The Sins of Our Leaders

Most of the evil in our world can be traced, directly or indirectly, to those who hold authority and leadership. The grievous sins of our leaders stain our human experience. The decisions and actions of a president, a prime minister, a general, or a corporate executive bring harm and hardship to a greater number of men, women, and children than any deed by any common criminal. The worst violations, by far, happen behind the doors of traditional institutions, where every foul intention is shaped by avarice and enlarged by power.

I am appalled by the continual wrongdoing of leaders in political, military, and business realms. Leaders who appear to take pleasure in being greedy and arrogant. Leaders who seek oppressive control over worldly matters, abusing mankind and polluting our planet as they pursue their own selfish ambitions. Leaders who are liars, thieves, and deceivers, promoting their vile policies at the expense of honest workers.

Leaders who are without any shred of principle, and whose every public utterance is an affront to reason. Leaders who have no pity and no shame, sending bombs and missiles into civilian regions, killing and maiming defenseless people. Leaders who are never satisfied with their gains and spoils, always wanting to take more, possess more, and hoard more. Leaders who smirk as they spread their lucrative contagion into every corner of our lives.

If there is ever a universal day of freedom and atonement, a day when fear and violence and inequality are finally banished, I hope to see the creators of war and poverty marked out for mortification, pulled down from their vainglorious heights, and stripped of their false honor. I would delight in seeing all leaders exposed and humbled, deprived of their wealth and their esteem, and called to account by their fellow human beings.