There is a problem with some of the leaders of society today. For every problem there is a solution, but how do reparations start when the wound is self-inflicted? There are a lot of opinions presented as to how to heal and prevent incidents such as molestation from occurring; but there has not been much spoken about how to better the characteristics of our leaders.
I’m not talking about the priests. Priest and bishops are the equivalent to the mayor and congressmen of society. Leaders of society, priest or not, mayor or not, leaders should be the best of the best. They should be an example that everyone strives to follow. These people are only human, so mistakes and flaws are expected, but lying is a characteristic that society should not stand for, as well as the church. Is it so hard to live what you preach and stand for?
When Clinton had his little dress incident with Lewinsky, no one should have stormed the White House, breaking the door down to find out the juicy story. But after he lied about it, that is when everyone should have been infuriated-which we were. We were mad. Not because he did it, but because he did it and he didn’t care if he hurt us with his dishonesty about it.
Dishonesty hurts more than honesty, no matter how horrid the truth. Those priests should have never acted the way they did with those boys. Enron leaders should have never been so stupid and selfish. Clinton should have resisted his temptations.
Our leaders should not have to be forced into acting the “right” way. They should be examples of the people to look to for when we foul up and need guidance.
Leaders should be the kind of people that if they were given the option to be invisible for the day, they would be just. They should be just and prime example of it with a capital J. They should not only be just when the whole world has its eyes on them either, but also when there are no eyes on them. It should be natural.
Leaders should be willing to be like this. They should be leaders who lead and at the same time are servants to society and not use society to their advantage only.
I want more leaders to lead and not to play around. Their jobs are important. They should be respected. But how can we trust them and follow the laws if they are not? This is a real issue that needs to be addressed by us, the people, their peers. It is partly our fault that some of our leaders have completely fallen apart. It is our job to watch them and to scold them when they do wrong and also to, more importantly, congratulate them, when they are good. We need to let them see their importance to us so it makes it harder for them to screw up. These are not matters that can be tossed aside or saved only for class discussions. These are matters that are more important than we really understand. We need to motivate ourselves and our leaders to start getting serious.
All of the scandals stories of this year, at least there is one good outcome. Just as you need a little black to truly recognize and appreciate the color white, we need a couple of bad eggs to truly appreciate the good leaders out there. Without the example of wrong, we would not really know what was right.
