Wise words

Have to start off with a quote.

Bear with me. Blood, sweat, and tears When someone truly cares about us, we almost automatically start to care about them. All the great leaders of the past have known this. Napoleon talked personally with his soldiers and handed out medals to show them that he cared about their hurts and valued their bravery.They responded by fighting for him until the last. Winston Churchill walked in the bombed ruins of London and spoke the words the defiant people would have spoken if they’d had his eloquence. He didn’t talk about abstractions, like overall war plans or strategic objectives. He spoke about real things: blood, sweat and tears. He embodied the values the nation was fighting for. He gave meaning to people’s efforts to stay alive and fight back. Hand people instructions and they’ll do no more than you tell them to—and maybe not even that. Give them rules and they’ll find ways around them. Talk about financial ratios, profitability, and return on investment, and their eyes will glaze over. But give people something to believe in—a sense of meaning and purpose in what they do— and show them that they matter, and they’ll produce efforts and results you wouldn’t have imagined possible.

One of the comments most often made about B.Liar is his absence from the hospital wards where victims of his ego-centered war are held. He will fly off to Iraq whenever a photo-opportunity is needed. He has caused his government to issue much new legislation - i.e. instructions. He declaims how wonderful his works are in the worlds of finance - i.e. financial ratios etc. He creates Rules which are swiftly circumvented.

What he does not do is give people in the wider community something to believe in, meaning and purpose. That lack certainly has great effect in the military where increasing numbers say "Enough - I'm off". I am sure his dismal performance in real terms is down to that lack of meaning.