In keeping with my latest theme (see yesterday's post) I have to say that I've been feeling very disappointed... No. Wait. Maybe that's not the right choice of words to describe it, although it's not totally off...
I have to say that I've been feeling - for the first time - a little ashamed of my country. Wow. That's definitely a first. But no. No. That's not totally accurate either. I'm not ashamed of my country - of the people who comprise it. No. I love this country - a lot.
I have to say that I'm ashamed of the government that is representing this country right now. Yep. That's pretty much it.
It's an extremely rare occurrence for me to get 'political' about anything. I'm not stupid. I know politics are a part of life - of almost every aspect of it. Work, school, even within groups of friends there are politics. But I try to avoid getting into it. Politics are very frustrating. Maybe because there's just no one way to please everyone. However, after a week of listening and reading and watching news about how our country - or rather the political leaders of our country - are still refusing to take any leadership on changing the way we live, produce, and consume (see the video in my last post... likely that didn't help my attitude on the topic this week - although maybe that's not a bad thing), I'm feeling really disappointed and ashamed. I know I can do more - personally - and I'm endeavouring to do so. But this thing is bigger than me. And while I also realize that the sum of our individual efforts is much more powerful than any one of us taking something on alone (not unlike voting... i.e. I won't NOT participate because I feel like I'm too small to make a difference), there still must be leadership.
As I sat down to write this, wondering if I'd even bother publishing it to the blog since it's just a bit of a barf-up of my thoughts into a little rant to end my exhaustive week, I realized that I have learned several lessons this week about leadership. I've been learning more and more about being a good leader over the past few years, actually. Anyway... the company I work for decided recently to make a tough decision and lead on an ethical issue. When this change was announced to us this week lots of people were upset because the decision might put us at a competitive disadvantage. Now, I'm not saying the people I work for make all the right decisions - they certainly don't, and I haven't always agreed with decisions that are made. But this decision has come at an interesting time for me personally as I think even more about leadership and making tough choices. Are all decisions these days based on 'preserving the economy' and selling and consuming and, and, and... me, me, me... ? Yeah. Exactly. Taking the high road is rarely the easy, smooth, comfy ride we might prefer, but it's usually a short-term commitment to endure hardship for an important long-term goal that gets easier later on - you know... no pain no gain. Any big change I've made in my life was hard at the beginning, and then it got easier as it became more routine - like changing dietary habits. If I didn't spend some time doing intervals on the bike (where you do hard, intense minutes over and over) I wouldn't get stronger or faster... short term pain, long term gain. Anyway... I'm sure you get this point. I know you're not stupid either.
The point I wanted to make, or come back to is this... leaders don't wait for their neighbours to make changes. Leaders do what they know to be a good, fair, perhaps difficult, but right decision and don't worry about what other people think. And they do it with confidence even when they are afraid that it might prove to make things more difficult for a time, while they figure out how to do things differently. Leaders don't bury their heads in the sand and hope that things will miraculously change - they take action. Leaders find solutions. Leaders make change happen. And when leaders do this, others follow.
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