"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 26 It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."
The buck stops here. The leader takes the blame. If the economy's in the toilet, it's the president's fault. If a big oil company spews millions of gallons into the ocean and it doesn't get resolved instantly, it's the president's fault. If my boss makes a mistake...no wait, it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes, as they say, "it rolls downhill" but not always. It was bad intelligence. It was bad information. "My girl is new and didn't know what she was doing." If the preacher was better, the church would be full. If it weren't for the National Church, that couple would still be here. It's the gays fault. If those people wouldn't cruise Van Buren, we wouldn't have an oil addiction (but I can still own a car). If someone other than me...
If someone other than me would just do something we wouldn't have this problem. I half understand the urge to crucify the leader when things go wrong. After all, it fulfills their professed role of being a servant of all, doesn't it? They take the blame, we put someone new in, and begin the cycle all over again. Membership swells for a bit (curiosity killed the cat), international relations get better when it becomes apparent we've replaced the dumb country bumpkin model, the oil seems to slow down, and Tony gets his yacht back. Then the economy doesn't instantly rebound and everybody starts remembering that the president's black and a democrat, the old guard tightens their grip on the church again (you're not really old enough to be in alter guild, are you?) and the international community gets their feelings hurt that we're slamming their big oil company they've heavily invested in and calls our criticism something it's not.
The problem remains the same until something changes. The problem will remain the same until the leaders underneath the leaders realize what they're doing to make the situation unattractive. The problem will remain the same until we stop looking for someone to pin this situation on. While I do agree that the president needs to figure out 'whose ass to kick' in the gulf, I don't think that's always the situation. Especially when it's everybody's and nobody's ass that needs kicking.
The 'leader' is just one person. They can't do everything. There's a reason that not everyone runs around with a crown on their head. A wheel isn't good for much without spokes inside it, is it? If something needs done, someone needs to do it but not necessarily the priest or the president. President Obama has no military experience---so he should get smart people who do have military experience (and don't mouth off to the media) to advise him on how best to handle that situation. Every Sunday school class does not have to have clergy teaching it. The fact that people aren't having babies fast enough to fill those classes isn't the fault of the clergy either. (It's my fault, actually, for being single and not having popped out 2.5 kids by now.) People can't stay 15 forever---and everything goes in cycles. Even totally awesome people go off their nut once in a while and decide there's just one thing they can't handle---even if the alternative they choose seems far worse to most of us.
So images aside, can we let our leaders be our servants instead of our scape goats for a while? Can we work with them instead of deciding if they don't put up they need to get shut up? Can we quit singing "November is coming" long enough to roll up our sleeves and get this country moving again
Can we?
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