I was listening to the news this morning as I drove into work - it would seem that Prime Minister Harper is about to call an election for the fall. Inevitably, when I hear about the fact that we have an election coming up, my mind automatically takes me back to what turned out to be one of the earliest lessons I had in leadership.
In 1989, from April 15th to June 4th, the people of China mounted massive protests, calling for freedom and democracy from their government. In response, the government sent in an equally massive military response that left anywhere from 2000-3000 people dead (according to the Chinese Red Cross).
Even in the face of this enormous military onslaught, the protests remained peaceful - and the picture above epitomizes the lessons I learned that day. Alone and unarmed, a solitary, unknown individual stopped four tanks.
What did I take away from this, even at the age of 16? Firstly, I realized what true courage was - as Ambrose Redmoon says, it "...is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear". Then, I asked myself if I thought I would have the courage to do what this unknown person did... and realized that I would never know unless I was in the same situation myself.
So the next time you are challenging someone to confront their fears, to put themselves into a situation that makes them afraid and uncomfortable, stop, look in the mirror, and ask yourself two questions:
- Do I know firsthand what I'm asking them to do?
- Do I have the courage to do it?
~Guy
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