A festering pile of power-seekers

Jan 12, 2025
Leader boss image.

A new year has rolled over and I, like many who care about peace, humanity and human rights, feel jaded and despondent. The world seems to be headed towards even more thuggery and greed than ever before.

While more than two billion Christians celebrate the December birth of just one child from more than 2000 years ago of dubious divinity, almost 18,000 Palestinian children are killed (murdered) in Gaza, which is down the road from Bethlehem. That’s one dead child every 30 minutes.

There’s repetitive violence emanating from the most powerful nation on earth and nobody seems to be able to stop it. Collectively, globally, it could happen but that would require a strength of character that is thin on the ground in any government.

I have to pull myself back from the brink of despair and think of what it must have been like in the 60s. There was the Vietnam War, the fight for civil rights, the contraceptive pill that liberated women and frightened the patriarchy, women’s liberation in general, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Cuban missile crisis: all these events must have had the world on tenterhooks, thinking that the end was just around the corner.

I remind myself of the quote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing”. I don’t claim to be necessarily good, but I do intend to do what I can.

This bolsters me up to tackle another year as we are faced with the top echelon of wicked, greedy and heartless people in power who run roughshod over the heads of their fellow human beings. It is a whole new ballgame when men such as Elon Musk wield so much power and influence, just because he’s rich; a man who was neither elected nor put forward as someone who has the people’s best interests at heart. Why someone needs to be so hungry as to surreptitiously manipulate a democratic nation in order to feel legitimate and loved when they already have $200 billion is beyond me. When is enough enough?

I must admit that I shied away from headlines and news in general over the Christmas period. I needed a breather from the dark hearts of those who choose war and violence over “good tidings of great joy”. I find it hard to understand how those in power sleep well at night knowing that others are suffering due to unchecked hegemony, warmongering, bombing, starvation and cruelty. Maybe I’m just a naïve soft touch who thinks that our short time on earth is to ensure that we leave this place a little better than we found it.

But what makes me especially cautious with my optimism is that we seem to have lost sight of what values a leader should hold. It should not be the loudest, the crudest, the weakest or the greediest. They should be educated in the true sense of the word and have a strong sense of what is right. A spine isn’t optional, Anthony. The trouble is that too many have values that get dumped once they are elected to the top job. The whiff of power should be more like smelling salts than the aroma of privilege. It should be the waft of possibilities to make other people’s lives better instead of ordering takeaway on the private jet. We need leaders who truly care about their nation and those who inhabit it. We need leaders who care about their reputation and track record once they have had their time in the sun. Where are they? Where is a man or woman who can truly stand out from the obsequious crowd in the halls of power and do what is right? We are a quarter of a century into the 21st century – time’s up! Step up to the plate anyone who genuinely has a well-rounded education, the spine and the ethics to lead us into a far better place than where we are now.

I can’t be the only one who’s fed up with the poor showing of politicians who truly live up to the jokes, the jibes and memes of dud performance, greed and “me first” mentality. We need to vote out (the world over) the criminals, the barbarians, the callous, the corrupt, the heartless and the gutless. It will only lead us all to hell if we do not stop this insane situation of the least suitable candidates bubbling to the top of the festering pile of power-seekers.

Come out, come out, wherever you are. We’re waiting for top-notch people to lead in the true sense of the word.

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