 |
 |
| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Young Voices
By Antonio C. Abaya Written May 01, 2007 For the Standard Today, May 03 issue Youth is not always wasted on the young. Some young people are very articulate and sensible and aching to do something with their young lives. They deserve to be heard by all thinking Filipinos. It is my honor to give way to their voices in this space. The first is known to me only by her initials, AGM. She wrote a piece in the Daily Inquirer�s Youngblood section of April 28. That piece touched me because it narrated in stark fashion, without being maudlin or self-piteous, her struggle and the struggle of her family to survive in a harsh environment. Her story is no doubt the story of thousands, even millions, of other families, but she tells it in an undramatic style that makes it all the more touching. She is now 24 and works as a chemist in a private firm. The other young person is Mikaela Irene Fudolig. She is only 16 years old, but she graduated last month from the University of the Philippines , summa cum laude and valedictorian, with a bachelor of science degree in Physics. The fact that both of them are in the physical sciences is a coincidence. But a happy coincidence because I believe that the future of this country depends on its ability to produce more scientists and engineers, and less lawyers and journalists. AGM � let�s call her Agnes � writes: �I am an eternal optimist, born to a family of pessimists with a narrow-minded view of the world. I have spent most of my life keeping my true self to myself. I may be surrounded by familiar people but none of them really knows me. �It�s a sad life. I started working a year before I started going to school�We�re a big family. Mom and Dad could hardly support us all, so everyone needed to do his/her share. Waking up at 5:00 am to start making hundreds of sandwiches and repacking all of them neatly was not something to look forward to in the morning. Breakfast and lunch were hurried affairs�. �Life became harder when I started going to school. We all had to wake up at 3:30 am so we could finish making and delivering the goods to the canteen and still have time to take a quick bath before going to our classes. �Because there were so many of us and work occupied all of my parents� time, they never had time to teach us the basics. When I started wearing shoes, I put them on the wrong feet. And because my shoes were hand-me-downs from my older sister, I had to fill a lot of space with crumbled newspaper pages so they would fit . It was a week after classes began when my mother�s co-teacher noticed that I was wearing the shoes the wrong way. She told my Mom about it , and that�s how I learned to wear them the right way.. �I hated rainy days. Because my shoes were over-used, the soles provided little protection and became water-logged when it rained. I would spend the whole day trying to hide my wet socks and discomfort �We usually prepared our school clothes at night to make sure we had clean underwear and socks. We never had enough of those, and quite often we had to wash them right away after taking them off and hang them in front of the electric fan to be used the next day. �My Dad fitted the stereotype of a macho man. He gambled, smoked, drank and acted as if he had no care in the world. But he was also the best nanny and cook that I have ever known. He never finished college and never really had much ambition. He was content to do the household chores while Mom taught in school�.. �Mom was the disciplinarian and I almost hated her when I was growing up. She had very little patience. But we were still lucky to have a Mom like her�.. �I never really had a mentor or guide. My siblings and I learned to do things on our own. Even though my Mom was a teacher, she didn�t have time to teach us. Which is quite understandable, because if you crave for sleep and rest the whole day, it takes superhuman effort to be kind and patient. �My learning skills were not at par with my older sisters�. It was harder for me to learn. I was an average student with lots of work to do. Studying was something I could do only at school, and the time to do homework was just before dinner. I would get a scolding if it took more time for study since I was supposed to be putting kikiam and squid balls on sticks or rolling a thousand cheese sticks to be sold the next day�. �I was in Grade I when our teacher called on each one of us to read an English story. Those who couldn�t were ordered to stand up for the rest of the class period �I was one of them. I couldn�t read even a word. When the bell rang, that was the signal for us to go out. A classmate made fun of me, saying in her loud squeaky voice: �Ay anak ng teacher di marunong bumasa. Bobo! Bobo! Bobo! �Some good came out of the bullying. It made me work harder and throw away all my lame excuses about being a slow learner and not having enough time. My Mom was amazed when I asked for the Grade 2 textbooks and I began studying them during the summer vacation. The next school year, I got first honors and felt like I had won a personal battle��� ***** In her valedictory address, Mikaela Fudolig sounded a call to her fellow graduates to blaze new trails and not be content with the beaten path. �Today the nation needs brave, defiant pioneers to reverse our nation�s slide to despair. Today, we must present an alternative way of doing things. �Do not just take courage, for courage is not enough. Instead, be BRAVE. It will take bravery to go against popular wisdom, against the clich�d expectation of family and friends. It will take bravery to gamble your future by staying in (our) country and try to make a prosperous life here. It might help if, for a start, we try to see why our Korean friends are flocking to our country. Why, as many of us line up for immigrant visas in various embassies, they get themselves naturalized and settle here. Do they know something we don�t? �Take not the road less traveled. Rather, make new roads, blaze new trails, find new routes to your dreams. We may not know how far we can go. But if we are brave, defiant searchers of excellence, we will go far�..� Such youthful enthusiasm deserves not to be frustrated by the mediocrities of daily life, by the struggles to earn a decent income in an economy that is still trying to rise above itself, most of all by the unhealthy moral climate that has suffocated many men and women of goodwill over the decades. The success of Agnes in overcomingng the hardships of her childhood, and the determination of Mikaela to blaze new trails in the life that is just beginning for her, both deserve a better society and a better country than we, the older generations, have bequeathed to them. Would that they will be able to choose a better set of leaders than those we have burdened them with. ***** Reactions to [email protected]. Other articles in www.tapatt.org and acabaya.blogspot.com OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �Young Voices� More Reaction to �Most Corrupt Country� More Reaction to �American Tragedies� More Reaction to �Family Business� �Where Have All the Leaders Gone?� Hi Tony, What a beautiful and inspiring article you have. These are the good example of human beings we need to spread all over the Philippines . Especially for our young generations to encourage them like this two young voices. These are the kind of people I would like to govern and lead our country to prosperity. It is a story of sacrifice at all odds and courage to overcome those odds in life. Thank you for sharing this inspiring life story. You are doing a very excellent job, man. Best regards, Agustin Bacalso, (by email), May 04, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Manong Tony, Your piece today was very enlightening and uplifting. I have read a few accounts about Mikaela Irene Fudolig and her valedictory. It is only after reading your article that I came to know about AGM. They are shining examples of our youth. Graduation is always a memorable event for me. Of the three graduation exercises that I have joined out of the four courses that I completed, the one that I cherished the most was my high school graduation. It was Friday, April 28, 1961, when I delivered the Class Oration, "Our Modern World" It was a challenge to all of us, seated and standing, inside that quadrangle at the then Santa Maria Agricultural High School, now Ilocos Sur Polytechnic College. I also remember posing a similar challenge, on April 14, 2001, to the graduating class of the Master in Management at Case Room 3 at the Asian Institute of Management in 2001, where I completed my MM Program in 1976. I am still challenging one and all to come to the service of our country and our people. Naimbag nga aldaw. Jerry A. Quibilan, (by email), May 04, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Agnes and Michaela are success stories for sure, but there must be many more in the schools who will join them to change the national scene if they don't emigrate. It occurs to me though, how did they get thus far without becoming pregnant and "ruining their lives"? Do you think maybe they believe in abstinence before marriage or do they use "birth control". And if they are abstinent, is it because they practice the virtue of chastity or just follow the Planned Parenthood recipe of "everything but Intercourse" and have been lucky. Did you ask them those questions? Shelah Hockman, (by email), Owosso , Michigan , May 04, 2007 (Why does it bother you how they got this far without becoming pregnant? Are you trying to be sarcastic, or are you just normally one-track minded? ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, You wrote: "Would that they will be able to choose a better set of leaders than those we have burdened them with. "***** Your words above made me reply ASAP.. Each generation builds up its own leaders. I dare say, they (the 2 examples) are and will be their own leaders for their generation. Too bad, our own has messed up, but like the phoenix rising, the new generations will learn from the past, and will come out better than we are. Ours and their generations are miles apart, though we are growing parallel lives, and sooner and later they will rise to their own challenges and opportunities. It may even be a far different world than the one we have foisted upon ourselves. Kudos. Rene Pamintuan, (by email), May 04, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, I was also touched with your publication regarding Agnes and Mikaela. These two young individuals should be the role model or new heroes to our youngsters, in spite of the current situation there in the Philippines . Yes, we should take note and ask ourselves why the Koreans are flocking to the country. Although I left the country eons ago in order to secure the future of my three kids, I still love our country. Yes, I was not brave enough to stay in our country and tried to blaze new paths for improving the situation of our country. It was the beginning stages of Martial Law when we left the country. I did not see a bright future for my kids, hence the decision to migrate to the USA . I am proud to say that they're now well established in their chosen careers. Getting back to our country, I am still proud of her. We have so much natural resources and beautiful beaches that are better than other resorts we have visited in other countries. Been to Rio, the Caribbeans, Europe , etc., nothing compares to our white sand beaches. We were in the Philippines last February till March. I noticed some Korean business establishments as far as Matabungkay beach resort in Batangas. These people really know how to take advantage of the business that's available to them. We should really take a step backwards in order to see what is really motivating these foreigners to come and establish residence in our beautiful country. More power to those who strive to make the country a better place to live in. Romy "mulloy" Nolasco, (by email), May 05, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony, Bravo for a factual and nicely written piece! I can almost see myself in those two children while I was still growing up. �Ang kabataan ay siyang pag-asa ng bayan�. So be it. Yours very truly, Noe Castanos, (by email), Toronto , Ontario , Canada , May 05, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, While I share your admiration and empathy for these young voices, I must admit that I have heard similar refrains many, many times before. At first, several decades ago, I was truly moved by voices similar to these. But countless experiences have taught me that the bold idealism of youth eventually matures into either pragmatism or cynicism. It will be interesting to see where these young voices will be 20 years hence. Given the wisdom of hindsight, the law of probabilities will show that at least one of those young voices will take the overseas route in order to fulfill her dreams. Tony Melotos do not evolve everyday. Not even in a decade. And, what you call our neo-feudal society, will stifle Tony Melotos from evolving too often. Anyhow, I wish you and our country well. But, after decades upon decades of profligacy, frivolity and short-sightedness, we are still as petty and immature as ever. Very truly yours, Juan Deiparine, (by email), Toril, Davao City , May 05, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Thank you for featuring the young voices. I have read both articles you wrote about. Well, Mikaela's from Rina David's column (PDI, 5/5/07). Their words should put all those hypocrites, who call themselves politicians, to shame. I know there will come a time when voices of this kind will surface. I have not given up on our country. And I feel it in my heart that good parents can nurture their children to become citizens of AGM and Mickaela's mold. I am all for respecting the person from birth, or even before birth, to adulthood. Respect and love are two most important ingredients in molding innocent minds into models of moral values and self-respect, tools needed to remain along the path of righteousness. I am sure that in spite of AGM's father being the despicable macho man, he must have also given his children the love and attention they deserved. Pura Flor Isleta, (by email), May 05, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww YES, INDEED! TOCAYO! I AGREE...SO YOUR COLUMNS MUST BE CONVERTED INTO TRAINING SYLLABUS(I) FOR VALUABLE LESSONS TO BE TAUGHT OUR YOUTH...BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE! PSTD WILL BE HAPPY TO DO IT.[Philippine Society for Training and Development.] Tony Joaquin, (by email), Daly City , California , May 05, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, Contrast the idealism of the young voices with the seasoned voice of Lee Iaccoca (attached, below). Perhaps there is really no difference between what the idealistic young and the veteran Lee are saying! Both are IDEALISTIC. The only difference is that the former talk without the benefit of hindsight and thus seem to lack validation yet. Lee, on the other hand, talks from a lot of practical experience without losing his idealism. Closer to home, it seems the other way around. Today, as one rises up the ladder especially in government, the more one loses his idealism to pragmatism of the unprincipled and immoral kind. Of course, there is also this even in other lands but ours appear widespread and incorrigible having become part of ordinary day to day living. People who call themselves our leaders today should look themselves hard in the mirror and see the phonies that they are for I do not and will never believe that leaders are MORALLY BANKRUPT, SELFISH, HYPOCRITICAL, INCOMPETENT, ARROGANTLY DRUNK WITH POWER, DECEITFUL, LIARS, THIEVES, CHEATERS, AND WILLFULLY TOLERANT OF THE ABOVE. Yes, but people will say who voted such leaders but the stupid masa! My reaction: first, how sure are we that votes are actually being counted?; second, who made the stupid masa the way they are and continue to be but the exploiting elite and political dynasties!; and third, ours is not truly an egalitarian democracy until we are able to root out slavery from our midst whom we call poverty! Col Dennis Acop, USMA �83, (by email), May 05, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Great role models! May their tribe increase. Tom de Guzman, (by email), May 08, 2007 Peace and Joy Every Conscious Moment! wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (Copy furnished) Dear Mikki, Your are a special gift to mankind like Michael Faraday, James Hutton, Charles Lyell, and our very own Alexander Edward Dy and Baldomero Olivera, Jr. Your CS recognition speech/B.S. valecdictory address, "Pinagpapala and Pinagpapala" I understand where you are coming from. My first real job was as a Packaging Research & Development Technician of the then Procter & Gamble Philippine Manfacturing Company. Your are not only a gifted young lady but also beautiful and charming. I was your age when I graduated from high school. It was the first time that I delivered a speech to a jampacked crowd in a small quadrangle in the main campus of school.- I wish to share that speech with you. Please see the attached. I hope that UPD have already offered you a teaching position. In my younger years I wanted to teach but my enthusiam wavered when the Dean of the CBA in the school where I finished my college degree, where I was an honor student, with five years of work experience, informed me that I should finish a graduate program first. I did finished a graduate program five years later. Another five years later, when I was part of a group of marketing professionals developing the syllabus for a college degree in marketing, one of the members was my former professor in sales management. I mentioned to him about the my desire to teach a marketing subject in 1971. He asked me if I wish to consider it this time. I told him that I have no wish to go through the paperwork, interviews, etc.. His response caught me by surpirse. "You do not have to do that. I am now the Head of Marketing. You just have to say yes." I declined the offer for what I believed then and what I still believe now was a good reason in declining the offer, family unity and my demanding job which involved a lot ot business travels domestic and abroad. I pray for your success in community service. God bless. Jerry A. Quibilan, (by email), May 11, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww More Reaction to �Most Corrupt Country� (March 13, 2007) Sir: Good morning.. When I read this article , these ideas entered my mind. Being the most corrupt in Asia we should stress out our religious leaders to still continue to nurture the Christian values because as we can see the results, it showed they failed in past years and yet they are boasting to other countries that the Philippines is the only Christian nation in Asia and here the result -The Most Corrupt in Asia... it's a big slap to their faces. Your comrade, Ceasar O. Lim, (by email), Rosario , Cavite , May 05, 2007 Product Development Engineer, Ju-Young Electronics Phils. Inc. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww More Reaction �American Tragedies� (April 22, 2007) Mr. Abaya, Mr Bush is supposed to be somewhat religious but maybe he hasn't read the 1952 classic by Reinhold Neibuhr "The Irony of American History." Obama has complete grasp of Neibuhr's philosophy. Dubya has a very dangerous messianic streak ! That is the bigger American Tragedy ! If not the Americans, can the world impeach him, please ? Ernie del Rosario (by email), Cainta, Rizal, May 06, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww More Reaction to �Family Business� (April 24, 2007) Hola! Tony, Thank you for including me in your list of recipients. Your articles and the reactions to them are mind boggling! How I wish everyone in the Philippines as well as the OFWs read your articles, but to sad to say, THE LOVE FOR READING in our country has diminished and young students from public OR PRIVATE schools can't even read or spell "FRIEND" vs (FREIND) correctly due to text msg. Our government allocates only a MEAGER portion of our national budget to EDUCATION and HEALTH. The good teachers, good doctors, good engineers, good nurses and other professionals are gone to seek greener pasture. In short, our government, past or present, can't distinguish what are the PRIORITIES ANYMORE. Its high time that we change these trapos, put an END to the political dynasties, celebrity politics, etc,etc...Maybe, if the the government can DO AWAY with the pork barrel and convert these PORK into salaries for the professionals to stay, build more schools and hospitals, thenIi think we can have a better Philippines! Muchas gracias!! More power to you! Antonio Iturralde, (by email), May 07, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Where Have All the Leaders Gone? By Lee Iacocca, with Catherine Whitney I�ve Had Enough Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship-of-state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane, much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course." Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out! You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you? I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. My friends tell me to calm down. They say, "Lee, you're eighty-two years old. Leave the rage to the young people." I'd love to-as soon as I can pry them away from their iPods for five seconds and get them to pay attention. I'm going to speak up because it's my patriotic duty. I think people will listen to me. They say I have a reputation as a straight shooter. So I'll tell you how I see it, and it's not pretty, but at least it's real. I'm hoping to strike a nerve in those young folks who say they don't vote because they don't trust politicians to represent their interests. Hey, America , wake up. These guys work for us. Who Are These Guys, Anyway? Why are we in this mess? How did we end up with this crowd in Washington ? Well, we voted for them-or at least some of us did. But I'll tell you what we didn't do. We didn't agree to suspend the Constitution. We didn't agree to stop asking questions or demanding answers. Some of us are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason. Where I come from that's a dictatorship, not a democracy. And don't tell me it's all the fault of right-wing Republicans or liberal Democrats. That's an intellectually lazy argument, and it's part of the reason we're in this stew. We're not just a nation of factions. We're a people. We share common principles and ideals. And we rise and fall together. Where are the voices of leaders who can inspire us to action and make us stand taller? What happened to the strong and resolute party of Lincoln ? What happened to the courageous, populist party of FDR and Truman? There was a time in this country when the voices of great leaders lifted us up and made us want to do better. Where have all the leaders gone? The Test of a Leader I've never been Commander in Chief, but I've been a CEO. I understand a few things about leadership at the top. I've figured out nine points-not ten (I don't want people accusing me of thinking I'm Moses). I call them the "Nine Cs of Leadership." They're not fancy or complicated. Just clear, obvious qualities that every true leader should have. We should look at how the current administration stacks up. Like it or not, this crew is going to be around until January 2009. Maybe we can learn something before we go to the polls in 2008. Then let's be sure we use the leadership test to screen the candidates who say they want to run the country. It's up to us to choose wisely. So, here's my C list: A leader has to show CURIOSITY. He has to listen to people outside of the "Yes, sir" crowd in his inner circle. He has to read voraciously, because the world is a big, complicated place. George W. Bush brags about never reading a newspaper. "I just scan the headlines," he says. Am I hearing this right? He's the President of the United States and he never reads a newspaper? Thomas Jefferson once said, "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter." Bush disagrees. As long as he gets his daily hour in the gym, with Fox News piped through the sound system, he's ready to go. If a leader never steps outside his comfort zone to hear different ideas, he grows stale. If he doesn't put his beliefs to the test, how does he know he's right? The inability to listen is a form of arrogance. It means either you think you already know it all, or you just don't care. Before the 2006 election, George Bush made a big point of saying he didn't listen to the polls. Yeah, that's what they all say when the polls stink. But maybe he should have listened, because 70 percent of the people were saying he was on the wrong track. It took a "thumping" on election day to wake him up, but even then you got the feeling he wasn't listening so much as he was calculating how to do a better job of convincing everyone he was right. A leader has to be CREATIVE, go out on a limb, be willing to try something different. You know, think outside the box. George Bush prides himself on never changing, even as the world around him is spinning out of control. God forbid someone should accuse him of flip-flopping. There's a disturbingly messianic fervor to his certainty. Senator Joe Biden recalled a conversation he had with Bush a few months after our troops marched into Baghdad . Joe was in the Oval Office outlining his concerns to the President-the explosive mix of Shiite and Sunni, the disbanded Iraqi army, the problems securing the oil fields. "The President was serene," Joe recalled. "He told me he was sure that we were on the right course and that all would be well. 'Mr. President,' I finally said, 'how can you be so sure when you don't yet know all the facts?'" Bush then reached over and put a steadying hand on Joe's shoulder. "My instincts," he said. "My instincts." Joe was flabbergasted. He told Bush, "Mr. President, your instincts aren't good enough." Joe Biden sure didn't think the matter was settled. And, as we all know now, it wasn't. Leadership is all about managing change-whether you're leading a company or leading a country. Things change, and you get creative. You adapt. Maybe Bush was absent the day they covered that at Harvard Business School . A leader has to COMMUNICATE. I'm not talking about running off at the mouth or spouting sound bites. I'm talking about facing reality and telling the truth. Nobody in the current administration seems to know how to talk straight anymore. Instead, they spend most of their time trying to convince us that things are not really as bad as they seem. I don't know if it's denial or dishonesty, but it can start to drive you crazy after a while. Communication has to start with telling the truth, even when it's painful. The war in Iraq has been, among other things, a grand failure of communication. Bush is like the boy who didn't cry wolf when the wolf was at the door. After years of being told that all is well, even as the casualties and chaos mount, we've stopped listening to him. A leader has to be a person of CHARACTER. That means knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing. Abraham Lincoln once said, "If you want to test a man's character, give him power." George Bush has a lot of power. What does it say about his character? Bush has shown a willingness to take bold action on the world stage because he has the power, but he shows little regard for the grievous consequences. He has sent our troops (not to mention hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens) to their deaths-for what? To build our oil reserves? To avenge his daddy because Saddam Hussein once tried to have him killed? To show his daddy he's tougher? The motivations behind the war in Iraq are questionable, and the execution of the war has been a disaster. A man of character does not ask a single soldier to die for a failed policy. A leader must have COURAGE. I'm talking about balls. (That even goes for female leaders.) Swagger isn't courage. Tough talk isn't courage. George Bush comes from a blue-blooded Connecticut family, but he likes to talk like a cowboy. You know, My gun is bigger than your gun. Courage in the twenty-first century doesn't mean posturing and bravado. Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk. If you're a politician, courage means taking a position even when you know it will cost you votes. Bush can't even make a public appearance unless the audience has been handpicked and sanitized. He did a series of so-called town hall meetings last year, in auditoriums packed with his most devoted fans. The questions were all softballs. To be a leader you've got to have CONVICTION-a fire in your belly. You've got to have passion. You've got to really want to get something done. How do you measure fire in the belly? Bush has set the all-time record for number of vacation days taken by a U.S. President-four hundred and counting. He'd rather clear brush on his ranch than immerse himself in the business of governing. He even told an interviewer that the high point of his presidency so far was catching a seven-and-a- half-pound perch in his hand-stocked lake. It's no better on Capitol Hill. Congress was in session only ninety-seven days in 2006. That's eleven days less than the record set in 1948, when President Harry Truman coined the term do-nothing Congress. Most people would expect to be fired if they worked so little and had nothing to show for it. But Congress managed to find the time to vote itself a raise. Now, that's not leadership. A leader should have CHARISMA. I'm not talking about being flashy. Charisma is the quality that makes people want to follow you. It's the ability to inspire. People follow a leader because they trust him. That's my definition of charisma. Maybe George Bush is a great guy to hang out with at a barbecue or a ball game. But put him at a global summit where the future of our planet is at stake, and he doesn't look very presidential. Those frat-boy pranks and the kidding around he enjoys so much don't go over that well with world leaders. Just ask German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who received an unwelcome shoulder massage from our President at a G-8 Summit. When he came up behind her and started squeezing, I thought she was going to go right through the roof. A leader has to be COMPETENT. That seems obvious, doesn't it? You've got to know what you're doing. More important than that, you've got to surround yourself with people who know what they're doing. Bush brags about being our first MBA President. Does that make him competent? Well, let's see. Thanks to our first MBA President, we've got the largest deficit in history, Social Security is on life support, and we've run up a half-a-trillion- dollar price tag (so far) in Iraq. And that's just for starters. A leader has to be a problem solver, and the biggest problems we face as a nation seem to be on the back burner. You can't be a leader if you don't have COMMON SENSE. I call this Charlie Beacham's rule. When I was a young guy just starting out in the car business, one of my first jobs was as Ford's zone manager in Wilkes-Barre , Pennsylvania . My boss was a guy named Charlie Beacham, who was the East Coast regional manager. Charlie was a big Southerner, with a warm drawl, a huge smile, and a core of steel. Charlie used to tell me, "Remember, Lee, the only thing you've got going for you as a human being is your ability to reason and your common sense. If you don't know a dip of horseshit from a dip of vanilla ice cream, you'll never make it." George Bush doesn't have common sense. He just has a lot of sound bites. You know- Mr.they'll-welcome- us-as-liberators -no-child- left-behind- heck-of-a- job-Brownie- mission-accompli shed Bush. Former President Bill Clinton once said, "I grew up in an alcoholic home. I spent half my childhood trying to get into the reality-based world-and I like it here." I think our current President should visit the real world once in a while. The Biggest C is Crisis Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down. On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. Where was George Bush? He was reading a story about a pet goat to kids in Florida when he heard about the attacks. He kept sitting there for twenty minutes with a baffled look on his face. It's all on tape. You can see it for yourself. Then, instead of taking the quickest route back to Washington and immediately going on the air to reassure the panicked people of this country, he decided it wasn't safe to return to the White House. He basically went into hiding for the day-and he told Vice President Dick Cheney to stay put in his bunker. We were all frozen in front of our TVs, scared out of our wits, waiting for our leaders to tell us that we were going to be okay, and there was nobody home. It took Bush a couple of days to get his bearings and devise the right photo op at Ground Zero. That was George Bush's moment of truth, and he was paralyzed. And what did he do when he'd regained his composure? He led us down the road to Iraq -a road his own father had considered disastrous when he was President. But Bush didn't listen to Daddy. He listened to a higher father. He prides himself on being faith based, not reality based. If that doesn't scare the crap out of you, I don't know what will. A Hell of a Mess So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership. But when you look around, you've got to ask: "Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point. Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened. Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time . Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when "the Big Three" referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen-and more important, what are we going to do about it? Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry. I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bubblehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change? Had Enough? Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope. I believe in America . In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America 's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises-the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this: You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to action for people who, like me, believe in America . It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the horseshit and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had enough. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |