President's Perspective

Finding the courage

Kentucky School Advocate
November 2019

By Ronnie Holmes
KSBA President

“Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

I found a brief essay 30 years ago that has stayed in my mind because it offers some straightforward, common sense advice. That seems to be more and more rare in this modern world. The piece I found was entitled “Rules for Being a Good Soldier.” 

After searching the internet, it appears to be a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson. While I was unable to discern which of Emerson’s more than 1,500 public lectures or several dozen essays the quote is pulled from, I find it to contain wisdom that could and should relate to our work as school board members. Below is my line-by-line interpretation of what it means to me. I hope you find it useful as well. 

Whatever you do, you need courage. You absolutely must have a backbone. Sometimes that means you are going to take a stand against a number of people – maybe even the majority, but you have to have the courage to do that. 

Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. It is easy to second-guess yourself and then, when you have people telling you that you are wrong, it can make you doubt even more. You have to do your homework – listen to all views and really consider the impact of the decision. 

There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe that your critics are right. There are going to be people who tell us we are wrong – that is just life. Anything you say, somebody is going to oppose it. I have found that out serving on the school board. No matter how many times you do what you think is right for kids, somebody else will think they are right.

To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage, that a soldier needs. We need to stand with Eric Kennedy, who, in collaboration with staff across the association, represents KSBA and our views in the Kentucky General Assembly. We have had 12 regional meetings across the state where Eric has laid out a number of concerns school board members have had. Eric shared the results of a survey KSBA sent out earlier this summer. We had what probably was the best response ever to that survey which addressed a number of issues that concern board members. Your feedback will direct a great deal of the lobbying we do during this legislative session. If you have questions, talk to Eric. He is always there for you.

Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them. You have to be brave. KSBA is a large organization, 862 members strong. We have to work together. If we can do that with the strength and the courage that this Emerson piece talks about, we can have a big influence on what the Kentucky General Assembly does and therefore make a positive impact on public education.