Imperator or Orator

Both the words of the title are from Latin, though one may appear to be from the English dictionary. I have attempted to identify their potency relating to the present generation of standard bearers who are walking through our lives in the present cataclysmal climate. A few examples are trotted out; which may or may not coincide with general perceptions. 

Great commanders in challenging times provide opportunities for their unusual abilities to come to the fore. Through grave social and military crises these ‘Imperator’ rise and accomplish to create history which might otherwise have deluded them had they lived their ordinary and unrecorded lives. They never tell people how to do things. They tell them what to do and are never surprised with the ingenuity of their citizens. They are amazed at the accomplishments and do not care who gets the credit.

(Reichstag building, Berlin, Germany

Picture by Jafar Shameem)

They know the truth is the right thing to do and the hard part is doing it. Yet they do it. They are true imperitors, have the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. They do  not set out to be leaders, but become one by the equality of their actions and the integrity of their intent. As soldiers worth their salt they are antiwar, yet they are convinced that there are things worth fighting for. They are  imperator as they gave up the right to think about themselves.

(Seoul, South Korea

Picture by Jafar Shameem)

To them sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, but brains saves both. 

(Beehive building New Zealand)

How convenient and appropriate, a politician in Latin is ‘orator’! Whether our orators knew it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do. Today they are facing the wrath of nature for being orators and we for electing and supporting them!

(Tiananmen Square, Beijing China

Picture by Jafar Shameem)

We do it knowing that no one gets something for nothing; that politicians go in poor and go out rich; that the Government screws up everything it touches; and that the Will to Believe is best confined to the Religious and ‘nationalistic’ issues, as to practice anything else is just too risky. For most of the time it is a one way monologue, they speak and we listen but rarely understand. They wear their religion on their sleeve in a way that you almost feel is disingenuous, preach something and go back behind closed doors and live differently. 

(Charminar, Hyderabad, India

Picture by Jafar Shameem)

They have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded but cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation, destruction and war. They are consumed by a 24-hour, slash-and-burn, negative ad, bickering, small-minded politics that does not move the Nation forward. We do not see them coming together in a common-sense, practical, non ideological way to solve problems.

(New York, USA

Picture by Jafar Shameem) 

The problem facing us  now will last as long as we continue relying on the same politicians.

Do pause to consider crying families who have lost their dear ones because our politicians put their personal agendas before the national good. Do we have to continue to have the patience for this injustice, tolerance for government incompetence and sympathy for such leaders who fail their citizens? Do we have a choice?

(Hyde Park London, UK

Picture by Jafar Shameem)

 Do not know about others, I am taking the comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke!

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