Justina Condensa is one of our HapKiDo
instructors and recently wrote a paper for a school assignment. The topic was Leadership and she wrote about the
differences between being a good leader and a bad leader and what qualities
each possess.
There
once was a girl who was terrified to leave home and go to college. Her parents
told her everything was going to be okay, but that did not stop the butterflies
inside of her stomach. Her parents told her that if she went to see the campus,
they could leave at anytime if she did not feel ready. Therefore, the girl gave
in; she decided give it a try. As she stood in line for registration, she was
scared out of her mind. As she turned to tell her parents that she wanted to go
home the unthinkable happened. Drew Dudley walked out with the ugliest hat on
his head, and a big bowl of lollipops. He walked closer to her and stood there
staring at the girl. He finally reached down into his bucket and took out a lollipop.
Drew then proceeded to hand the lollipop to the guy in front of them in the
line. As Drew handed the lollipop over, he told the guy, “You give a lollipop
to the beautiful women standing next to you.” As the girl received the lollipop,
she knew this is where she belonged. She felt as if she were home.
Four years later, the girl married the guy
who gave her a lollipop her first day of college. The man with the ugly hat
changed both of their lives. Drew Dudley shares his story on TED (
http://www.ted.com/) talks for the
world to hear. Drew explains that everyone is a leader, and we all have the
power to change someone’s life for the better or for the worst. He reminds us
that we must remember we have this power and use it to the fullest. We are all
leaders to someone. (Drew Dudley, "Everyday
Leadership").
In history,
there have been many leaders who have been great, and others who have been
terrible. The great leaders remembered the roll they played in the people’s
lives, and strived to make each person benefit from it. The great leaders throughout
history would use their
concentration, morality and wisdom to ensure they were
leading to the fullest. Nonetheless, the terrible leaders in history have
neglected those three very important attributes. Instead, they have replaced
the good with three bad attributes, which are greed, delusion and anger. In the
Roman Empire, there have been many leaders, some of whom eventually led to the
fall of Rome, and they all had the same attributes in common in leading to Rome’s
demise. The leaders of the Roman Empire continued to fail because they led with
delusion, anger and greed; instead of morality, wisdom and concentration. When
the leader neglected the three good characteristics, it caused the downfall of
that leader, and eventually, Rome.
There
are three causes of suffering, the first cause being greed. Greed is, “a
burning desire, an unquenchable thirst, craving, lust; we want objects of our
desire to provide us with lasting satisfaction, so we feel fulfilled, whole and
complete” [1]. Greed can corrupt leaders very rapidly. Leaders often desire to
have the most power and control. They’re blinded to the good because they only
see what their needs are in order to help themselves. Greed causes the leader,
and whoever he is leading, to both suffer. With greed, the leader will
eventually experience extreme anger, and he will spin out of control.
The next
cause of suffering is anger. Anger is, “when there is a conflict or perceived
enemies around us, our mind is neurotic, never calm; we are endlessly occupied
with strategies of self-protection or revenge,” it’s a poison. [1]. Anger
clouds people’s judgments. When people or leaders are angry, they are ruled by this
suffering. Anger leads to violence. The leader will act based on his emotions
and wars often break out harming his people and others. Many leaders also
become angry if they are not on the top and this leads them to take drastic
measures in order to ensure they are.
With this sort of control and power, they begin to misjudge reality.
The last
cause of suffering goes hand and hand with the first two. If a person allows
the first two sufferings, anger and greed, into their life, the third will
surely follow. The third cause of suffering is delusion. Delusion is thinking something is one way,
when it is actually not that way at all. It “is our wrong understandings or
wrong views of reality” [2]. When someone begins to get greedy and angry, reality
becomes a distant memory. The leaders are controlled by their emotions, or as
they say in Latin, their “furor”. This often causes one to lose sight of what
is really important. Having these three sufferings eventually led some of the
emperors of Rome to their own destruction, as well as their entire city’s.
There
once was an emperor named Tiberius, who was the successor of Emperor Augustus. Tiberius
was a good
leader in the beginning because he listened to his mother. His
mother was able to keep Tiberius and his emotions in line. However once his
mother died, Tiberius was filled with anger and rage. Tiberius was angry that
his mother had to die, and that she was gone forever.
At that very moment, something in Tiberius changed.
Tacitus, a senator and historian of the Roman Empire, writes, “The emperor
himself became tyrannical-or gave tyrannical men power” (pg.157). Slowly, as
his anger set in, so did greed as well. He began craving more power; therefore
he limited the freedoms of speech. He would kill anyone who said the slightest
bad thing about him. He wanted complete control of what others were saying and
doing in his kingdom. As time went on, Tiberius started to exhibit the final
cause of suffering, delusion. It got to the point where Tiberius was so scared
of being killed, he decided to leave Rome. The greed and anger filled his mind,
and his emotions controlled him. Therefore, Tiberius started to see things in a
way it was not. Tacitus writes, “Now, after long consideration and frequent postponements, Tiberius at last left for Campania” (pg.186). Tiberius thought
that everyone was out to get him; therefore, he lived the rest of his
life in constant fear. Tiberius tried to do everything he could to keep his
power. He would kill innocent people, and take money from the poor, and
those sufferings would lead to his downfall. One day, he got very sick,
and no one could stand being around him anymore. On his death bed, Tiberius was
smothered to death. Tacitus writes, “…ordered the old man to be smothered with
a heap of bed clothes and left alone. So Tiberius died, in his seventy-eight
year” (pg.226). Tiberius died alone, driven by his emotions to his death. He let his “furor” control him; his emotions blinded him from the truth.
Therefore, the three sufferings became his reality, and the truth was lost.
Another
Roman leader that had the three causes of sufferings was Nero. Nero was a very
deranged man. He became emperor after watching his mother kill his step-father,
Emperor Claudius. The rightful heir to Rome was Claudius’s son Britannicus, Nero’s
step-brother; but because Nero’s mother wanted power, she made Nero emperor. From
a very young age, violence was instilled into Nero. Nero’s mother, Agrippina
the Elder, was very manipulating and violent. She wanted to have complete power
of Rome through Nero. However, Nero saw through his mother’s act. His mother
did not like how Nero was neglecting her and not giving her enough power, so
she threatened to tell everyone who the rightful heir to the throne was. In
this moment, greed and anger took over Nero. He did not want to lose his power,
and definitely did not want to share it. Therefore, he did what his “furor”
told him he had to do; he turned to violence and rage. He killed his
step-brother, Britannicus. Tactics writes, “This worried Nero. As the day of Britannicus’s
14th birthday approached, he pondered his mother’s violent behavior…”
(pg. 290) Nero became violent and angry, which led him to kill his own
step-brother in order to continue to rule Rome. As time went on, Nero continued
to let anger and greed rule him. Nero once got so angry; he kicked his wife
down the stairs killing her and their baby. Tacitus writes, “Soon after the
games Poppaea died. She was pregnant, and her husband in a chance of anger,
kicked her” (pg.384). After that, Nero realized he was too angry and too
greedy. The third cause of suffering began to sink in. That night Nero was
paralyzed with delusion. He thought that someone was going to come and kill
him. Tacitus writes, “But Nero only understood the horror of his crime when it
was done. For the rest of the night, witless, and speechless, he alternately laid
paralyzed and leapt to his feet in terror, waiting for the dawn which he
thought would be his last” (pg.317). For the rest of Nero’s life, he lived in
fear that someone would kill him. Eventually the three sufferings did lead Nero
to his downfall. The people Nero was supposedly leading, all decided that Nero
was no good. They decided that he was not going to help them at all, so Nero
was killed. The three sufferings over took him and his emotions controlled
every move Nero made.
Despite
all of that, there were good leaders. The good leaders led with the three virtues
to overcome the causes of suffering. They understood that one cannot let his
emotions control him. Instead, a good leader must control their emotions. Leaders
must rule with the Latin word “pietas” and their duty. The first way to
overcome the suffering is morality. Morality is practicing what is right and exhibiting
it. One must choose what they think is right, and stick to it. This must be a
very
strong belief, because ones morality is the reason the three sufferings
stay away.
Morality in a way is “pietas”;
one must use their duty to fulfill what they need to do.
The next
way to overcome suffering is through concentration. According to Webster dictionary
concentration is, “
The action or power of focusing one's
attention or mental effort.” One
must be able to focus on what is right. One has to know how they want to lead
and how to get it done.
One must be
focused and determined. They have to know what their “pietas” is, and lead with
it.
The last
way to overcome the sufferings is wisdom.
Wisdom is “the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good
judgment; the quality of being wise.” Concentration and morality go conjointly with
wisdom. One must have enough concentration in order to attain adequate wisdom.
Wisdom takes time, and contemplation. Also, to have morality and practice what
is right, one must be well educated in that area. Therefore, one must encompass
wisdom. St. Augustine, an early Christian theologian and philosopher, writes,
“It was through wisdom that all things were made…” (pg.432).
Wisdom is an
important part of life, and with it leaders become stronger.
There
once was a Catholic bishop named Ambrose. He was the bishop of Milan and he
stuck to his morality. He did not let anything stop him from forgetting his “pietas”.
One day, the empire of Rome brought in a man named Augustine to put a stop to
what Ambrose was preaching to the people. At this time, the Roman leaders did
not like the Catholics. They felt threatened by them, and were afraid that the Catholics
would overtake the empire. However, this was not the case because Ambrose was a
kind man who chose to share God’s message. When Augustine arrived in Milan, he
started to attack Ambrose’s religion, but Ambrose did not lose his morality. He
continued to preach and lead his people towards God. Ambrose was concentrated
on his religion and his mission he knew God was calling him to. Augustine
writes, “Ambrose was habitually available to serve them in their needs, and in
the very scant time that he was not with them he would be refreshing either his
body with necessary food or his mind with reading” (confessions, pg.133). He
was well
educated in his faith; he knew what he had to do in order to fulfill
his “pietas”. Ambrose contained wisdom in these areas. Ambrose changed the
life of many people, including Augustine his enemy, because Ambrose led with
concentration, morality and wisdom.
Because
of Ambrose’s leadership, Augustine became the next future leader. Ambrose was an
important influence in Augustine’s life.
He converted Augustine to Catholicism, and today Augustine is a very
important figure in the Catholic faith. Augustine has written many books, and
has helped many Catholics understand their faith in a better light. He once had
two of the three causes of suffering, greed and anger. Augustine had a lustful
heart as well. His life at one point was controlled by his greed for women and
the thrill that sin brought him. And, because of his desires and greed, the
next suffering found him: anger. Augustine started to become angry at the world
and at himself. He craved the truth and morality. And until Augustine met Ambrose,
he could not find the virtues Augustine so desperately craved, but once Augustine
did find him, he found his truth. Augustine writes, “nonetheless I listened to Ambrose
straightforwardly expounding the word of truth to the people every Sunday, and
as I listened I became more and more convinced that it was possible to unravel
all those cunning knots of calumny in which the sacred books had been entangled
by tricksters who had deceived me and others” (Confessions, pg.135). Ambrose
showed Augustine the truth, and because Augustine found his truth, he was able
to overcome the causes of suffering. Augustine let go of his greed for lust,
and all the anger that followed it. Instead he replaced these sufferings with virtues.
Morality overtook Augustine, and he concentrated on the Catholic faith. Because
of his new life and acceptance, his life began to change. He began to become
wiser in his life and faith. The three virtues filled his mind, body and soul. His
conversion was able to affect so many lives then, and still now so many years
later. Augustine impacted many Catholic’s and non-Catholic’s lives. He was a
great leader because he was able to overcome his sufferings, and instead replace them with
virtues.
These men
show that no matter what background, everyone can be leaders. It shows that if
those three sufferings are in one’s life, they can always be overcome with a little
bit of wisdom, morality and concentration. Anything is possible, and Augustine
shares that with us. He shows us that truth is around the corner, and everyone
must find it. It just takes patience and a craving for “pietas”. One must have
a desire to fulfill ones duty, and to want to do the right thing. Everyone is
called to be a leader. Everyone is called to impact someone’s life. This might
even happen without one knowing it. Drew Dudley shared his story about the girl’s
first day at college. Drew was giving away the lollipops. He was the one who
gave the lollipop to the guy who gave it to the girl. He changed their lives,
and he cannot remember it. He cannot recall giving the lollipop to them.
Nonetheless, he changed their lives. This story just shows that everyone is on
this earth for a reason. People can impact others life for the better or for
the worst. If one is led by their emotions and sufferings, the
impact they have
will be a negative impact. However if one is lead by the virtue and “pietas,”
they will have a positive impact on people. Everyone chooses which impact they
wish to have on people and how they want to live their life.
In conclusion,
the major leaders of Rome continued to fail, because they led with the wrong
intentions. Tiberius and Nero were both examples of how leading with emotions
or the Latin word “furor” can cause suffering. There are three causes of
suffering: anger, greed and delusion. Once the Emperors had all three of these
sufferings, they refused to change, and it eventually led to their downfall.
One must have a desire to change; otherwise the sufferings will overcome them.
These sufferings will drag a person down, and cause misery in their life.
However, this is a chance for people to change. There are three virtues to help
overcome the three sufferings: concentration, morality and wisdom. With these
three virtues a person is not ruled by their “furor” but instead their “pietas”.
Ambrose and Augustine were examples of
leaders with these virtues. Augustine at
one point was ruled by his emotions and had some of the sufferings in this
life. Nonetheless, he had a desire to change, and his life was changed for the
better. The major leaders of the Roman Empire continued to fail, because they
led with their “furor” instead of “pietas”.
Everyone is born to be a leader, and most decide to be a good one, or a
bad one.
Which will you be?
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