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Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
President, International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University
At this stage of history, the world seems to be moving from bad to worse. This is due to a variety of sources. Above all, it is revealed in a conspicuous lack of global leadership both in the spiritual and political sphere. Those who want to provide global leadership must do so by demonstrating genuine love, respect and concern for all people across every continent without exception.
Evaluation of Political Leaders
The political leaders of our major countries all over the world are merely concerned with what they term to be their national interests and security. Most often they advance their causes through the infliction of so much suffering on so many people. Political abuses have almost gone out of control in a number of instances. As a result, millions live in abject poverty and misery. Systematical evidence has been furnished that politicians who resorted to the military to solve political problems have proven to be a disaster in the long range.
During the decade of the eighties, Pope John Paul II said that world peace would eventually come only after two of the greatest evils of the 20th century are gone. He added saying that these were communism and capitalism because both advance their causes through the exploitation of people. We need to have more religious leaders condemning in the open such political abuses. When communism collapsed in the latter part of the 1980s the whole world took a sigh of relief. They thought that now the United States would assume the leadership to bring about a genuine world peace.
Unfortunately, this hope was very short lived. The United States showed its real teeth. It demonstrated that the Pope was fully correct in his assessment. With no real enemy to confront any longer, the American nation embarked upon the largest military build up in history. To turn an insult into injury, this nation began to sell weapons and military equipment to every single nation that was willing to give the right price. As a result, the world witnessed numerous conflicts among nations and also among factions within the same nations, especially across Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Global leadership does not come with the accumulation of weapons of mass destruction and with a great military build up. It does not come with the instigation of fear and threats and through systematic demonstration of machismo. It comes with spiritual strength revealed in such virtues as patience, perseverance, humility, love, respect, concern and dedication to others. True leadership cannot be imposed on people. It comes naturally through the free choice of the people. Good leaders are those who are accepted as such by the world at large because people see in them universal benefits.
Global Leadership in Perspective
Global leadership is not necessarily attached to politicians. People of the caliber of Confucius, Buddha, Jesus of Nazareth, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II, Nelson Mandela and others have all provide global leadership. They simply demonstrated that they were truly interested in the universal welfare of all people without exception. Above all, they all had the element of credibility, which is so essential in global leadership. Since global leadership has become so vital in the promotion and retention of world peace, schools everywhere should be encouraged to teach their students everything that is needed so that they may be enabled to develop global leadership qualities.
It is highly encouraging to see nowadays so many institutions of learning developing peace education studies and programs. The teaching for peace means teaching for the development of good living that is capable of creating a healthy environment. It means teaching for the acquisition of genuine security through respect for others. Besides, it enables people in every realm of government to straighten up their priorities by making the people’s welfare the top priority in all of their endeavors. In countries where steps in this direction were taken, we notice people have been provided with a good health care system and with good educational means. As a result, people demonstrate to have fewer worries and they prove to be happier.
In view of what has been stated, we should be careful not to confuse global tyranny with global leadership. When those in authority use fear as a method of keeping everyone under control, such responsible government officials are exercising tyranny, not leadership. Global leadership may be viewed as genuine only when those in authority use love, concern, and interest in the universal welfare of all people without exception, not in the welfare of some to the exclusion of others. For politicians to assume global leadership they should first and foremost be changed into statesmen. This explains why the global leaders of all times, spiritually and otherwise, were all termed to be statesmen.
President, International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University
At this stage of history, the world seems to be moving from bad to worse. This is due to a variety of sources. Above all, it is revealed in a conspicuous lack of global leadership both in the spiritual and political sphere. Those who want to provide global leadership must do so by demonstrating genuine love, respect and concern for all people across every continent without exception.
Evaluation of Political Leaders
The political leaders of our major countries all over the world are merely concerned with what they term to be their national interests and security. Most often they advance their causes through the infliction of so much suffering on so many people. Political abuses have almost gone out of control in a number of instances. As a result, millions live in abject poverty and misery. Systematical evidence has been furnished that politicians who resorted to the military to solve political problems have proven to be a disaster in the long range.
During the decade of the eighties, Pope John Paul II said that world peace would eventually come only after two of the greatest evils of the 20th century are gone. He added saying that these were communism and capitalism because both advance their causes through the exploitation of people. We need to have more religious leaders condemning in the open such political abuses. When communism collapsed in the latter part of the 1980s the whole world took a sigh of relief. They thought that now the United States would assume the leadership to bring about a genuine world peace.
Unfortunately, this hope was very short lived. The United States showed its real teeth. It demonstrated that the Pope was fully correct in his assessment. With no real enemy to confront any longer, the American nation embarked upon the largest military build up in history. To turn an insult into injury, this nation began to sell weapons and military equipment to every single nation that was willing to give the right price. As a result, the world witnessed numerous conflicts among nations and also among factions within the same nations, especially across Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Global leadership does not come with the accumulation of weapons of mass destruction and with a great military build up. It does not come with the instigation of fear and threats and through systematic demonstration of machismo. It comes with spiritual strength revealed in such virtues as patience, perseverance, humility, love, respect, concern and dedication to others. True leadership cannot be imposed on people. It comes naturally through the free choice of the people. Good leaders are those who are accepted as such by the world at large because people see in them universal benefits.
Global Leadership in Perspective
Global leadership is not necessarily attached to politicians. People of the caliber of Confucius, Buddha, Jesus of Nazareth, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II, Nelson Mandela and others have all provide global leadership. They simply demonstrated that they were truly interested in the universal welfare of all people without exception. Above all, they all had the element of credibility, which is so essential in global leadership. Since global leadership has become so vital in the promotion and retention of world peace, schools everywhere should be encouraged to teach their students everything that is needed so that they may be enabled to develop global leadership qualities.
It is highly encouraging to see nowadays so many institutions of learning developing peace education studies and programs. The teaching for peace means teaching for the development of good living that is capable of creating a healthy environment. It means teaching for the acquisition of genuine security through respect for others. Besides, it enables people in every realm of government to straighten up their priorities by making the people’s welfare the top priority in all of their endeavors. In countries where steps in this direction were taken, we notice people have been provided with a good health care system and with good educational means. As a result, people demonstrate to have fewer worries and they prove to be happier.
In view of what has been stated, we should be careful not to confuse global tyranny with global leadership. When those in authority use fear as a method of keeping everyone under control, such responsible government officials are exercising tyranny, not leadership. Global leadership may be viewed as genuine only when those in authority use love, concern, and interest in the universal welfare of all people without exception, not in the welfare of some to the exclusion of others. For politicians to assume global leadership they should first and foremost be changed into statesmen. This explains why the global leaders of all times, spiritually and otherwise, were all termed to be statesmen.