Hi,
I wish I was wise enough to understand people and how they react.
But 68 years on and I have to admit I really have no idea.
In my humble opinion, during the pandemic, we are not seeing people acting at their best and it is much more noticeable in the two largest cities in Australia: Melbourne and Sydney.
One only has to go out camping to witness the ability of people to be selfish and completely unconcerned with the effect that their actions have on the enjoyment of camping to others around them. Do we really expect those people to act any differently when they go back home, or when they are required to consider their actions during the pandemic?
In the end, people are completely responsible for the mess we are in. It is also people who elect politicians and it is people who sit back and put them under little pressure to do the job they have been elected to do. The politics of democracy has been slowly rotting away for some time. It is certainly true more so then ever that whenever there is an election, it is a politician who gets into power. And in this crisis, it would have been better handled if some of those in power were actually leaders.
I find it easy to distinguish between a politician and a leader. My example is in interviewing candidates for a job. Something I have done many times throughout my careers, both as an interviewer and as a candidate. There are candidates who present very well at an interview and those that don't.
There are also those who will be good at the job and those that won't. The art of an interviewer is to cut through the interview dynamics and find the person who will actually be good at the job, fit in with the culture of the organisation, and get on well with the staff and customers they will interact with.
So, we seem to have a bunch of leaders whose only skills seems to be in how to play the factions of the party they are in, be popular enough to resonate with voters, get into power, avoid being held responsible for any stuff ups, take as much credit as possible for anything good, ridicule the other parties who usually represent around 50% of the voting population, and bury anyone in their own party who has any aspirations of leadership.
During the start of this pandemic and during the deadly second wave in Melbourne, I was very angry at the leadership and the way people behaved. In hindsight, it was my own fault, I had too high an expectation, that given a serious crisis, people and politicians would rise to the challenge. I was seriously mistaken. 12 months on, the situation, in my opinion, is far worse, but I am not anywhere near as angry as I was back then. I have come to accept the situation and now just concentrate on myself, my family, and my friends. The rest, I try my hardest to ignore.
But, I do look for positive signs as encouragement that there are places where people are capable of acting decently.
I have always been impressed by how New Zealand has responded to the crisis. When I get despondent, I head across and read or watch the media presentations, much better for my stress levels. Now, before, jumping on me. Yes, New Zealand has one less level of government. Yes, it is smaller than Australia. But it is about the same size as Victoria, or NSW.
I am not political. I am a swinging voter with no formula on how or who I vote for. So I have no axe to grind with any party, nor an allegiance to any party that would make me honour-bound to defend any of its actions.
take care
Mike
I wish I was wise enough to understand people and how they react.
But 68 years on and I have to admit I really have no idea.
In my humble opinion, during the pandemic, we are not seeing people acting at their best and it is much more noticeable in the two largest cities in Australia: Melbourne and Sydney.
One only has to go out camping to witness the ability of people to be selfish and completely unconcerned with the effect that their actions have on the enjoyment of camping to others around them. Do we really expect those people to act any differently when they go back home, or when they are required to consider their actions during the pandemic?
In the end, people are completely responsible for the mess we are in. It is also people who elect politicians and it is people who sit back and put them under little pressure to do the job they have been elected to do. The politics of democracy has been slowly rotting away for some time. It is certainly true more so then ever that whenever there is an election, it is a politician who gets into power. And in this crisis, it would have been better handled if some of those in power were actually leaders.
I find it easy to distinguish between a politician and a leader. My example is in interviewing candidates for a job. Something I have done many times throughout my careers, both as an interviewer and as a candidate. There are candidates who present very well at an interview and those that don't.
There are also those who will be good at the job and those that won't. The art of an interviewer is to cut through the interview dynamics and find the person who will actually be good at the job, fit in with the culture of the organisation, and get on well with the staff and customers they will interact with.
So, we seem to have a bunch of leaders whose only skills seems to be in how to play the factions of the party they are in, be popular enough to resonate with voters, get into power, avoid being held responsible for any stuff ups, take as much credit as possible for anything good, ridicule the other parties who usually represent around 50% of the voting population, and bury anyone in their own party who has any aspirations of leadership.
During the start of this pandemic and during the deadly second wave in Melbourne, I was very angry at the leadership and the way people behaved. In hindsight, it was my own fault, I had too high an expectation, that given a serious crisis, people and politicians would rise to the challenge. I was seriously mistaken. 12 months on, the situation, in my opinion, is far worse, but I am not anywhere near as angry as I was back then. I have come to accept the situation and now just concentrate on myself, my family, and my friends. The rest, I try my hardest to ignore.
But, I do look for positive signs as encouragement that there are places where people are capable of acting decently.
I have always been impressed by how New Zealand has responded to the crisis. When I get despondent, I head across and read or watch the media presentations, much better for my stress levels. Now, before, jumping on me. Yes, New Zealand has one less level of government. Yes, it is smaller than Australia. But it is about the same size as Victoria, or NSW.
I am not political. I am a swinging voter with no formula on how or who I vote for. So I have no axe to grind with any party, nor an allegiance to any party that would make me honour-bound to defend any of its actions.
take care
Mike
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