Leadership is a Choice, Not a Position
“Leadership is a choice, not a position.”
-Stephen Covey
William McKinley was the 25th President of the United States.
He was born in Niles, Ohio on January 29th 1843. There is a National Birthplace Memorial for President McKinley in Niles where he spent the first nine years of his life.
In addition, there is The McKinley Monument and Presidential Library / Museum in Canton, OH.
After the Civil War, Anna McKinley was a Teacher / Administrator in Canton, OH. She persuaded her younger brother William to start his adult life in Canton.
The McKinley High School we know of today in Canton is named mainly after her.
This past August, I joined the staff of the McKinley Presidential Library at the National Birthplace Memorial in Niles, OH. It has a museum, library and a house replica.
The replica of the house does a good job of illuminating what life was like for a middle income family with nine children without any indoor plumbing.
Typically, the younger children held the responsibility of cleaning out the chamber pots in the mornings.
William was the seventh child in a family with nine kids.
There is something both ironic and funny for any future politician to have the cleaning of chamber pots as a part their foundational experiences.
Mark Twain once said that politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.
They did not live in a farmhouse so there was a lot of time for childhood fun.
The younger McKinley flew kites, ice skated and would engage in group reads with his family at night time.
Books were expensive and hard to come by at that time. They would read the Bible, Shakespeare, monthly magazines and Horace Greeley’s New York Weekly Tribune.
I love the sense of togetherness you can sense when you study 19th Century American families.
I also loved hearing the mission of the William McKinley National Birthplace Memorial as it was delivered that day.
For all intents and purposes, I remember hearing that the mission of the William McKinley National Birthplace was to educate the public of the life of the 25th President and to perpetuate his legacy. I love that!
As an adult, I find that reading biography/history and visiting museums and historical sites offer a great deal of inspiration. History teaches many lessons that apply to our lives today.
What were the origins of places, institutions and organizations? How are we connected to these people? How does all of it show us where we are and where we need to go?
If we are connected to the Americans that came before us like runners in a relay race, then we need to have a good sense of what they did in order to successfully carry the torch forward.
My love of history was cultivated at an early age. There were grandparents on all sides that had great stories of history.
My Father Charles Stephen Ayers (1946-2010) was elected Jackson Township Trustee (Stark County, Ohio) a month before I was born.
Here is a picture of the original police department that begin patrolling for the first time on April 1, 1977.
Dad is the guy on the far left with the dark hair as you are looking at the picture in the front row. He is one in the dark civilian suit with neck tie.
He played a central role in the initiation of the start of what we know today as the JTPD.
In person, he cancelled the contract that Jackson Township held with the Stark County Sheriff’s Department.
He instituted a lot of other initiatives that are alive today. He pioneered the Jackson Recycling Center that is fashioned after a train station and he coined the motto for Jackson Township “We make things happen”.
My Father will always be a huge source of inspiration to me. The memories of all of the things we did together are very special to me. All of the things he taught me are with me every day.
I love to pay homage to him and to his memory.
He was a pioneer. He was an innovator. He was a driving force to progress. He made an enormous impact on my life. He was one of a kind.
During the front porch campaign of 1896 a former Union Soldier asked Candidate McKinley if he should call him Governor, Congressman or Prosecutor. McKinley told him “call me by my old military rank. Call me Major. I sure I earned that title and not too sure I earned the others.
Dad was an Honorary Colonel two times over with both the executive departments of the State of Louisiana and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
He did not earn either, but he loved to call himself “COLONEL AYERS”.
In the end, I think it is fair to say that one of my duties will be to perpetuate the legacy of C. Stephen Ayers and educate the public of why he continues to be an inspiring force in my life.
Today is his birthday. Happy Birthday to Colonel Ayers! Mizpah.
