I was surfing on the net for a research on
leadership when I found an interesting 2-minute video clip from India entitled
“Tree.” The scene opens with a traffic jam caused by a big fallen tree. It
caused great inconvenience for the motorists and the commuters. The traffic
authorities, however, just ignored the situation thinking it was not their
concern. Now a small boy, a passenger from a bus, sees the dead-lock situation.
Possibly he was on his way home but got stranded by the heavy traffic. Worse,
it began to rain. Faced with this crisis, the boy drops his school bag and
begins to push the fallen tree alone with all his might. It was a futile
attempt, of course.
But
his action was enough inspiration for the others to help. The first ones to
give a hand were the other children about his age playing along the street. And
one by one people from all walks of life joined in the pushing – muscled
grown-ups, ladies even senior citizens. A miracle of teamwork is created. The
fallen tree is removed in no time. It showed the triumph of the human spirit.
Everyone felt the joy of the accomplishment. The lesson I got from this episode
is this: age and size does not determine who a leader is. It simply requires a
great heart for service.
In
this Sunday’s Gospel from Mt 11:29, Jesus is described as having been invited
to the home of one of the leading Pharisees. The banquet must have been
extravagant because the guests were vying to take places of importance. The
scrambling for the priority seats must have been obvious because it drew the
attention of Jesus. It is human nature to seek for importance. Basically, man
is called to greatness! Yet some people seek greatness in the wrong places.
The
events of these days also drew our attention as to why our nation’s leaders
scramble for “political seats” during election. We have seen just the tip of
the iceberg. And one of the reasons is because of the Priority Development
Assistance Fund (PDAF). Some of our leaders have allegedly misused and abused this
discretionary fund and channeled them to “ghosts projects.” It has angered our
people because this “power of the purse” has become the source of corruption in
government. While we point out the wrong as part of our prophetic vocation, we
also need to look at the mirror and ask ourselves whether we have taken part in
continuing the system of corruption.
It is
a wake-up call for all of us. If our leaders can learn, the way of Jesus has
always been servant leadership. “For everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” In coining the
phrase “servant-leadership” in 1970, Robert Greenleaf believes that individuals
as well as organizations can be servant-leaders. In his essay “The Institution
as Servant” he writes:
“This is my thesis: caring for persons, the more
able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good
society is built. Whereas, until recently, caring was largely person to person,
now most of it is mediated through institutions – often large, complex,
powerful, impersonal; not always competent; sometimes corrupt. If a better
society is to be built, one that is more just and more loving, one that
provides greater creative opportunity for its people, then the most open course
is to raise both the capacity to serve and the very performance as servant of
existing major institutions by new regenerative forces operating within them.”
Our
Christian faith calls us to renewal and conversion. The way to change is not to
expect others to change but it starts from within. The challenge is to open
ourselves into a new paradigm, a new way of being and doing. It is the way of
service like Jesus. Pope Francis teaches that “faith is not something
decorative or for show. To have faith means to put Christ truly at the center
of our lives.” If we become a Jesus for our brothers and sisters, perhaps we
can have a more caring, loving and better society.
(This article also appears in
the Faith Section of Cebu Daily News)
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