Year 2023: Leadership in Tough Times

By Nanditesh Nilay

We are living in a time which reminds me a few lines of great Mir Taqi Mir:

“What matters it, O breeze,

If now has come the spring

When I have lost them both

The garden and my nest?” 

After Covid the whole year has witnessed the war and peace initiatives of world leaders across. And now again the pandemic is knocking the doors of beings. The present crisis is again testing our resilience and commitment for creating a safe and healthy environment through choosing the right means.

But I couldn’t stop asking a few questions to myself. Are we safe? Are we protected?

Let me answer too. Yes, in the longer run, we will be. Because we all trust ourselves, our leaders, our fellow citizens. But it’s only a leader  who creates a canopy of hope and courage. Leaders absorb crises and in turn take care of those dreams of the common man.

The year 2022 taught us to remain calm and together in the midst of any situation. The world opened the doors for all commuters and the began moving without masks. People chose to remain happy and fearless. However, there have still been a number of incidents which were again taking human reasoning to becoming powerful and thus win the race at borders. Covid taught us about the futility of life but still human ego loomed large on everything. And in that case any decision of a leader hurts the real aspirations and cause of citizens.

We are living in a pandemic world where the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic world can not be the same. But as we have observed last year , we are nothing but political parties, class, foreign , strangers, selfish and so on.

Why so? Why is global warming not breaking the slumber of mankind?

The water crisis, the air pollution, hunger, poverty and many fundamental issues are not at the centre of human reasoning. Why? Are we not willing to learn that Covid has taken the dreams?

There must be a uniformity of  leadership language across the globe and it must be nothing less than  sounding  moral and ethical . A language with the eloquence of human values.  As Martin Luther King, Jr., reminded us that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Amid Covid, leadership must reorganise and reboot. A leader is  a colossal figure, and history will remember  leaders for their wondrous deeds. So globally they will have to make a statement for humanity and emerge enormously. And leadership is not political canvassing,  or remaining politically correct but providing a language of values to citizens across.

“Take up one idea, make that one idea your life; think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea and leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, and this is the way great spiritual giants are produced. Others are mere talking machines,” Vivekananda said. 

Therefore the world leadership must come forward with an integrated approach for global problems. To achieve this human height we don’t need to act as a foreign citizen but as  fellow citizens who are ready to stand with their leaders  in the middle of a difficult time and that without prejudices.

We must accept that a leader is also a human being. And every time, assessing somebody through any political ideology does not bring health to democracy. A society that tries to read and write politics in everything will never realise its strength in good times and even will look unprepared in the crisis time. A few self souls- searching questions need to be asked, and those are- Do the party is above the nation, or humanity is above everything?

What is more important, a powerful country or a happy country?

Who should be our leaders, and what is the purpose of politics?

In the Bodhisattva, it has been written that the first person who gets drowned in flood is the sleeping person. Leaders tried their best to awaken us for mask and social distancing. But we are people with memories and emotion and also carry the inferiority complex of history.

Even Thomas L Friedman has rightly raised this habit,” It’s inexcusable. Resisting wearing a mask in a pandemic is nothing more than selfish, libertarian nonsense masquerading as a comic-book defence of freedom: Don’t tread on me, but I can breathe on you.

And such an attitude must be counted in the systematic failure of the system.

However, the most significant figures in history have been men of ideas as well as deliverables. We want to remember our leaders for our care, compassion, integrity, impeccable decision-making skills and particularly their  ability to hold their nerves in tough times. Government should ensure that it is there to take care of every individual’s breath and ensure that life is mightier than death.

Now we as human beings are fighting nothing more than for our survival. Leaders, kindly be there. You emerged as a hope and not for a selective community but for everybody. I still believe virtues define a leader in the realm of political philosophy.

Earth is nothing without humanity. We trust you, leader. Keep the kindle of hope in the midst of cold waves or pandemic calling. Ensure that nobody should die due to a lack of medical facilities. We all make decisions, and nobody ever thought we wouldn’t, and that is so deadly.

There are still innumerable people across who respect their  leaders  and see  them as a ray of hope against hope in most situations. Globally in any country, a leader is a panacea for all sorrows. And don’t worry, leader.  You are not alone. Everyone is there to stand by you.

Nobel laureate Gurudev Ravindra Nath Tagore wrote, ”Who is there to take up my duties?” asked the setting sun. The world remained dark and silent. With joined palms said the earthen lamp, “I will do what I can, my master!”

One earth, one family and one language: the language of human values.  And through this language the world can whisper and wish, “Happy New Year.”

Nanditesh Nilay is the author of the books, Being Good & Aaiye, Insaan Banaen. He teaches and trains courses on ethics, values and behaviour.

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times  

Images courtesy of (Image: Meetingsnet), (Image: OECD) and Provided

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