Hearts wilt with hopelessness. A week later the same news reports the outbreak of another war in the Balkans. We sigh in resignation. Months of tumbling stock prices portend the demise of many promising start-ups, scrambling for increasingly scarce capital. Reports of layoffs pepper the news.
Retirement portfolios reflect emaciation compared to portly dimensions a year ago.
Only their vows hold them together. What distinguishes a leader is the ability to look at what seems an unalterable situation, to envision a more promising scenario, and then to initiate action to create the world they imagine. The leader may be a housewife who watched the human destruction wrought by abandoned mine fields or the princess equally distressed by the same conditions. Whether leadership occurs in the larger world which these two women took on, or in our local community, workplace, family, or personal life, what makes the difference is having the courage to see a possibility and then to make a commitment to act upon it. Leaders face the choice point offered in each moment with hope and promise.