BEING A GOOD LEADER IS DESTINY

BEING A GOOD LEADER IS DESTINY

Being a good leader is not just all about hard work, destiny needs also to cooperate and that anyone who wants to be one does not need to force everyone to like him or her because leadership is all about fate. I have read plenty of personal political stories of colorful political figures in the world from the biblical times 'til the modern era, and I have fathomed through my readings that leadership is all about one's political palm.

Ronald Reagan, one of the most illustrious United States presidents was an unknown political aspirant until he was given the chance to be the keynote speaker of the Republican Party National Convention of 1964 supporting then Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater to be president of the United States of America. The political life of Reagan was never the same again after that speech which made him known as a very eloquent public speaker all over America, he was eventually elected California Governor in his mid fifties (50's) and became the oldest president of the United States at sixty nine (69) years old but one of the most effective American leaders in history being the one who started the Cold War against Russia formerly the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and its satellite communist states.

Ramon Magsaysay never imagined becoming president of the Republic of the Philippines not until former Senator Jose P. Laurel Sr. (former president of the Philippine Japanese sponsored government and former Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court) and former Senator Claro Mayo Recto (a bar topnotcher) invited him to join their political party, the Nacionalista Party and be their standard bearer for president since no one in their party can outlast then President Elpidio Quirino in a presidential contest. What was the secret of Magsaysay in becoming a good leader without forcing himself over the citizens of the Philippines? The answer was an undented public service and DESTINY, after becoming a war hero in the Second World War, Magsaysay ran for a congressional seat in Zambales and became a Congressman and would later be the House Committee Chairman on National Defense, President Quirino his former party mate and boss would later on appoint him as Secretary of National Defense because of his military exploits and because of his record as the House of Representatives' Defense Committee Chairman. Magsaysay was the main architect for the surrender of that former War Hero turned Muslim bandit Hadji Kamlon who was wrecking havoc at Sulu and Tawi-tawi islands and became more popular for arresting former Governor Lacson of Negros Occidental for being the prime suspect in the murder of his former political rival, Moises Padilla. Senators Laurel and Recto would eventually persuade Magsaysay to jump ship on their party and let him ran for the presidency against Magsaysay's former boss and former party mate at Liberal Party, President Elpidio Quirino and the rest as they rightfully say it would belong to history.

Barrack Hussien Obama was a little known State Senator of the land of the prairies, the State of Illinois not until he was given the chance to be the keynote speaker of the Democratic Party National Convention of 2004 supporting former U.S. Senator and now Secretary of State John Kerry for the Democratic Presidential nomination during that time, after that rousing and sterling political speech Obama was not just known nationally in America but also globally. He went on to be elected as a United States Senator and four years later he was eventually elected as the first black man to be the supreme leader of the United States of America, thereby making him as the strongest man on earth during his era.

Corazon Cojuangco Aquino never expected to led an impoverished country, the Philippines under a dictatorial regime for twenty long years not until her husband former Senator Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. a presidential hopeful himself was gunned down on the tarmac of Manila, short of almost three (3) years before she was catapulted to power. That fateful day August 21, 1983 was the offshoot of the dictatorial regime's downfall, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino was urged by the people to ran in a snap election for the presidency held on February 7, 1986 against the virtual strongman Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, Sr. The election was rigged, Marcos was declared as the winner by the Commission on Election but the people was infuriated by the outcome of the election and staged a bloodless and successful revolution against Marcos which eventually pushed Corazon Cojuangco Aquino a former housewife to head the Revolutionary Government of the Philippines from 1986-1992.

These events that I have narrated would simply tell us that for one to be a good leader, he or she does not need to forcefully ask the people to like him or her. All he or she has to do is to show his wares on who he or she really is, like what Reagan, Obama and Magsaysay did and everything will simply follow. Secondly, I believe that DESTINY is really on their side and when DESTINY pushes you to be at the helm no one can ever defeat you. In connection with these, I am asking and urging any political aspirant to be simply who you are and just do your best and everything will simply follow much more if your political greatness is already properly written in your palms. Do not rape the will of the people by using illegal machinations, deception and cheating just to win a political contest since by doing so you are not just destroying the present state of our societal system but also the future of our posterity.

Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, Sr. would have been a great leader had he not imposed his will on the Filipino people by lengthening his wield of power. He was supposed to lead the Philippines for only eight years under the 1935 Philippine Constitution but because of his self interest and political ambitions he declared Martial Law, dissolved Congress and ordered for the revision of the Constitution for him to stay long in power. Many political rivals of him were incarcerated, political activists went missing and human rights abuses were rampant anywhere in the archipelago. Had he used his intelligence in a good way he would have an eternal rendezvous with greatness.Does any leader stay for long in power just to be a great one? The answer is a big NO, Abraham Lincoln never completed his first term of office of the presidency of the United States of America but he is considered as one of the best presidents America or even the world has ever seen for making the black people become free from slavery and for rebuilding America after the Civil War.

This is my point, in order for a leader to be great he/she does not have to impose his/her force, will and brute upon the people who makes him/her as he/she is, instead he/she has to lead the people a selfless,exemplary, and dedicated public service for him or her to be etched in the pages of history as a great person and leader.