Leadership

By Michael The Libertarian

Loyalty – Faithful; to a person, ideal, cause, or duty.

        In a world of reduced inter-personal interaction and increased (individual) isolationism, sometimes, it's difficult to see this characteristic in others.

        Be that as it may, it should exist in you. Is there anything upon which you've never turned your back? For some it's a deity; others an oath to the military or to law enforcement, but it doesn't have to be that “structured”.

        Keeping in mind that “ideal” is not necessarily synonymous with “idea”, there must be something in each of our lives in which we believe so deeply that we shun anything in our lives that runs counter to it.

         In the last election cycle, we heard stories of friends, becoming estranged; even families splitting up. Ostensibly, that was caused by at least one of the people in those relationships being loyal.

        While I find it sad that relationships have been torn asunder, kudos for loyalty!

Duty – Moral Obligation.

        Morality has definitely taken a hard hit, lately, but surely we feel some sense of duty to something or someone? I would hope that almost every human being has some sense – preferably: “set” - of morals or, at least, ethics.

        If we do truly have a set of morals, then we are obligated to uphold them or they really aren't morals.

        Morals aren't movable, except in those that only espouse them, but don't truly posses them. Since they are immovable (or should be), we are obliged to defend them. The only way to truly defend our morals is to uphold them, thus obligation to them.

        Too many people, when they going gets tough, abdicate their dedication to their moral code and therefor, cease to meet up to a sense of duty in their lives. Others will suffer the slings and arrows of personal insult or even loss of job because they are “duty-bound”.

Respect – To avoid violation of.

        I choose this definition because, frequently, this term gets thrown around, improperly. How many times have we heard people say: “You have to respect my opinion”? They're correct, as long as they're using this definition of that word.

        I am under no obligation, be it moral, ethical, or legal to hold anyone's opinion in any kind of high regard or value. I am bound, even if only by my own set of moral code to avoid violation of them or their beliefs.

        This can be a tricky needle to thread, under some circumstances. People hold some wacky opinions, out there. It can be difficult to take them seriously, but it is easy to show their opinions the respect of allowing them to be heard by anyone who wishes to hear them.

        I will admit that this one is tough for me, at times, but we must, at the end of the day, afford all opinions – be they good or bad – to be brought to the light of day, even if only for us to decide (by majority) that we reject them as ideals.

Service – Giving labor, aid, or comfort to a person or persons with no expectation of monetary payment or labor, aid or comfort returned.

        This may be one of the most difficult concepts in this list. It certainly is for me and I know it is for many people I know.

        Life does a pretty good job or beating us up and there are people who prowl the Earth, looking for “nice people” of whom they can take advantage and, thereby increase their own lot in life.

        When we see this happen often enough – whether to ourselves or others – we become leery of volunteering ourselves to possibly be taken advantage of. This is the trap to be avoided, but no one is saying that the principle of service requires us to constantly set ourselves up to be victims. Choose wisely, but once you've made the choice, if you do get taken advantage of, chalk it up as a lesson and, instead of “shutting down”, move on and find some other way of offering service.

  

Honor – To hold someone or something in high esteem.

        Here's the one that I had to differentiate from another one, earlier. Rarely would I advise people to hold a person or other people in high esteem because people change or can carry out a long-term campaign of manipulation.

        This is one of the times I will give some insight from my own life:

        I am not an honest person because I see honesty as a virtue, per se. Certainly “honesty is the best policy” is a true statement, but I am not an honest person.

        I tell the truth because I honor the truth. I hold it in such high regard that to not speak it would be to dishonor it.

        I honor the people who raised me because they gave of themselves in order to give me the very best up-bringing possible.

        I honor the uniform of those who walked a post in order to keep me safe. The people wearing the uniform may be flawed, but the uniform represents an ideal that allows me to rest head on pillow at night.

Integrity – Doing the right thing, even when no one is looking or at a cost to yourself.

        The Right Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told us: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

        Burn your dictionary! Dr. King may have the most perfect “definition” of integrity I've ever read!

        It's easy to stick around at the scene of a car accident to give your account to the police officer, when you're on vacation or it's a lazy Sunday afternoon and your football team isn't playing until 8:25 P.M. What do you do if you're on your way to work and you know you're only twenty minutes ahead of the rush-hour traffic? Do those motorists need your help any less?

        Similarly, it's easy to “stand up for your principles”, when a majority of your neighbors agree with you. What about when you find yourself in the minority? What about those poor souls who actually change their opinion because it's more convenient than explaining themselves to their friends and neighbors?

        Integrity is holding to your principles no matter what the ultimate outcome.

Personal Courage – facing/challenging your fears and turning their defeat into your strength.

        Someone once said: “being brave is being scared to death, but running towards the gunshots, anyway.”

        We all have things that scare us to death. Some are phobias and some are things that should legitimately scare us. Sharks come to mind, immediately as do lions and tigers and bears (Oh, my!). I am not advocating charging a bear, but I will give another example:

        I don't generally get into an elevator unless I have to go more than four or five floors. I don't like the damned things. I'm quasi-claustrophobic. I have been stuck in an elevator (with a Rastafarian, during a dry spell in August, no less). So, elevators are my last resort choice.

        Some years ago, someone I knew had suffered some health reverses and was in a local hospital. This person and I hadn't spoken in years. We had a falling out. This person was in pretty bad shape. They were on the ninth floor of the hospital.

        Since we hadn't been in touch, I never would have known about the condition. So, a third party (one whom I love and trust) contacted me and told me about the situation. Then, he suggested that I should go to the hospital and mend the rift.

        First, I had no desire to mend the rift. This person had shown their true colors and I was done with them. Then, my Christian charity kicked in and I realized that if only to allow them to think that they'd cleared some of their “books” with their Maker, I would go and listen to them and be done with it.

        However, as frequently happens, my pride focused on that damned elevator. I told the third party: “If I show up on the ninth floor, that person is going to be assured they're dying.”

        Long story made short, I challenged my fear of elevators and, as a result I received the strength of knowing that I'd incorporated all of the aforementioned principles into my life in one fell swoop and I had not only benefited myself, but I'd benefited another human being.

        If you take the first letter of each of these principles, you'll see that they (kind of) spell out a word: “L.D.R.S.H.I.P.” I don't think we need to look to others (especially not elected officials) for leadership, when, if we lived up to our greatest potential, leaders would emerge at a prodigious rate.

        Think about that and have a great Sunday.

                 

         - Michael