Leadership: Paying the Price

I have always liked Don Rumsfeld. He is a lot like the family I grew up in. There are only two people in the world I feared to debate and both were Sweeten men who sat at my dinner table each evening.

My dad loved to argue and almost every night he practiced the biblical admonition that "Iron sharpens iron" by throwing out a topic and challenging us to chew on it.

Older brother Maury learned from dad and he had a three year head start sharpening his sword. By age ten I had learned that all white collar managers were crooks and swindler who worked for criminal companies and treated the wonderful union workers like scum.

I also learned that all union members went to heaven and hell was reserved for those who fought the union. I did not really learn these things well until after I was nine. It was then that I crossed a picket line at the Illinois Brokerage, a shop that sold cheap clothes to poor people like us.

By the time I arrived home from the city Dad already knew of my mortal sin. He was so mad that I didn't know if he would have a heart attack and kill himself or a rage attack and kill me first. Although neither of us died that day I tried never again to cross a picket line. I had a panic attack at age 35 while riding with a friend who drove past some pickets at an Ohio park. I hardly slept all night worrying that somehow the union might call dad and tell him I had done it again.

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Rummy seems a lot like Dad. If he told me not to cross a picket line or embarrass the USA by making prisoners take off their clothes I would make sure I did exactly what he said.

It appears that some Democrats want rummy's head on a platter because a few GI's violated Iraqi prisoners' rights. I'll bet they can't sleep well right now.

The Congress took Rummy on today on TV in front of the whole world. They say it is because we need to show the Muslims we are open. With this kind of openness they will never, ever want democracy. Arabs keep their leaders up on a pedestal while our pedestal is a gallows.

If you want to be a leader you had better be prepared to take some licks. One young Representative who is about a third Rummy's age demanded his resignation. That is like my demanding dad's resignation as head of the house.

Leadership is difficult. It requires a thick skin and a passion to serve. Read my posting from yesterday. Leaders cannot survive if they require a lot of affirmation.

W. A. Criswell on Leadership

Dr. Criswell was the pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas from 1944 to 1991. The church grew to twenty-four thousand people.

He once told this story: The population of this country is 200 million. Eighty-four million are over 65 years of age, which leaves 116 million to do the work. People under 20 years of age total 75 million, which leaves 41 million to do the work.

There are 22 million who are employed in government, which leaves 19 million to do the work. Four million are in the Armed Forces, which leaves 15 million to do the work. Deduct 14,800,000, the number of state and city employees, leaving 200,000 to do the work. There are 188,000 in the hospitals and insane asylums, so that leaves 12,000 to do the work.

Now it may interest you to know there are 11,998 people in jail, so that leaves just 2 people to carry the load. That's you and me - and, brother, I'm getting tired of doing everything myself.
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I wonder if Rumsfeld is feeling this way tonight.

Gary Sweeten

gsweeten@lifewaycenters.com
www.lifewaycenters.com