|
Urban Coyotes: Learning the art of ethical survival in a modern city life
printed in the Frederick News Post, Jan. 24, 2003
Staff photo by Doug Koontz Rena MaJeed, left, and Jennifer Hammond, center, listen to Ed Binns talk during his Urban Coyote seminar in Thurmont. The Urban Coyote program was created by Mr. Binns to help men and women preserve their personal values and ethics in urban societies. THURMONT -- Coyotes have moved into urban areas. They're adaptable, sure of their skills and will do what it takes to survive. That's also true of Urban Coyotes -- men and women who are trying to survive in the corporate world and not compromise their personal values. "It's a set of skills to assist adults, especially young adults, to help them preserve their integrity and vision as they go through their work lives," said Ed Binns, founder of the Urban Coyote mentoring program. He traveled here last weekend, from his home in Richmond, Va., to lead a small group of young men and women who hope to do just that. Urban Coyotes are wild-spirited. Not wild in the sense of out of control, rather wild-spirited in their desire to preserve their personal values and ethics despite the pressure to forgo them in the corporate world. "Actually, society needs these wild-spirited people," said Mr. Binns. But the corporate world is fraught with boobytraps that challenge individual values on an almost daily basis. A decision made by committee is one of those traps, said Kristi Schilling of Germantown, an environmental engineer and a program graduate. "A group decision is always less moral than the least moral person in the group, or less moral than the individuals who make up the committee," said Ms. Schilling. "And corporate America is run by committee. Bureaucracy is run by committee. You may compromise your ethics in order to survive in the group." She cited as an example William Whyte's pop psychology book, "The Organization Man," in which the author depicted the white-collar employee as increasingly shaped by his employer's demands to conform. "If you oppose the group, you compromise the group. You're (perceived as) a danger to the group and a danger to the organization," she said. Another "trap" is the "fear economy," she said. "Corporate America gets you painted into a corner of luxuries, then threatens to take it away. "You have to have a set of strategies to survive, just like the coyotes in Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C," said Ms. Schilling, "If you are able to preserve your sense of ethics in the manner (Mr. Binns) talks about, then you're an Urban Coyote." The program is the culmination of more than 25 years of searching for answers to gnawing questions Mr. Binns had about society. "In a way, it's what Ward Cleaver would have told his sons in the den, only this is better," said Mr. Binns. "Since I never got told the way the world works, in the den by my father, I sniffed around. It took a long time to get the answers." The audience for this is young adults about to enter the workplace and who want to live at the edge of or in nature. "The world doesn't work that way though," he said. "(The students) kind of know that but are afraid of what's going to happen to them." The three-day Urban Coyote class is informal and, typically, is held in a home setting. The foundation is to test the four essential elements of survival in nature with their contemporary society counterparts. "The survival elements in nature are, in this order: shelter, water, fire and food," said Mr. Binns. Without shelter, a human risks hypothermia; without water, dehydration. Fire is needed for cooking, warmth and cleanliness. "After about two weeks without food you would get really hungry." "There are four analogs to that in urban society," said Mr. Binns. "Instead of shelter we need a job. Instead of water, we in urban society need money. It's something you have to have all the time. It's liquid. We need it for food." Enthusiasm, ethical and spiritual, is the fire. "But in urban America the thing we're hungry for all the time is love," he said. The wilderness survival essentials come from Tom Brown Jr.'s Tracker School program, based in New Jersey, which offers programs on tracking, nature, wilderness and survival. "The urban analogs come from me," said Mr. Binns, who is a graduate of eight Tracker School classes. The Urban Coyote sessions cycle around a series of short talks, oral readings of stories written by Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning authors and group discussions. "We read stories to each other and discuss them. The stories relate to one or more of the elements," said Mr. Binns. "The stories are read orally because they then hear it the way a child listens to a bedtime story. It will come back to them quicker than if it's read silently." Among the story collection is one that frightened him as a young man. "That story kept me from going into business for myself," said Mr. Binns. The reading list changes but may include stories by Rudyard Kipling, H.G. Wells, D.H. Lawrence, and comments and summaries from Robert Bly, author of "Iron John: A Book About Men," among other authors. Instruction also includes videos of real-life and fictional characters, such as Dr. Richard Kimble from the TV series "The Fugitive," who followed his own values to survive. On the final day, Mr. Binns reveals the "techniques and tactics" of Urban Coyotes. "We get down to the nuts and bolts of living your life without selling your soul to the devil, so to speak," said Mr. Binns. Some people, he admits, will disagree with some of his points -- particularly the one about ethical survival for men and women not being equal. "I give a couple of startling answers that apply to women and not to men," he said. "Woman is given a specific impossible ideal that men are not. She's doomed to failure and getting angry. It's part of the fight or flight response. "Women always get upset by this because, as a general statement, if I'm right, they're wrong," he said. "When you're angry, you're not being analytical and you're breaking a rule by showing an honest emotion." Not showing honest emotion is one of the 52 rules Mr. Binns reveals to "people who engage me in class." The rules are a collection of family axioms. "In my family we were raised with specific rules. Some we developed; others sort of landed on us," said Mr. Binns. Urban Coyotes either follow all of the rules or none of the rules. "They lock together as a set. That's one of the tactics," said Mr. Binns. "The rules address behavior, conduct, how you treat other people and especially how you respond to people and situations." They're sort of a "canned" behavior system and, as one participant described the Urban Coyote persona, almost "boring." Other techniques include daily and weekly self-examination, and memorization of the rules in the "oral family tradition." Mr. Binns, who is a CPA and has a master's degree in business administration, also offers classes for Urban Coyotes on investing and the Coyote mindset. "If you want to maintain an independent spirit, you need to be independent financially and have the attitude that allows you to retain that money instead of spending it," he said. Mr. Binns doesn't try to impose his personal values on class participants nor does he inquire about theirs. "I don't let people in or keep people out because of their values," he said. "It's to protect their values. It's very open in that respect." It's not a religious class, though he believes young people of any faith would benefit from the class, as would an urban minority audience of first-generation immigrants or teens who grew up without a father at home, he said. "I've seen what happens if you don't follow your heart," said Mr. Binns. "When I was young, I had friends who went AWOL and tried to separate from society -- and fail. That's the last thing I want them to do." (For more information on the Urban Coyote mentoring program, e-mail edbinns@greaterbaynet.com.)
Back to Articles Page Back to MAPS Home Page
|
|
|
