up if you knew about something that was wrong at work? Yes 95%; 5% No
  2. Have you ever spoken up? Yes 85%; 15% No
  3. Do you think your organisation takes speaking up seriously? Yes 55%; 45% No
  4. Do you think that your position within an organisation matters when deciding whether you would speak up or not? Yes 55%; No 45%
  5. Do you think that people are nowadays more likely to speak up at work if they witness wrongdoing they would have done in the past? Yes 70%’ 30% No

These figures somewhat surprised me. It appears that the vast majority of people have spoken up despite the fact that they don’t believe that the organisation takes speaking up seriously. This then begs the question why do people do it? In my experience the vast majority do it because of the attributes that I have outlined above. A strong sense of right and wrong and an understanding that the person who makes the disclosure will not be able to act as judge and jury, should any investigation result in a ‘guilty’ verdict for those that have committed wrongdoing.

Concluding Thoughts

There are many issues that whistle-blowers face in the 21st century. These haven’t fundamentally changed since people have started telling the truth. People have never wanted to be seen as snitches, grasses or snouts. Holding such a title is not one that attracts many suitors. It carries with it a certain stigma.

Those that speak up worry about being ostracized by their colleagues, losing their career and all that entails. It has never been recommended as a great career move. But the world has fundamentally changed. Certainly, since the outbreak of COVID-19 people have become frustrated with the ‘system’. They realise that by speaking up the world can be changed by people taking a stance against wrongdoing in whatever form it is found.

In the UK speaking up has recently brought to the fore issues such as BLM and lack of PPE in the NHS. Organisations are starting to realise that values that customers and clients hold true are openness, honesty and integrity; that this starts with them feeling empowered as employees; that they both need a voice and have one, too. Social media has enabled those who feel that they have previously not been able to speak up can now do so virtually anonymously via social media platforms.

Organisations that do not allow their staff to speak up run the risk that their employees will speak up outside of their workplace. This may explain why the vast majority of people have stated that they have spoken up and by doing they have done the right thing. It is therefore of concern that the majority of those that took place in the survey did not feel that their organisation took speaking up seriously. That the organisation allowed them to speak up but then didn’t do much about it. That staff feel empowered to speak up but by doing so it became a futile act. That their heroism by speaking up was in fact a worthless exercise. That the characteristics that they display, that the motivation that they have to try and rid their organisation of wrongdoing and that the sense of right and wrong that they feel deep in their fabric is just paid lip service to by their employer.

It therefore follows that speaking up just then becomes a tick box exercise for the organisation. That the whistle-blower finds it within themself to speak up and the organisation appears to have a speak up culture. The heroism of whistle-blowers, with all that entails, should not be devalued by this modern way of some organisations interpreting their own version of a speak up culture.

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After graduating with a BA (Hons) Economics in 1994, Nick Inge joined the UK Police. He soon started recruiting and handling informants, specialising in serious crime, counter-terrorism and corruption. Nick retired from the police in June 2019. Nick is now the CEO of a specialist whistleblowing consultancy, iTrust Assurance Ltd and the Co-founder of a social enterprise Worldly Wise. Nick is also a volunteer Careers and Enterprise Adviser for The Careers and Enterprise Company and the author of two books.

Nick’s first book on whistleblowing can be found here, and his second book can be found here.

Bethany Hamilton: A Hero Who Defies Odds and Provides Hope

Unsung Heroes

By Evelyn Barringer

Bethany Hamilton was on the path to be a hero from a young age. With her two parents and brothers being competitive surfers, she was destined to be great, yet no one could have predicted the traumatic event that would take her local heroism to a world wide scale.

Being a young surfer with as many trophies and wins is impressive in itself. But the fact that she is a young female surfer in a sport dominated by men caused Bethany to be seen as a role model and mentor to children, and especially girls, in Hawaii. To locals, Bethany was on her way to becoming, if not already, a hero. Then, disaster struck.

When Bethany was only 13 years old, she lost her arm from a tiger shark bite while surfing. Her entire left arm was bit clean off. It seemed this tragedy signified the end of her surfing career, given the fact that two arms are crucial for paddling and balance and the assumption that she would be terrified to ever enter the water again after such a horrific accident.

Yet this assumption could not be farther from what happened. Not only did Bethany get back on her board and into the water, she continued to compete in able body tournaments and grew into a pro surfer and hero. Her heroic status started locally as surfers and residents in Hawaii heard of her overcoming such odds. Then, with the help of movies, books and TV, her heroism spread nationally.

She follows the traditional hero journey. She is living a normal life like everyone else her age, aside from her gift of surfing. Yet she faces a significant hardship she has to overcome. Bethany, at first, is lacking the determination to continue her fight to surf after it appears harder than she expected.

Like most heroes are at some point, she is distraught and on the verge of giving up when she finds a mentor. She has support from family, friends and coaches, but her most impactful mentor was Sarah Hill, her youth director at church. Through their relationship Bethany grew to be able to motivate herself and find the confidence she was missing.

Finally, to finish the traditional heroic journey, Bethany overcomes the hardship and uses what she learned to inspire and connect with others. Today, she is still a surfer but spends a lot of her time working with injured and disabled patients and being a motivational speaker.

Bethany was able to reach a heroic status due to her relatability. She was a totally normal girl prior to the accident and continued to live a life of normalcy. Getting back into surfing was more of a way for her to continue with her life than an attempt to draw attention and fame. This sense of normalcy made those who admired her feel like they knew her and she developed a following of people who saw her as an ordinary girl who overcame extraordinary odds which elevated her to a position of heroism and made her someone people could look up to.

Her most heroic act and largest impact is her ability to provide people with hope. From young girls hoping to become surfers to handicapped adults, she was able to inspire and provide hope to countless individuals. Her ability to overcome such odds provides hope to anyone with the odds stacked against them, especially those with disabilities that were also once considered detrimental. Her ability to provide hope to able body and handicapped people of all ages demonstrates her resounding heroism.

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Evelyn Barringer is an  undergraduate student at the University of Richmond. She wrote this essay as part of her course requirement while enrolled in Dr. Scott Allison’s Heroes & Villains class.

Heroes Whom We Forgot: The Writers

Unsung Heroes

By J. A. Schultz

Enûma Eliš.

In the Beginning.

Thousands of years ago something seemingly magical was invented. It was a magic that allowed one to read the mind of another. To speak across vast distances. From time immemorial voices of the dead could be known. The magic is as profound as all of human wisdom and as simple as the words you are now reading.

Like the taming of fire before it, it would become a seminal event in human history.

In fact, it would create history.

Writing.

It is an easy thing to take for granted, these little scratches that allow us to share our thoughts. But writing is the thing that has created the modern world we live in. Without it our cultures would have to be passed down from by word of mouth and fallible memory — as many non-literate cultures had done before.

So it is more than a little ironic that we don’t actually know who invented writing and precisely when. Simple scratches have been found as old as 800,000 years old in Java and 40,000 year old “hashtags” near Gibraltar. But the earliest evidence of actual writing comes from the Vinča culture in what is now known as Romania. The most ancient of these is known as the Tărtăria tablets dating back to 5500 to 5300 BC. However this find is controversial and the first definitive examples of writing date back to Sumer and Egypt in 3100 BC and China in 2100 BC.

Throughout history humanity sought to find separation between itself and the rest of the animal kingdom. Yet for every milestone we place, every divine aspect we imagined for ourselves, our natural brethren had quite happily knocked down. Except for writing.

Writing was most likely invented as a way to keep track of common things such as harvests or the numbers of livestock being kept at any given moment. It was simply a way to making life easier. Little could they have known the world they were setting in motion. For writing soon went beyond the confines of mere clerical work and allowed people to share their thoughts, loves, and madness and do so through space and time.

Because of that initially utilitarian invention we can experience the love the Pharaoh Akhenaten felt for Queen Nefertiti through his letters and poems to her 3000 years ago. Or Claudia Severa inviting her friend, Sulpicia Lepidina, to her birthday celebration in 100 AD. Or the amazingly erudite letter written by a ten year old girl named Elizabeth to her stepmother, Anne, on the 31st of July 1544. Or the words of my 5th great-aunt giving testimony on May 18, 1886 on why her nephew used various aliases.

These echoes, these preserved moments of time, are the result of the efforts of people who most likely had no idea what they were setting in motion. They had no intention of being heroes — at least not for inventing something so ubiquitous — but without their efforts our modern civilization would not exist. Lives would be slowly forgotten or garbled beyond any recognition. Lessons of the past would be left aside. Human history would shrink to that of a handful of generations. Death, already a tragic loss, would be catastrophic. Not just for their loved ones, but for society as a whole.

Because of these heroes, these ancient writers whose pens really were mightier than any sword, vast swaths of history are open to us. There for us to read.

Because they taught us how to write.

Enûma Eliš.

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The author, Jesse Schultz, tries to make the best use of the 26 letters of the English alphabet.

Why Our Fathers are Our Heroes

Unsung Heroes

8By Scott T. Allison and George R. Goethals

In our Mother’s Day blog post, we noted our research finding that people listed their mothers as heroes more often than any other person.  Fathers were a close second.   Why are parents viewed as so heroic?  Developmental psychologists tell us that the relationship we have with our parents is the first significant relationship of our lives.  It is a relationship that indelibly shapes our values, our aspirations, and our future behavior.  Thus when we experience successes in our careers and in our personal lives, it is not surprising that we attribute those triumphs, at least in part, to our parents.

The origin of Father’s Day is not entirely clear, but there are several fascinating possibilities.  Babylonian scholars have discovered a message carved in clay by a young man named Elmesu roughly 4,000 years ago.  In the message, Elmesu wishes his father good health and a long life.  Some believe this ancient message represents evidence of an established tradition of honoring fathers, but there is little evidence to support a specially designated Father’s Day until modern times.

There is some debate about the origin of the Father’s Day that we celebrate today.  Some claim that a West Virginian named Grace Golden Clayton deserves the credit.  fathersIn 1907, Clayton was grieving the loss of her own father when a tragic mine explosion in Monongah killed 361 men, 250 of whom were fathers.  Clayton requested that her church establish a day to honor these lost fathers and to help the children of the affected families heal emotionally.  The date she suggested was July 8th, the anniversary of her own father’s death.

Still others believe that the first Father’s Day was held on June 19, 1910 through the efforts of Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington.  Inspired by the newly recognized Mother’s Day, Dodd felt strongly that fatherhood needed recognition as well.Her own father, William Smart, was a Civil War veteran who was left to raise his family alone when his wife died giving birth to their sixth child.  Dodd was the only daughter, and she helped her father raise her younger brothers, including her new infant brother Marshall.

Whereas Mother’s Day was met with instant enthusiasm, Father’s Day was initially met with scorn and derision.  Few people believed that fathers wanted, or needed, any acknowledgement.  It wasn’t until 1972 that President Richard Nixon made Father’s Day an official holiday.  Today the holiday is widely celebrated in the month of June by more than 52 countries.

Why are fathers heroes?  fathersThe respondents in our survey listed two main reasons.  First, fathers are given credit for being great teachers and mentors.  They teach us how to fix a flat tire, shoot a basketball, and write a resume.  Fathers are less emotional than mothers, but they lead by example and devote time demonstrating life skills to us.  Former governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, once said, “I talk and talk and talk, and I haven’t taught people in 50 years what my father taught by example in one week.”

Second, fathers are great providers and protectors.  Our respondents told us that their fathers were heroes in their commitment to provide for their families, often at great sacrifice.  Many fathers work at two or more jobs outside the home to ensure that their families have adequate food and shelter.  Fathers also provide us with a sense of safety and protection.  Sigmund Freud once wrote, “I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection.”

On this Father’s Day, we wish all fathers, and all men who serve as father figures, all the kudos they so richly deserve.  Happy Father’s Day!

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Do you have a hero that you would like us to profile?  Please send your suggestions to Scott T. Allison (sallison@richmond.edu) or to George R. Goethals (ggoethal@richmond.edu).

The Heroic Wisdom of Yuval Noah Harari

Unsung Heroes

By Scott T. Allison

The ancient Greeks referred to prophets as individuals with the capacity to foresee the future. Israeli scholar Yuval Noah Harari would deny being a prophet, as he admits to not knowing how the future will unfold. But perhaps no one alive today is more skilled at describing with intelligent detail several different possible outlooks for humanity.

Harari argues that the year 2050 can either look like a Utopia, with humans all around the globe enjoying unprecedented prosperity, or it can descend into a catastrophic “digital dictatorship”. The key centers on how we manage the potentially disruptive merging of information technologies and bio-technologies. This merging will produce revolutionary changes in our personal lives, reshape society as a whole, and may even mark the end of homo sapiens.

Some of these radical changes are already happening, and Harari implores us to develop ethical guidelines for the appropriate application of emerging technologies. These ethical guidelines must be developed and applied globally, as the reality of climate change, the threat of nuclear war, and impending technological revolutions affect our entire interdependent planet.

For details of Harari’s visions of the future, you’ll need to read one or more of his best-selling books: Sapiens, Homo Deus, and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century.

What is the source of Harari’s visionary wisdom? Our research on heroism suggests that heroes are able to see the world through a deeper and broader lens. The ancient mystics and Buddhists called such viewing nondualistic thinking. This style of perceiving reality refers to the ability to go beyond seeing world in terms of simple binary categories. Nondualistic thinkers like Gandhi, Lincoln, and Harari all have the gift of going deeper and seeing nuance that goes beyond mere black-and-white dichotomies. Simple dualistic thinking contributes to a host of damaging “isms”: racism, sexism, and ageism, to name a few.

Nondualistic thinking refers to broader, more mature contemplation of perceived events. It resists the urge to feed one’s own ego or the collective ego. Nondual thinking is humble and patient with mystery and ambiguity. Abraham Heschel (1983) described it as the ability to let the world come at us rather than us coming at the world with preconceived categories skewing our perceptions. Rohr (2009) describes nondualistic thinking as “calm, ego-less seeing” and “the ability to keep you heart and mind spaces open long enough to see other hidden material.”

Asian spiritual philosophies describe it as the third eye, which is the enlightened ability to see the world with balance, wisdom, and clarity. In our writings of the hero’s journey, we have argued that heroes almost always descend into darkness before they achieve self-insight and acquire the wisdom of transformation (Allison & Goethals, 2016). Heroic experiences are rife with phenomena that can only be understood by seeing the world through a nondualistic lens.

An example of Harari’s nondualistic wisdom is seen in his view of nationalism, which has burgeoned around the world in recent years. One might think that Harari would condemn nationalism, given that he champions a globalized approach to dealing with current and future planetary problems. But Harari doesn’t believe that a nationalistic mindset is completely wrongheaded. Instead, he adopts a balanced, nondualistic perspective of nationalism.

Nationalism, he argues, is only bad if it involves viewing the lives of one’s own nation’s citizens as more important than the lives of people residing in other nations. Nationalism is good if it is defined as treasuring one’s own national culture as beautiful, distinctive, and special — not better or worse than those of any other nation. Harari believes it is possible to eliminate the bad aspects of nationalism (a belief in superiority) while retaining the good aspects (a love for one’s unique culture). In this way, all human life is equally precious regardless of national boundaries.

A healthy nationalism, adopted by many countries, can lead to a healthy globalized approach to the problems of climate change and the potentially disruptive effects of emerging technologies. Below is a Youtube video of Harari’s heroic vision for a world community that can effectively bring about the best possible future for us all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x3zaIYrHTs

References

Allison, S. T., & Goethals, G. R. (2016). Hero worship: The elevation of the human spirit. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 46, 187-210.

Allison, S. T., Goethals, G. R., & Spyrou, S. P. (2019). Donald Trump as the archetypal puer aeternus: The psychology of mature and immature leadership. In K. Bezio & G. R. Goethals (Eds.), Leadership and populism. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.

Heschel, A. J. (1983). I asked for wonder. New York: Crossroad Publishing.

Rohr, R. (2009). The naked now. New York: Crossroad Publishing.