A conversation I had the other day centred on the current manpower shortage etc. The reality is that parents all have great dreams for their children. The usual success path usually revolves around the familiar and tangible professions—doctors, engineers, lawyers, accountants etc. No parent, if they truly care and love their children, would aim low. Everyone aims for one of these exalted careers. Perhaps these are already outdated as youths today prefer to be tech-titans or have ambitions to build their online empires.
Can anyone picture a society consisting only of doctors, surgeons, accountants, engineers, lawyers or Elon Musks? In other words, what happens if everyone in the world were a leader. The Chinese proverb rings true—a mountain cannot have two tigers. Therein a disturbing idea that suggests fatalism or determinism. It might even reveal the sort of God we worship. For example, “Does God ever will a person to be a rubbish collector?” which begs the question of what sort of a rubbish God we have. Furthermore, does it sound like predestination to say that someone is born to be a rubbish collector?
The reality is we do need rubbish collectors. We need “slaves” whose lives are dispensable because they carry out the “D” works for us. Dirty, dangerous, demanding, demeaning or difficult. There are jobs which fall within these descriptions. Who is going to be performing all these work? Would it be patronising if the answer is “foreigners”? Does that not suggest that these people are fated and condemned?
The virtue of humility is not really associated with the menial work that needs to be done. What is there to be humble about when it is already servile. Rather, humility is for those who have moved up the ladder of social hierarchy and who are recognised as leaders. Like the father of the Jesuit who arrived in Malaysia penniless and subsequently becoming one of the richest men in the country. He rose up but he never forgot his roots.
Not forgetting where we come from is helpful because there will be people who are born to serve. It is fairly reasonable to conclude that not everyone will be a leader. Leaders must never forget to look after those who may have to remain at the bottom of the rung.
Genuine leadership is sorely lacking in an era of immense wealth and prosperity. Furthermore, we are suffering a crisis of leadership. As leaders falter, society instinctively clings to moral credibility as a standard. It is fascinating that much of this crisis is centred on the personal failure of leaders, to the point that moral failure has become a cause for depression. Take the example of the octogenarian politician who stepped up, seemingly to put an end to “kleptocracy” but he was just a replay of the politics of race, religion and self-enrichment. How not to be depressed if we cannot escape the culture of corruption?
Disappointment with poor leadership can be an excuse for some to abandon the personal duty toward excellence. For example, feeling betrayed by their religious leaders, we have a cadre of young people who has publicly stated that they are spiritual but not religious. While they retain a personal belief in God, they shy away from any form of external affiliation. It could be self-protection, a kind of insurance against the failure of leadership. Succumbing to spiritual suicide, families have stopped going to Church because they are disgusted by a priest or are disappointed by the treatment they had received. Our relationship with God or affiliation with Christianity cannot be premised on whether or not someone else is living up to standard.
Furthermore, the response to excellence gives meaning to the readings. True leadership is a vocation to humility and a calling to remember the poor. It is not just about lowering oneself or making oneself less prominent. We are living in an age where the generation of wealth is phenomenal. There are people who are not just rich but uber rich. The gap between the rich and the poor has widened into an invincible chasm. And the ease of wastage is scandalous in the light of those who are poor and have no access to proper nutrition etc.
Leaders must shepherd humbly and charitably. Wealth may be a blessing but it is also burden of responsibility. The irony of human aspiration is that it is based on an aversion towards poverty. We desire plenty because we fear destitution, as if, being poor were a condemnation or a curse. Hence, the Gospel proposes a divine compensation.
Do not look for material reward because God Himself will provide. In other words, trust that God will never fail us and secondly, earthly poverty is only temporary. It may last one’s entire lifetime but it cannot stretch into eternity. Even though, there will be times when it will feel as if one has lost everything on earth. However, what is true is that God who sees all things done even in secret, will compensate for what we lack in this life.
In a way, both charity and humility reveals is how fleeting or contingent life can be. There is a quality of temporality in which fortunes can change hands in the blink of an eye. It would do well for us to remember that. Here today, gone tomorrow. Rich today, poor tomorrow. Store up our treasures in heaven and not on earth. The higher we go, the more we should love and be mindful of those whom God has placed under our care.
