“Lead, follow, or get out of the way”

There’s a great article in Time magazine titled 10 Ideas That Are Changing The World. You can read it here. The first “Idea” is titled Common Wealth. Rather than summarize the article here I think you should read it. It says a lot about who FYI the Truth is except we aren’t working on a global scale (yet) we’re working on issues in the U.S. When we have them all solved we’ll move on to the global issues.

Actually many of the issues we face the other nations in the world face as well. Solving them in the U.S. would have global implications. What I would like to highlight in the article is a section that talks about how we can all assist in solving the issues. Each of us contains the capacity to be a gifted author or golf pro but we all have different strengths. We all contain the ability to be a leader; some more than others. Some of us are or could be great leaders and some of us are great supporters. The following excerpt is from a section in the article titled Power of One. Take what you read in this excerpt and apply it to the issues here in the U.S. During times of such great challenges I’m always reminded of the quote by Thomas Paine, a popular propagandist and voice of the common man during the American Revolution, “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.”

Great social transformations—the end of slavery, the women's and civil rights movements, the end of colonial rule, the birth of environmentalism—all began with public awareness and engagement. Our political leaders followed rather than led. It was scientists, engineers, church-goers and young people who truly led the way. If as citizens we vote for war, then war it will be. If instead we support a global commitment to sustainable development, then our leaders will follow, and we will find a way to peace.

Each of us has a role to play and a chance for leadership. First, study the problems—in school, in reading, on the Web. Second, when possible, travel. There is no substitute for seeing extreme poverty, or deforestation, or the destructive forces of nature in New Orleans, to understand our generation's real challenges. There is no substitute for meeting and engaging with people across cultures, religions and regions to realize that we are all in this together. Third, get your business, community, church or student group active in some aspect of sustainable development. Americans are promoting the control of malaria, the spread of solar power, the end of polio and the reversal of treatable blindness, to name just a few of today's inspiring examples of private leadership. Finally, demand that our politicians honor our nation's global promises and commitments on climate change and the fight against hunger and poverty. If the public leads, politicians will surely follow.