The Well Infidel – May 23, 2010
Ted Turner is many things to many people, loved and not
loved, as I suppose is true for Lincoln, Ingersoll, Dawkins, Kennedy and just
about everyone who is famous, especially for doing big things. Ted Turner
is famous or infamous for doing MANY big things - it seems time to recognize
this extraordinary fellow for his accomplishments and current projects and to
offer him as a leader for the qualities so important for the quality of life of
everyone on the planet. So, I present Ted Turner as a REAL wellness
leader.
"If only I had a little humility, I'd be perfect."
~Ted Turner
What thoughts come to mind when you think of Robert Edward
Ted Turner III? There are so many possibilities, including:
One of the richest men on Earth.
The largest landowner in the United States.
The founder of Turner Broadcasting and CNN.
Owner of the Atlanta Braves and 37,000 bison.
An accomplished sailor (also a winner of the America's
Cup).
An outspoken freethinker/nonconformist with ideas about
saving the world.
A philanthropist who gave one billion dollars (the unpaid
U.S. share) to the United Nations to fund a foundation to advance family
planning.
A diplomat without portfolio who has negotiated with Fidel
Castro, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, Bill Gates, Jack Welchand, and Warren
Buffett, among many, including Judy Nye (wife for four years), Jane Shirley
Smith (wife for over 22 years) and Jane Fonda (wife for ten years).
TIME Magazine Man of the Year 1991.
Given all this, nobody should be surprised that
his life has not been a smooth sail around a safe course. In
interviews and books, Turner describes a childhood of loneliness (dropped off
by his parents at a boarding school at age four), the early loss of family and
friends (sister died at seventeen, father a suicide when he was in early
twenties) and enough additional tragedies, setbacks, betrayals and injustices
real and imagined to wow an audience of Oprah devotees.
Ted recently visited the Stanford Graduate School of
Business for an interview with the students. A video of that appearance is
available at the GSB
website. It's only 43 minutes long but there is a chance you will get
smarter just watching it.
Turner was chosen by TIME as Man of the Year in
1991. The magazine editors stated that Ted was given this award for
"influencing the dynamic of events and turning viewers in 150 countries
into instant witnesses of history, brought together by
telecommunications."
Anyone who managed that is not to be taken lightly. Ted does
not take himself lightly, and we should not, either. His website has more on
his vision, determination, generosity and forthrightness which have
consistently given the world reason to take notice.
It is amazing how much time and resources he devotes trying
to make the world a better, safer place for future generations. His current
philanthropic commitments include the Turner Foundation, the United Nations
Foundation, the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the Captain Planet Foundation, and
the Turner Endangered Species Fund.
All this activity is amazing and good, but one fact more than
the rest moves me to laud Ted Turner as a REAL wellness leader. It is
something Turner has in common with other notables I admire, namely PZ Myers,
Pete Stark, Steven Pinker, Daniel Dennett, Stephen Jay Gould, Edward O. Wilson,
Barbara Ehrenreich, Richard Dawkins, Richard D. Lamm, Kurt Vonnegut, Isaac
Asimov, Carl Sagan, Albert Ellis, Abraham H. Maslow, Erich Fromm and Margaret
Sanger, among other giants of reason. He has been honored as
"Humanist of the Year" by the American Humanist Association.
I consider Ted Turner a REAL wellness leader for many
reasons. After reading his book, watching the video of his Stanford appearance
and reading countless articles about him, pro and con, I came away with the
sense that he is a remarkable champion of reason, an exuberant life,
and true freedom and liberty for all. His causes and passions are all
those we associate with quality of life.
Long live Ted Turner. Be well—and look on the bright
side as best you can without the rose-colored glasses.