Do you know who said that? Actually quite a lot of people have. Possibly the greatest leader of all time, depending on your beliefs, preached this continuously. The person I am referring to is Jesus Christ. Whether you are a Christian or not, all his preaching had great wisdom. Can anyone deny that the statement at the top of my Editorial embraces wisdom?  Other people have added other words to it e.g. ‘…at heart’, ‘first’, etc. All superfluous, really.

I have heard many campaign speeches and acceptance speeches from politicians, military commanders and the like containing the same phrase. They are full of humility. Some thank God, and the public listening roars with approval. Maybe the person saying this actually believes it at that time, but being more than a little cynical I doubt it. The other saying that, unfortunately, is executed far more is – “power corrupts.”

Rt. Rev. Bishop Thompson, Anglican Bishop of Kingston, Jamaica is visiting here on Grand Cayman and he made the point this morning (24) at a service commemorating the Apostle, St. Bartholomew, “if only our leaders were servants first and foremost they would be held up as being ‘great’ and the world would not be in the mess and full of turmoil it is now.” Words of
wisdom indeed.

I can understand, even though I disagree, with people saying they are agnostics or atheists but what I cannot understand is their blinkered sight and plugged ears when the Bible is so full of wisdom, and refuse to read or listen to its message. You may have noticed that the ‘iThought’ of the day at the bottom of the Editorial page is taken from the Book of Ecclesiasticus (also called the Wisdom of Sirach or just Sirach, so as not to confuse it with the Old Testament Book, Ecclesiastes). These thoughts were written nearly two hundred years B.C. although evidence has come to light that it could have been written much earlier. It was relegated to the Apocrypha because when the Books of the Old Testament were put together no Hebrew text could be found. However, various Hebrew texts have since been discovered including one that is the oldest ever found. Its messages resembles Proverbs, except it is the work of a single author. We might be four thousand years in the future from when it was written, we might be two thousand years in the future from Jesus’ teachings, but wisdom never changes.

It is not how much power a leader can wield to imitate God it is how much he is humbled to want to serve the people who put their trust in him in his election. The case that was put forward to me by someone here, that if the people can get a few crumbs from the table of a leader who has amassed great wealth for himself (using his position) is better than nothing. I can only say, see how much everyone would be better off if he hadn’t stolen this wealth for himself.