Leadership Thought: Dark Days Ahead for a Nation in Search of Leaders.

Dear Friends,

For the last few days, I have experienced a number of emotions as I have watched our country disintegrate before my eyes. I feel sadness, anger, frustration, and pain to mention only a few of my sentiments. I resonate with the mayor of Atlanta who said, "We are better than this."  And she was right. As a country we are better than this. 

I am old enough to  remember a similar period when our nation was unraveling. It was the 60’s. There were the Watt’s riots that destroyed much of Los Angeles and spread destruction throughout the major cities of our nation just like what is happening today.  I lived through the  assassinations of John Kenney and Malcolm X. And a few years later while I was in seminary, I experienced the assassinations of Bobby Kenney and Martin Luther King. On top of all of this, there was the Viet Nam War controversy when angry protestors clashed and thousands took to the streets to try and shut down our government. As I look back on this period, I can say they, too, were very dark days, not unlike what we are now experiencing.

But there are two differences between those days and now: values and leadership.

We have lost our values as a nation. At the foundation of those values was the Golden Rule. We were taught “to do unto others as we would have them do unto you.” Simple and yet profound in its implications, the Golden Rule provides us with the basis for civility and respect for one another. We have lost that respect and civility and this is so painfully clear as one watches the news and listens to the political exchanges taking place between the leaders on both sides of the political aisle. We need a restoration of respect and civility among those who lead our country.

Secondly, we have lost our leaders. Today’s politicians seem more concerned about their political party than the people. This was one of the great fears of George Washington as our founding fathers developed our two-party system of government. Washington was concerned that the parties would become more important than the people. Such a system works well when leaders are willing to work together to address the overall needs of their people, but when leaders place their own selfish interests above the needs of their people, democracy is doomed.

In the 60’s, despite the tumult and division that threatened to rip apart the fabric of our nation, our country remained intact because our leaders worked together for the greater good of the nation. Today, grandstanding politicians appear more concerned about championing their party’s ideologies than the people’s interests. They appear more interested in producing sound bites that will get them re-elected, than sound resolutions that will benefit our nation.

Where are the leaders who are willing to model the Golden Rule? Where are the leaders who are willing to put their self-interests aside, reach across the political aisle, and do whatever is needed to unify the nation? Unless we find them and find them quickly, I fear that our nation is destined to continue its downhill spiral.

Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom