January 2, 2012. Playa Rpyale, Mexico. The Society of Friends.

The protagonist in the book The Voyageurs is a member of The Society of Friends, commonly called The Quakers.  I know very little about the Quakers but what I do know,  I learned 53 years ago when I served on a panel  organized by the Quakers in Toronto.   The only part I recall was a conversation with an older lady.  I was 21 so perhaps she only seemed old, but what I learned from her became helpful to me my whole professional career.

I asked her at lunch what a person must believe in order to be a Quaker.  She told me that different groups have different policies, but that one belief was critical, which was that a Quakers task in life is to find the good in every person.  They felt that there is good in everone and it was up to each to find that good.  Now I was a teacher, with a group of 42 second grade children.  I helped all the children and some kids I really did not like much, but when I returned to my class, I started to try to find something that was good about every child.  Amazing things happened both to the children and to me.

I have never been critical of others, but this approach had a wholly different approach, and I was able to keep it up in every career.  Many people have asked me how I could work with this person or that person, and my answer is always the same.  The old lady  told me something that has  stuck with me and has been helpful to me.  I don't even know that the Quakers still preach it!!