SA Leadership 2 We must find leaders ready to risk the way of love Part 1

Proverbial Leadership

‘When a country is in chaos, everybody has a plan to fix it - but it takes a leader of real understanding to straighten things out’

(Proverbs 28.2 THE MESSAGE).

CHAOS can arise anywhere. For example, in a well ordered household the teenager’s room may resemble a shambles at times with clothes and other items strewn around the floor. It may not be a major matter although it could put a strain on

domestic peace and harmony!

Something of the same kind can happen in the workplace. I once had a colleague whose office was indeed a sight to behold! There were piles of files all over the floor and it was difficult to see the desk for the litter which covered it. My

friend may have believed that an empty desk indicated an empty mind! Not surprisingly, he spent a lot of time trying to disinter needed documents from under the piles of paper and always seemed hassled. Perhaps there was chaos inside as well as outside of the dear man! Thinking of him, and not without sympathy, led me to

dredge from my memory a verse from an unknown writer,

                  There was once an old sailor my grandfather knew 
                   Who had so many things which he wanted to do

                     That, whenever he thought it was time to begin,

                          He couldn’t because of the state he was in.

But from relatively harmless examples of the kind of thing which we may all have experienced to some degree we may think of more serious ways in which we may either find ourselves in a state of chaos or be the cause of it.

I recall standing in a church building in England where a couple of hundred chairs were battened in rows. My small son was standing near the door of the building and leaned on the back row of chairs causing it to fall forward and knock over the next row which knocked over the next and so on until nearly all the chairs in the building were tipped over - much to my amazement and the concern of the small boy responsible! In the same way it is surprising just who or what can cause serious

chaos. For example, a momentary lapse of concentration on the part of one driver can cause a road accident and snarl up the traffic of a great city.

Colin Morris wrote about a fitter he knew who lived in a council house in Britain’s Midlands and worked on the assembly line of a great aircraft factory, performing the same monotonous task every day. Then one evening in North Africa a giant plane crashed on take-off and all sixty-seven on board were killed. Officials searched the wreckage for clues and a tortuous process of investigation took place.

Eventually it was established that the trail of blame led to the little man in the English factory who just once in the thousands of times he did the same boring thing made an error which was not noticed by those whose task was to inspect his work. Chaos and carnage was the result of one little mistake.

Sometimes of course the cause of chaos is not inadvertent but deliberate.

The terrorist attack on the Trade Centre in New York is a terrifying example of the way in which a relatively small number of determined people can wreak havoc, destroy lives and put a great nation in the grip of fear.

Chaotic conditions can be the result of an historical legacy of prejudice and hatred. It may seem that some children have been fed racial or sectarian bitterness with their mother’s milk. In one city I was driving my daughter and her friend in a borrowed car through a rather rough area. A fusillade of stones was aimed in our direction and I wondered why until my daughter pointed out that the colour of the car would have had sectarian significance for youngster in that district. We would have been marked out as some of ‘them’ and therefore fair game for pot shots.

In some countries chaos is the result of a pervasive culture of selfishness and greed. Extreme wealth and the most abject poverty exist side by side, naturally giving encouragement to the ‘politics of envy’. Unscrupulous practices may almost be taken for granted. At the airport in the capital city of a developing country my wife and I spoke with an engineer whose company was installing running water in some very poor districts. He told us that his firm had to pay men to guard the pipes and prevent them being vandalised by other men allegedly paid by the local mayor whose bottled water business was being threatened.

I have visited countries with beautiful scenery and great natural resources where corruption, poverty and violence are rife. The lines of the English poet, William Wordsworth, have come to mind.

I heard a thousand blended notes

While in a grove I sat reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What man has made of man.

Weapons of mass destruction are becoming more and more lethal. The threat of terrorist attacks means that everyone is living on the front line. Hatred breeds hatred with senseless killing and counter killing. Taking the principle of an eye for

an eye to its ultimate conclusion can only lead to universal blindness but people are slow to find the ‘more excellent way’. In some countries millions suffer from malnutrition while a large part of the gross national product is devoted to military hardware.

But hand wringing is not the answer. Beating the chest solves little. Easy answers fill the air but a radical solution is needed.

The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart, which, according to the Bible is ‘desperately wicked’ (Jeremiah 17.9 King James Version).

The need therefore is for leaders who see beyond political expediency to a fundamental change of moral attitudes.

Distinguished professor Dexter Dumphy from the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia says that the Christian Church has both the values and the spiritual commitment to transform society... 

Commissioner Wesley Harris with Princess Anne
1990 Official opening of THQ, NZ

Journal of Aggressive Christianity, Issue 24, April 2003 - May 2003