HEROISM IS NOT GREATNESS BUT HUMILITY IN SERVICE TO HUMANITY Alexander K Opicho Eldoret, Kenya;aopicho@yahoo Culture of hero worship is now up and down in all the states of east Africa, Africa in general and even in Asia. This is openly evident in public ceremonies in honor of the perceived heroes and sheroes or heroines that often characterize statutory and customary public holidays of the east African states. In Kenya, the new constitution has a provision stipulating for the October 20th to be a public holiday, locally described as Mashujaa day. It is a similar cultural and constitutional civilization of very many other states around the region. However, this cultural and political achievement is dominated by very many shortcomings, weaknesses and commonplace piccadiloes that every man and woman having facts of local history can easily point out. East African perception of a hero is strongly influenced by history of strongmen and women, who have in one way or another enjoyed extreme leadership position. It is this version of hero worship that has again and then conditioned leaders in the east African region to have a political and governance mindset that leadership has to be equated to greatness.Where, the contrast is the technical truth that true leadership is really heroism achieved through humility and service to mankind but not personal valor and glory that rest on solid personal ambition and achievement mostly coming as a connotation of great-manship. Two American proffessors; Daft and Rourke have made very exemplary observations about the nature of meaningful and true heroism when it comes to leadership, governance, ethics and service to mankind. Daft (2000) observed that leadership is not greatness, but true leadership is like the act of that one American soldier who was in Iraq ,after noticing that there is boiling oil tank about to explode and kill fellow troop members, he jumped in to it to forestall the explosion. He died but fellow troop members were saved out of this self immolating action. Professor Rourke, equates heroic leadership and governance to the spirit of the words that are found in the national anthem of the Balkan state Checheynia.The words are that; ‘we were born in the wee of the night when the bear whelps we shall never leave our country to any vice.’ In a similar proactive tempo; President John Fitzgerald Kennedy equated true heroic leadership to effective followership by posing a question that ask yourself what you have ever done for your country before you ask your country what it has ever done for you ?..All this virtues tune into one another, even just like the famous Luther king Jnr version of leadership and heroism expressed through the parable of a street sweeper, all point to one good lesson that hero worship in any society should be worship of service to humanity but not as Ali A. Mazrui puts it, ‘apotheosification of strongman at the expense of degradation of social capital and institutions.’ In contrast to the above tempo of humility and service to mankind, practice of leadership and hero worship in east Africa is simply commemorations of greatmen.The true heroes who sacrificed themselves for the sake of the community are merely forgotten. Like in Kenya, true selfless heroes in the likes of Arap Manyei, Koitalel Arap Samoie, Elijah Masinde, and Joash Walumoli, Dedan Kimathi wa Miciuri, Chelegat Mutai and Alexander Kipsang Muge are never easily mentioned during the public ceremonies of the heroes’ day. But instead people who made unfair fortunes from politics and public office are highly garlanded during these holidays to an extended of naming some high streets and avenues after them. It is under this context of self aggrandizement that words of Shakespeare; ‘my lord, time as a judge has a wallet on its back in which it puts items of the past whence they doeth go no man can explain,’ have a matchless meaning. Other civilizations in history also failed to appreciate the true value of hero and leadership worship only to end up into a blind dint of personality cult. Personality cults were first experienced in relation to totalitarian regimes that sought to radically alter or transform society according to radical ideas. Often, a single leader became associated with this revolutionary transformation, and came to be treated as a benevolent guide for the nation without whom the transformation to a better future couldnt occur. This has been generally the justification for personality cults that arose in totalitarian societies of the 20th century, such as those of Hitler. Not all dictatorships foster personality cults, not all personality cults are dictatorships, some are nominally democratic and some leaders may actively seek to minimize their own public adulation. For example, during the Cambodian Khmer Rouge regime, images of dictator Pol Pot were rarely seen in public, and his identity was under dispute abroad until after his fall from power. The same applied to numerous Eastern European Communist regimes following World War II.Similarly, in North Korea and Thailand, there exist very successful cults of personality. In North Korea, there is actual semi-worship of both the father ,Kim Il-sung and his ancestors, some estimates going as far as suggesting that citizens of North Korea believe that Kim Il-Sung, proclaimed Eternal President four years after his death created the world, and that his son, current Dear Leader; Kim Jong-Il, can control the weather. In Thailand, strict laws keep people from expressing negative opinions of the royal family. Facebookers and twitterratti who do such things have been charged with long jail terms. Some writers like; Alexander Zinovyev have argued that Leonid Brezhnevs rule was also characterized by a cult of personality, though unlike Lenin and Stalin, Brezhnev did not initiate large-scale persecutions in the country. One of the aspects of Leonid Brezhnevs cult of personality was Brezhnevs obsession with titles, rewards and decorations, leading to his inflated decoration with medals, orders and so on. This was often ridiculed by the ordinary people and led to the creation of many jokes. Journalist Bradley Martin documented the personality cults of North Koreas father-son leadership, Great Leader Kim Il-sung and Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il. While visiting North Korea in 1979 he noted that nearly all music, art, and sculpture that he observed glorified Great Leader Kim Il-sung, whose personality cult was then being extended to his son, Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il. Kim Il-sung rejected the notion that he had created a cult around himself and accused those who suggested so of factionalism. Evidence of the cult of Kim Il-Sung continues into the 21st century despite his death in 1994 with the erection of Yeong Saeng or eternal life monuments throughout the country, each dedicated to the departed Great Leader, at which citizens are expected to pay annual tribute on his official birthday or the anniversary of his death. Similarly, Saparmurat Niyazov, who was ruler of Turkmenistan from 1985 to 2006, is another oft-cited cultivator of a cult of personality. Niyazov simultaneously cut funding to and partially disassembled the education system in the name of reform, while injecting ideological indoctrination into it by requiring all schools to take his own book, the Ruhnama, as its primary text, and like Kim Il-sung, there is even a creation myth surrounding him. During Niyazov rule there was no freedom of the press nor was there freedom of speech. This further meant that opposition to Niyazov was strictly forbidden and major opposition figures have been imprisoned, institutionalized, deported, or have fled the country, and their family members are routinely harassed by the authorities. Additionally, a silhouette of Niyazov was used as a logo on television broadcasts and statues and pictures of him were erected everywhere. Rationale and urgency of hero worship as a national practice is that it has a direct effect on the quality of public sector governance, corporate governance and level of ethics in the multiple sector leadership. It thus, has to serve true goals of future history but not to be manipulated to an extend of becoming an entertainment package for the powers that be. It must be based on identification of true heroes, Like Wangare Mathai who in spite of enjoying high financial success, her passion for green environment guided her conscience to caution that she be cremated in a cheapest coffin made from fresh water hyacinth but not solid timbre lest she may commit a sin of cutting a tree whether in life or in death. References; Daft, L. (2009); Leadership experience Rourke, D. (2009); International politics Alexander K Opicho is a social researcher with Sanctuary Researchers ltd in Eldoret, Kenya he is also a lecturer in Research Methods in governance and Leadership.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 16:22:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015