February 7, 2024
People are hurting. People are
scared. Life changes, and this is something we’ve always known. An old saw that
dates back at least to my childhood tells us that the only things certain in
life are death and taxes.
And yet.
And yet, as we have observed,
technology advances at an ever-increasing pace, and it is a pace that is very
difficult for most ordinary folk to keep up with.
Some days it feels as if we’re
on a hamster wheel that is turning faster and faster. All the laws of physics
tell us that there is a point when that wheel whizzes so fast that it’s
impossible for mere mortal human beings to hang on to it. Eventually we get
flung aside, and in that process we feel untethered. Unwanted. Rejected. Abandoned.
Still, we are human
beings and operate according to our natures and our nurtures. We tend to look
to our “leaders” to lead us through the hard times, through the inevitable valleys
of life. And who can argue that this valley we’re in now seems the deepest one,
ever? To co-opt a line from the original Mary Poppins movie, it’s awfully dark
and gloomy out there.
Because we are humans who’ve
grown up in this western culture and society in which we live, we follow our
leaders, confident that they will lead us in good faith. Confident that we can
follow their examples, as we have always done. Confident that they have our
best interests at heart and will bring us through these perilous times.
It doesn’t occur to us that the
ones leading us may not be doing so in good faith. That they might be motivated
by greed and a hunger for power. That’s not been the life we’ve known. In the
past, when charismatic people have led in bad faith, those not under that
person’s sway have readily seen the danger. During the reign of tyrants,
through time, the only ones completely enamoured have been not so much the
weakest, and the most malleable. It’s been those most hungry to escape the
desolation their lives have become. Others have fallen in line, because it was
a means not so much of survival, but of placing themselves in positions of nominal
power, to enhance themselves and line their own pockets.
I will reference instances that
are examples that occurred in my lifetime. The aftermath of both Waco and Jonestown
were tragic, more tragic than there are words to say. But they were not
unexpected—for those on the outside, looking in. And those on the outside,
looking in, did what they could to try and prevent the inevitable outcomes.
If you’ve ever wondered where
the saying, “he drank the Kool-Aid” came from, it was from what happened at Jonestown.
Only theirs was laced with cyanide, and all those poor souls who drank it, died.
And the ones who refused were gunned down.
Because we are human, we tend
to imbue our leaders with qualities that may be more aspirational than they are
factual. You need to be aware. Loyalty is a fine quality, when it is not
misplaced.
We’re on the verge of, and we
are in danger of entering a post-truth world. In the last nearly ten years,
folks have been tossing around catch phrases such as “alternative facts”, “fake
news” and even out right trying to tell you that “truth isn’t truth”. They lie
to you, all the time. Easily, and with a flair that is nearly mesmerizing. They
tell you that you should not believe the evidence of your own eyes, or your own
logical, reasoning mind.
It can be a challenge for
anyone to know what to believe these days. It can be hard to know when someone
is lying to you, especially when those lies are so damn alluring. When those
lies give you someone to blame, and a target for all of the fear and hatred
that may be seething within you. Those feelings of being untethered, unwanted,
rejected and abandoned vanish when you cling to that which was designed to
emptily fill those holes within.
The question is begged, then how
can we know if we’re following a true leader, or a false one?
That is the question that many
are trying to answer, that many are struggling to reconcile. And as with Waco,
and as with Jonestown, the answer is obvious, when looking from the outside, in.
There is one quality of genuine leadership, which once you know it, can clear
away the fog of confusion.
A false leader will tell you that
you must give all to them and for them to help them do whatever it is they want
to do—claiming they are doing it for you.
A true leader will do their
best to give their all to you.
Love,
Morgan
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