DKG Women: Thinking Together

I am pleased to see that DKG women are turning over ideas and thinking about different ways of sustaining the Society. That’s what we Founders did too when we were organizing the Society. We struggled with how best to describe and organize for the changes we wanted to make for women and particularly for women educators.

Occasionally, you will hear ideas with which you don’t initially agree. Some may be taken aback by others who want to try different paths of membership or who question DKG customs. We Founders respected each other even when we did not agree on the elements of the plan as we were building the Society; we respected each other because we believed that the goal to establish the Society was too important to let differences in thoughts about ways and means disrupt our success.  We had to learn and re-learn that the ideas expressed are not the person.

I, Annie Webb Blanton, want to emphasize that tolerance for the person who’s expressing ideas grants the important option of keeping the conversation open. Saying what one thinks or just thinking aloud often indicates a search for understanding, an attempt for clarity, or a frustration with what one experiences.  I urge you to be open-minded and to actually hear what the other person says and try to understand her intent. What another says deserves the respect of being heard and considered. Emotional reactions without a mutual search for understanding are detrimental to human hearts. Free exchange, open dialogue, and civil conversation are elements of a sustainable Society. The bond of mutual regard is the only path to candor and a satisfactory path to DKG’s future.