{"id":24378,"date":"2023-03-09T14:26:17","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T06:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/purposelypeople.com\/?p=24378"},"modified":"2023-03-11T23:43:08","modified_gmt":"2023-03-11T15:43:08","slug":"we-the-people-blame-the-people-citizens-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purposelypeople.com\/we-the-people-blame-the-people-citizens-too\/","title":{"rendered":"We the people. Blame the people. Citizens too."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Stop blaming your people. Pick on someone your own size.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

One of the common leadership cop-outs is the propensity for us leaders, at any level, to blame our own lack of effective leadership on “The will of the people…” In the Bible, we are given the example of King Saul, who disobeyed the instructions that God gave him through Samuel the prophet. Instead of owning up, King Saul made poor excuses for himself and cast blame on the people; in effect, saying that they were ungovernable. These two verses give a very brief description. Do read the before and after to get the full context.<\/span><\/p>\n

1Sa 15:20-21<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

20<\/sup> And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.<\/span><\/p>\n

21<\/sup> But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.<\/span><\/p>\n

What do you think King Saul ought to have done instead, when Samuel met him and asked him about the situation? What would you, or I, have done? If we had been in Samuel’s shoes, how would we have felt, and what would we have committed to do?<\/span><\/p>\n

Recently, I heard Dr Stephen Kotkin, now at the Hoover Institution, assert, in reply to a notion that it was so hard to get students to become interested in studying history, that “That’s on US, it’s on US to teach in such a manner that the students become interested in studying history.” That hit me right between the eyes, because I have been guilty of whining about good students being so hard to find myself. Let’s commit to making the way we teach whatever subject or topic that much more interesting for our students or clients, shall we?<\/span><\/p>\n

I have recently also been afflicted by posts and messages on social media and social messaging platforms about how “hollow” Singapore is, or has become. The views are correct, but so what? If we feel that Singapore is indeed “hollow”, are we able to articulate what we mean by “hollow”, or are we simply repeating the echo of other peoples’ mad shouting? If we indeed feel that Singapore is “hollow” then say what it is that causes us to feel that way. Go on further. Tell me what you have done, or what you are doing about that “hollowness”. One thing we can certainly do is to turn the “hollowness” into “hallowness” and describe what we are already doing to work towards that happy hallowed state. What are YOU doing towards that, in your little corner of the world?<\/span><\/p>\n

Stop blaming other people and justifying yourself. Call me out if you observe me doing that, but you had better be prepared to give me concrete examples or I will blow you away back into your chosen echochamber. Let’s help each other to Grow Up into Citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n

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