I learned this from Truman

I've just finished the good long book on Truman by MacCulloch and what a journey it was! From the life of His grandfather, Solomon Young, who marched across the Wild West to settle in Missouri, to his father who failed in business and finally to Truman who had no money to go to college and thus became a farmer for near to a decade after which his rise to Presidency was in so many ways an accident of sorts. Yet this farmer started the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, NATO, UN, fought the Korean War and stood up for Civil Rights, just to name a few of the stuff that came to pass in his time.

It was very odd, for whilst reading his biography I could not conceive of why his popular ratings towards the end of his presidency stood at a weak 26 percent! and having read thoroughly about his achievements, his sense of decency, his far reaching decisions, his respect for the office and the immense wealth that most Americans enjoyed, it was supremely illogical that he should be so unpopular. It could be said that the fundamentals of American Strategy in the cold war and its eventual victory had been set firmly in place by Truman but i guess the American people in 1952 could not have seen the results of his decisions until 1991, a good 40 years later.

With that I learned a few important lessons... Firstly, God can choose anyone and give him the gifts necessary for that position. It is God who selects and disposes. Secondly, leaders must search for the right decision and not the most popular option. This was Truman's mantra and contrary to the misplaced notion of things working out in the end, he paid the price for making the right decisions by having 3/4 of the nation turn against him. Truman can always be compared to Eisenhower who was immensely popular during and towards the end of his presidency but ever since, we have discovered that he was a do-nothing president. The worst leaders are those who are just nice without the gumption to make difficult and right decisions. History will always prove them hollow.

Thirdly, leadership is a lonely business and if one cannot stand the heat, one should get out of the kitchen. There will always be feelings of why people below do not understand. I bet my parents feel that way many times and only as i grew older did i come to understand them more. Clearly, I could not see beyond my own immediate wants. Fourthly, one should be very very careful of popular opinion! so often it stands against God's opinion. I've notice that popular opinion is rarely formed by each individual actually thinking for himself or herself and then coming together to discuss the rightness of their stand. This idealistic process does not exist. More often than not, some fruitcake intellectual, some know it all politician, some demagogue, some virulent journalist and emotional opinion maker of some sort will do the thinking and move large chunks of the populace toward that view. These people love to criticize but have no idea what God wants or thinks and they just enjoy moving people to their opinion, though not so much as loving what is right. Its odd how opinions that grow onto people are driven more by emotions than rationality or godly convictions.

Lastly, Truman surrounded himself with giants like Marshall and Acheson. Good leaders are not individualists, they are team leaders who bring in the best to do the best for which the leader himself cannot accomplish. This keeps him humble yet effective. Truman set the vision and got the best to carry that vision through. The Marshall plan, was also Truman's hardwork, but he insisted it be called the Marshall plan and to this day we credit General Marshall for his work, easily forgetting Truman's involvement. And Truman would never begrudge this, taking joy instead in seeing the plan bring food to millions of starving Europeans and even finding great comfort in seeing Marshall praised. Lousy leaders are always jealous of people who work closely with them and never cease to try to prove themselves better. Its a silly competition from the start. Its unnecessary.

So i think we should be careful of making everybody happy or trying to conform to popularity. Its often the worst thing for them. If the people of Israel had taken an opinion poll, I wonder how far into the wilderness they would have gotten. Too often, people want their leaders to be just nice, friendly and caring... they don't bother if they make the right decisions or whether they know Jesus or not. This is about tone, not substance and we are missing the point if we think that way. Leaders must listen, love and stand right before God. For that, almost certainly, they will be disliked. Think, every biblical hero- they had their truckloads of criticisms and detractors but see what God thought of them!

And how did Truman fare in a recent poll, years after he passed away? He is now easily one of the top ten most popular presidents in history. The Irony. We do well to remember Mark Twain in all this. He said, and I paraphrase - When one does the right thing, most will be astonished, alot will be upset and only some will be pleased, but do it anyhow.

Aim for rightness, not for popularity.

Its 2am and I've just returned from Range. Torrential rains and lightning dragged the shoot into the wee hours of midnight and I stood stoically in the rusted shed, waiting impatiently for the rain to stop. As the day flashed by in my thoughts, I was deeply tempted to be rather unhappy about the proceedings. There was much to be displeased and possibly bitter about. Around me were young, bubbly chaps lashing out at the indignities of the military life and I could see why one could easily gain quick acceptance by joining in the conversation.

When these times come, I desperately need time to pause and look at the sky. I saw passing clouds passing in majestic form against the the light dash of blue behind. The vast expanse in its superior splendour and the grace to know that God is sovereign everywhere, and yes even in times of deep impatience and failure. So I could close my eyes and praise the Lord, though I did not feel like it, it was so obviously the calling of all my life. My meaning as God has so lovingly shown, is to glorify Him by loving Him and adoring Him with praise.

Again, I'm shown the weakness of my humanity, how I cannot stand without God and how He is so beautiful and loving. I need to sleep now. God is good.

The big clean up

A week ago, I began cleaning up my room, which is nothing short of a miracle. The battalion of stuffed toys, the assortment of papers piled high upon my table, the trophies (which included the best dressed boy in primary 4 award. I was not so shabby all the time though I am pretty embarrassed by that award) and a slew of sentimental items all packed into my little abode. Being a historian, one developed the habit of keeping everything, in some hope that it would be of value for future reference, though this always was the great excuse for sentimentality. But functionality met momentum and a sudden urge to execute the grandest clean up operaion in the history of Charles' room began.

First to go were the trophies; I did not need 4th in inter class basketball in primary five to hang around much longer and i had not the desire to gaze much longer at a lump of metal ever since Christ gave Himself to be the prize for a wretched man like myself. The next to fly were the soft toys. All my teddy bears which once had names and histories invented were clinically shoved into the big bag. There was a pang of lost as I pressed them firmly into the garbage bag, but long had I grown out of them. In my youth, i indulged myself in action figures and inanimate objects but as i grew older, they reminded me of how the realities of life had grown beyond the playpen. Friends and family, not soft toys, were at the heart of my world here, not toys who would do my bidding.

Finally, the really sentimental stuff, each with its special meanings for me. Every item was precious to me but not necessarily to others since each of them carried stories, quietly weaved into some part of my life once lived. Many rusted items were kept, along with the compositions I wrote when I was really young, the yellowed diaries, the poems, the postcards, the sticker album, the stamps, the whimsical letters and a host of personal antiques. Yet, much I threw away as well, each only after deep thought and each for their own reason. I think its impossible to rid the memories of the past simply by throwing away an item that stemmed from that time and I do not throw to forget, but some items which were broken beyond repair just had to go. It was and still is never easy to do so.

When it all was done, and the room looked swanky for once, I did think about the room in the heart. Yes contrived as it sounds, were there trophies to dump? was i playing with stuffed toys in my life - comfort zones and carefully created conditions where hurt could never happen and personal gratification the chief end of it all. Were there memories of the past that I should revisit to relearn lessons, or had I forgotten the lessons because the past became obscured by careless sentimentality? Were there broken dreams and broken memories that I had to surrender for without which I would be entrapped in its consequences despite my knowing it?

Its really been quite a journey since this great clean up and I am now completely assured of my weakness and if God does not extend His grace and utter love to me, I can see how hopeless it would be for me. For if i should dump the trophies, I would create a trophy for having the courage to dump the trophies and that if i should shove the soft toys into the gutter, I would boast in the comfort of putting myself into discomfort. The whims of man are exceedingly foolish indeed! How it must be that only through Jesus, should anyone, especially one such as myself, be led to truly spruce a darkened heart.

Only Jesus, only Jesus is the real spring cleaner.