The world is in trouble! There is no way to sugar coat or overstate the reality. Put otherwise, it would be a lie – and we are taught that it is immoral to lie. Pick any Continent and a careful look at one or two countries in that Continent provides an open window into the state of that Continent and, by extension, the state of our world. Starting with North America, the United States of America has as President a petulant being in the physical body of an adult male. In Europe, the United Kingdom is popping at the seams, since the country has been exposed as a pretentious, ideas-deprived, hypocritical and xenophobic nation. That exposure came as a surprise to most people in the U.K. largely because the country’s leaders, like too many of those that they lead, seemed to have been too self-absorbed to know that not only is the world now interconnected but that the arrogant claim that the sun could never set on the British Empire is now quaint and no longer holds sway. But the UK is only one of numerous self-injured countries in Europe that are struggling to stay afloat in an increasingly crazy world. Except for a tiny few, all African countries are in tatters, riddled by a long record of leaders who have consistently looted the treasuries of their countries while keeping the poor and middle class oppressed and hungry. This is the story of Nigeria and the story that South Africa is writing about herself. In fact, this is the dominant story of Africa’s sociopolitical and economic history. In Australia, the Aborigines who were dispossessed of their land are treated as inferior humans in their own homeland by the same people who stole their country from them; the same people who now perceive of undocumented immigrants as worthless criminals deserving of inhumane treatment. South America is replete with banana republics, thanks to decades of irresponsible leadership. A country as rich in oil as Venezuela has been brought to its knees by decades of terrible leadership coated in dangerous rhetoric and a political ideology that was never a fit for the country. In Asia, North Korea is led by a man-boy who seems to perceive of the world as the playground for whatever evil machinations can take residence in his mind.
To the extent that a protagonist is the central figure in a factual story, a national political leader is a protagonist in the writing and telling of the story of the country and people that he/she is in office to represent. To the extent that a protagonist is also supposed to be the champion of a cause, political leaders are supposed to champion the cause of progress for their countries and fellow citizens. Unfortunately, the world is currently chock-full of leaders whose abilities are limited only to writing and telling stories that debase humanity. Equally bad is the fact that most of the world’s leaders are champions only of themselves, their families and a few sycophants that could not survive otherwise.
The fact that our world has been shattered by an incredible amount of selfish and irresponsible political leaders is not in doubt. But society’s complicity in this crime should also not be in doubt. In every situation where national leaders have failed (and are failing) their countries, there have always been too many people helping to prop them up. How oppressed citizens, foreign institutions, the wealthy and religious leaders wittingly and unwittingly connive to maintain destructive protagonists in position is a reality that defies reasonable explanation. Yet, that is now the mix that provides cover for failed protagonists. As a consequence, political leaders can do anything they please, however immoral, and they get away with it because the people who defend them will always do so even at the expense of their own integrity. For as long as that cover remains to excuse political leaders from the consequences of their actions, for so long will our world remain in trouble. If you ask me, the clouds are only thickening.
Well said! Amen and I have my umbrella ready for when the rain falls.