Follow Worthy Leaders

The only thing it takes to give advice is a mouth (or other means of communication) and a willingness to use it.  Anyone can give advice and many people are all too willing to listen to anyone and everyone who gives it.  It is key that before any advice is listened to and followed, we must consider the source. Once we've considered the source, we need to evaluate the validity of the message and the motives of the adviser.  I believe one of the most worthwhile purposes of our educational system today isn't teaching facts, dates, names and other "trivia".  I believe the most worthwhile thing someone should get out of an education is the ability and willingness to learn.  It has been said that teaching is not merely spewing forth knowledge, but rather true teaching is inspiring the student to learn.

With that, here's some history I was reminded of recently in a message from Phil Humbert:

Here in our country we often see people rise from almost no where to positions of power rather quickly.  Today with the speed of information transfer, it's almost scary how fast someone we never before heard of has all of the sudden become a news story.  All of the sudden someone's name we've never heard before is recognizable by the masses.  It doesn't matter if it's an actor/actress, a news personality, a musician, a politician or just someone who made a YouTube video and found that it went viral.

Many people are all too eager to follow these individuals without considering the source, their motives, then the validity of the message.  Our news media all too often throws out the term "LEADER" without really thinking what it means.  Many of our political "leaders" are in actuality not leading at all.  They are in positions of leadership, but are not leading at all.  What many of them are doing is looking at the latest political polls and their merely echoing what they know people want - then they do what they want after all. They are seemingly willing to say anything in order to get what they want.  That's not leading, it's following the masses.  As our media has stated it can be called "leading from behind".

Back about 70 years ago a leader rose up from almost no where.  A seemingly unknown individual was almost in the blink of an eye promoted to a position where his name was recognizable by millions.  This individual said he would take power legally, be supported by the people and major institutions of his country and he did. He was also quite proud of the fact that he did attain this position of power in a legal manner.  He became a powerful leader and for a while people followed because they wanted to.  Then people began to follow because of fear of retribution if they didn't.   For those of you who know a little about history, you recognize this person as Hitler.  What a terrible man, but for awhile and effective political leader.

Now in this day and age, we tend to trust our leaders.  We tend to trust them for better or worse.  We don't always examine the message or the long term consequences of their words or actions.  We don't always examine their history or look at what they've done. Neither, sadly, does our media in all cases. In some ways we're no different than the masses from Germany who followed Hitler so many years ago.  But we have the advantage of history - - if we choose to remember it.

It's always tempting to criticize the youth for the music or the popular actors/actresses they follow.  It's easy to forget that we did the same thing.  It's easy to forget how many people (who knew better) jumped in bed with Bernie Madoff, or listened to the bank tell them they could afford a house that they couldn't.  We need to trust our leaders to some extent.  One of the leaders I listen to often says this, "TRUST IN GOD - ALL OTHERS NEED TO BE VERIFIED WITH DATA."  It's amazing how many people we trust and tend to follow because they say things we want to hear.  We don't consider the source, the motives, the message or the long term effects of what they are saying.  We are an easily influenced people to some extent.  But we should be too educated to be that way if we take time to remember the lessons from our past.

Whether you are making decisions in business, politics, investments or personal relationships be sure to do your due diligence.  Look before you leap.  If you doubt that there is validity in the statement "it's the pause that refreshes", consider the millions who enthusiastically cheered the charismatic, bold young man from Austria.  He promised to make things much better for all.  Once he got what he wanted, he continued to push forward with one of the worst atrocities in history.  The truly sad thing is that there are those today who deny that the Holocaust ever happened.  The lesson we should never forget is not being taught in some schools in our country today.

Education is valuable if we learn the big lessons.  Also remember, "Those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it." (George Santayana)