scurvyelephants

Scurvy Elephant Incident In The Doctor's Waiting Room

A well qualified Scurvy Elephant for sure!

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<<< Click on the image to enlarge.

Note. The image above which tells the tale of the elderley man in a doctor's waiting room came to us via email with no copyright information.  If you own copyright of this image, please contact us.

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Are you a Scurvy Elephant with a Scurvy Elephant Story to tell?

Become a member of the Scurvy Elephant Society and publish as many stories as you like - complete with a link to your website or online profile Click here to Join Now

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Jane Tomlinson – Challenging the perceived limitations of terminal cancer diagnosis

We would like to pay tribute to Jane Tomlinson who died recently aged 43. Jane was originally treated for breast cancer in 1991 at the age of 26, however, the disease returned and in spite of undergoing further treatment she was told in 2000 that the disease had spread to her bones and lungs and was given about 12 months to live.

Her reaction was to embark on a series of marathons and athletic challenges to raise money for charity, she completed the appropriately named “Race for Life” in May 2001 and went on to complete both the London marathon and the London Triathlon in 2002, becoming the first person with incurable cancer to do so. She took up endurance cycling going from John o’ Groats to Land’s End and Rome to Leeds, distances in excess of 1000 and 2000 miles respectively. Her final major challenge was to cycle 4200 miles across the U S in 2006. 

In total she raised more £1.5 million for charity. She has received many awards over the last six years for her outstanding efforts and example to us all. She is an outstanding example of the power of the mind to overcome limitations of the body and to confound the expectations of others. I can think of no other story better able to inspire positive beliefs and action when faced with a terminal diagnosis. In her words “Death doesn’t arrive with the prognosis.” 

Go to www.janesappeal.com should you wish to make a donation or find out more about her life.

Taking Liberties - it's a free country, isn't it?

Last week, I trotted off to Chapter, my local arts centre, to watch an amazing little movie called 'Taking Liberties' (ad pictured above). I emerged from the auditorium lost for words - a rare occurance indeed. I put this down to 'shock'. If you are a Scurvy Elephant - member or not - I absolutely urge you to go and see this movie.

Here's the official website www.NoLiberties.com

Whose Peace Is It Anyway? by SES Member Georgina Perkins

Now don't get me wrong - I loved being in the police, I loved policing and by and large I loved police officers; the vast majority of whom join because they want to change things for the better, and believe they can.   

As a young police officer in Newbury a regular duty was to assist the local counil temprarily "evict" the women from the peace camps around Greenham Common.  Long before I learned the theory of building rapport I worked out that finding common ground with those not necessarily predisposed to bond with the constabulary was a good safety precaution.  It also built unlikely firendships.  I remember comparing notes with a young protester who had given up her A levels and University place to study law.  She had no doubt at all that she was playing her part in creating world peace and helping to bring about Nuclear Disarmament.  I joined the police to make a difference, to keep the peace.  In fact the police role during evictions was strictly keeping the peace at Greenham Common.  How much more ambitious, more effective and more of a scurvy elephant was she? 

It was perhaps my inner Scurvy Elephant that finally led me to leave policing after fifteen years, and six years on I now help other people to step off the treadmill and free their own Scurvy Elephant!   

Georgina Perkins
www.steppingoff.co.uk
Life-Change Consultants and experts in helping you regain your work/life balance, live your life a different way or downshift.

Lessons from the Challenger Disaster

A recent reshowing of the Channel 4 documentary on the Challenger Disaster really brought home how important it is for organisations to listen to the "Scurvy Elelphants" in their midst. Roger Boisjoly fought long and hard to get his colleagues at Morton Thiokeld, the manufacturer of the booster rockets, to listen to his concerns about the reliability of the O rings at low temperatures. He was eventually overruled at a last minute conference with NASA and Challenger was cleared to fly.

Boisjoly was one of the witnesses called at the Presidential Committe set up to review the disaster. He gave accounts of how and why he felt the O-Rings had failed. After the Committee gave its findings, Boisjoly found himself shunned by colleagues and managers and he resigned from the company.

Boisjoly became a speaker on workplace ethics. He argues that the caucus called by Morton Thiokol managers, which resulted in a recommendation to launch, "constituted the unethical decision-making forum resulting from intense customer intimidation."

Visit http://www.onlineethics.org/moral/boisjoly/RB1-4.html for more details and resources to help stimulate your thoughts as to how you might have behaved when faced with such a situation.

Scurvy Elephants in the Garden?

Headed over to the Mouse and Trowel Awards voting area today to vote for my new friend Heather Gorringe's company Wiggly Wigglers. (That's Heather left, winning another award.)

Her team are up for Best Gardening Podcast - and so, so deserve it. Check it out here.  Actually, Heather is a total Scurvy Elephant - must tell her to join us here...

anyway... came across a site called the Renegade Gardener... I reckon that's another Scurvy Elephant right there in Don Engebretson, an award-winning Minnesota garden writer and designer - you absolutely must read his story...

Are you a Scurvy Elephant? Join us here and let us share your Scurvy Story with the world.

scurvy elephant carnival - April 9, 2007

Despite the fact that its April 10th... welcome to the April 9, 2007 edition of scurvy elephant carnival. This is the first time we've run a carnival and the response has been small, but as we know... it's all about quality not quantity... and we have had 2 really interesting submissions, both of which are on an eco tip.

Riversider presents Barrages and Wetland Ecosystems: the Environmental and Economic Impacts. posted at Save The Ribble.

I wonder what Riversider will make of Wenchypoo's This Thing Called "Global Warming" posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket. It's a short one from Wenchypoo, but I think her position is clear. What do you think?

That concludes this edition. What do you blaze a trail for? What moves you to take action? Where do you stand alone?  Submit your blog article to the next edition of scurvy elephant carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Scurvy Elephants Society Update

So we have plenty of people joining the SES, but we've spotted what seems like a reluctance to participate in the email forum (Yahoo group) or send in scurvy stories, so this is what we are going to do...

We are going to drop the Scurvy Elephants Society Yahoo Group until such time that we have enough members to warrant an active bulletin board rather than an email forum.

We will start running 'blog carnivals' to encourage submissions from non-members too. Perhaps, over time, some will join up and submit direct to this space. We'll keep you posted. :o)

My scurvy elephant ejection story...

I've just recently relocated to Cardiff after 17 years in London. I've lived in Cardiff before - as a 21 yr old student at the then Welsh College of Music and Drama where I was on the 3 year acting course.  I only lasted 2 terms - got ejected you see. Quite an achievement really.  They said that I 'over-intellectualised' and that's why I had to go. I asked for clarification and they said, "This is a college about doing, not thinking, and you think too much.'  I have my own theory: I had the wrong sort of accent - posh (I was much plummier back then) and I was just way to scurvy for them...

So this is 19 years ago, back in the days when students got grants. I thought myself extremely lucky to be getting a grant at all - given that honing my performing arts skills was hardly as useful to society as training to be a doctor, a teacher, an engineer etc.  I'd been fortunate enough to have a private secondary education too, so the concept of spending 3 years doing what I loved and being supported through it was just wonderful.

Do organisations conspire to eject the very people necessary for their long term survival?

I remember an article with this headline being published in 1990 around the time when I being asked to leave my last "real job". It commented on how people who challenged the status quo too frequently often found themselves isolated and ultimately expelled. However, organisations who do not welcome healthy dissent progressively become out of touch with their market place, inwardly more rigid and self obsessed, with a focus on process rather than results. In my recruitment days I frequently came across MD's and senior managers who said they wanted to recruit people who challenged them without adding the rider, but only on the days of the week and / or the subjects that suit me!