Leading from the Middle

Caption: London's support for a beleaguered Greece.

“There was an Old Tost**, that in the very State of Impotence, had still a Whore in the Head of him. His Ghostly Father took Notice of it, and Ply'd him Hard with Wholesome Advice, upon the Subject of the Lusts of the Flesh. This Reverend Fornicator thank'd him most Heartily for his Kind and Christian Councel, and the Grace of Heaven, says he, I'll Follow it; For to tell ye the Plain Truth on't, I am told that 'tis Naught for me; and really, my Body is quite out of Tune for Those Gambols.”

“When Things are at the Worst they'd Mend.”

Apropos, no, for our Greek brethren? In my work experience as long as there remained enough in the till to keep an old system tottering along, nothing would change. And, as the graphic suggests, there was always a chorus of vested interests to keep the status quo. Such was the invariable case in the absence of good leadership. Only an effective leader - with a clear and shared vision for a better life - was capable of rallying enough effective followers and their support to bring about essential change. Instead, what I saw and continue to see in many agencies is that opportunities for internal change are squandered. And, only when the opportunity to decide for one’s self is removed, does change occur, mandated from outside. Of course, the “Old Tost’s” being “out of Tune for Those Gambols” improves his hearing the advice to “Mend”. Bankruptcy may well put Greece “out of Tune” - all options exhausted - and lead to mandated change, unfortunately not of their choosing. A sad moment for the birthplace of democracy.

*Source: Abstemius' Fables translated by Sir Roger L'Estrange.

**Tost, probably derived from Tosspot, a drunkard.

© John Lubans 2015

 

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