Feeling Out of Step with the Rest of the World

When I was younger I saw leaders in all areas of life who had compassion, fairness, an ability to acknowledge their mistakes, respect for those they were leading and an understanding of the responsibility they had for those in their sphere of influence. I thought that this is what leaders would always be like. It was the type of leader I have attempted to be throughout my life and I feel like I have to some extent succeeded.

At some point, the world moved away from me and the type of leader I valued became obsolete and unpopular with the majority of the human race. Now that we are in the 2020s the majority of people want leaders who despise others who disagree with them and look to make them suffer. We have leaders who revel in being prejudiced and dismissive and whose followers love them for that. The worse they are to those who are of a different mindset, the more popular they become. When they make mistakes they double down, they lie, and they attack everything about those who have seen their mistakes. Their devoted followers are despised as human beings and seem to be completely disposable. The idea of responsibility for those they lead is now completely out of the question. They only see responsibility for their own enrichment, their own power and their own selfish desires.

This change goes from the President downwards. Leaders in politics have never been worse, leaders in business at all levels have never been worse, and human nature has never been worse in my lifetime. At some point life left me behind in this respect, but there was no way I was ever going to follow the wrong direction.