Happiness and Success 22

Do We Have Leaders With A Happy Spirit At Least ?

By the words of a person, we can determine what dominates the individual or what preoccupies his or her mind. This is true also for any leader or follower. Our focus for now are with the leadership because, as mentioned earlier, they have a great impact on the lives of most people. Let us examine how leaders can be and should be assessed.

In a home, the parents set the mood of the family members partly by their deeds and partly by their words. Acts of righteousness like fairness, thoughtfulness, kindness, responsible behavior when it comes to providing basic needs of a family — these are just a few of the things that will be judged by the minds of members. The words of heads of the family are counter-checked against actions. Obviously, we will be either considered sincere or not or once in a while sincere. The standards for leadership are much higher. Unlike in a family where the number of members are few, leaders are the center of attention of many competitors or contenders, analytical minds in different fields of expertise, as well as millions of ordinary people who will try to understand their leaders. Potential leaders cannot satisfy everybody. For as long as they are committed to seek and do what should be done for the good of the greater majority who deserve the blessings of freedom and good life, leaders can be considered worthy of praise. They can serve as role models for a lot of people.

We should never have someone lead people if that person does not even have the character that people can look up to. Unfortunately, there are times when people remain in the dark about their alternatives, and they are left vulnerable to propaganda, gimmicks, misleading advertisements, fantastic promises that will almost surely never be kept. Do we have happy leaders at the very least ? Or are they capable of elevating the spirit of people to strive to be happy during their term of leadership ? It is indeed a difficult task.

Without having to develop a program intended to satisfy the needs of most people — one that appeals to the psychology of the greater majority — the idea of deriving good results would remain an idea. This is because people tend to believe what they understand. Very often, what becomes clearly understood are about those which they can see, benefit from, and be thankful for. If we have leaders who live in historical past, consider the present as meaningless or just a time to pass, and envision a blurred future ahead, people will most likely be very unhappy or fatalistic about their own lives.

The situation is aggravated by works of characters in society who have closed their brains to any good that may come out of the lips of leaders. Every good work is interpreted negatively by such members of society, while competitors or contenders of power struggle willfully magnify those negative interpretations, causing people to be divided and confused. Thus, leaders themselves can become very unhappy about the situation. It can have nothing to do with their programs. There may simply be distortions that waste their effort to pursue programs for the good of the greater majority. Therefore, what we need are leaders who can gain overwhelming support for whatever should be delivered. This means better foresight, brighter vision, and a stronger character that people cannot help but notice to be superior to opposing forces out to confuse the public.

In answer then to the question of whether or not we have leaders nowadays who are themselves happy or capable of building on the way to happiness of people, it depends on FAITH.

This is an attitude of the mind. If you believe you can be, then many other positive actions will bring about what should be. The mind perseveres with making things happen out of a strong belief for achieving a goal. Let them hold on to faith in themselves and in living a righteous life, in seeking for the truth about their responsibilities to societies, and in finding the happiness within themselves and in the lives of the greater majority. Let them first believe it can be done.