When some leaders start to display dictatorial tendencies, human nature being what it is, it is worthwhile looking at what history has to say. Always it is best to take the long view – a timely distance allows one to make sense of what happened and why.
Even so, relating to current world leadership, inferences may be drawn from the sayings of some historical figures:-
“Those whom the Gods wish to destroy they first make mad.”
No one is quite sure who originated this saying - attributed, possibly to Euripides, but it doesn’t really matter. It is the intent. I believe is quite appropriate today. By “mad” I don’t think that insanity is implied, rather I believe that what is alluded to is a loss of “measure” – a term that is no longer fashionable - meaning a loss of proportion; giving to much emphasis on personal gain and aggrandizement and thus ignoring the plight of others.
Then there is this famous injunction leveled at the English “Rump Parliament” on 20th April 1653, when Oliver Cromwell harangued the members of that parliament:-
“You have sat here too long for any good that you have been doing lately. Depart I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”
Also quite apposite today I believe is this saying, attributed to Edmund Burke, the Eighteenth Century Irish author and Statesman:-
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.”
It saddens me to think that some of todays world leaders have so lost their moral and ethical compasses that they think only of themselves.
Then many people have idols; things they value above all others, even, unfortunately more than they value themselves – their self-worth, their honour or their reputation. As has been said before, poets have the ability to say in a few words what it takes others many words to express.
There is a very appropriate verse in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (Omar was an 11th Century Persian mathematician, astronomer and poet) - which goes as follows (verse 69):
Indeed the Idols I have loved so long
Have done my Credit in Men’s Eyes much wrong:
Have drown’d my Honour in a shallow cup,
And sold my Reputation for a Song
In this context it may also be useful to recall the words of an old nursery rhyme – a cautionary tale stressing the importance of doing things properly. By doing things properly, doing them well, unintended consequences are minimised. This is a tale of the “Horse-shoe Nail”:-
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the Kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horse-shoe nail!
The nail represents the “glue” that binds us together as humans. The main component of this “glue” is trust. This is what holds us together as a society – trust. Trust that those we deal with believe in ethics, morality, virtues and hold to their values and will do what they promise; trust that people are honest and will treat others in the way they would like to be treated. When it comes to organisations – be they Governments, financial organisation, multinational news conglomerates, political parties, police departments or families there is a need to understand, today as never before, what it means to provide a duty of care and its corollary – a fiduciary duty. Anything else will lead to chaos, as has been displayed for all to see over the last few years.
This leads back to the title of this post – wisdom in a time of crisis. When good men do nothing; when leaders love their idols more than their fellow beings; when leaders love their idols (whatever they are) more than they respect the need for honesty and morality, we are in real trouble. The horseshoe was lost years ago and we have already lost the horse; if we now lose the battle as well, the kingdom and all of us will be in grave danger.
And it’s leaders will have drowned their honour in a shallow cup and sold their reputations for a song.
