Ready
to Lead, Prepared to Die?
Victorian
authors craved to accentuate the dramatic for the characters in their novels.
Not only would a character be a leader, but the ultimate example of a leader:
someone willing to die for their people and their beliefs. Leadership was an
important quality of character in Victorian literature, exemplified by Romola,
Jane Eyre, Sidney Carton, and Marlow. Like
many current leadership figures, these Victorians could,
move others to action with their charisma, patience and intelligence, and all were able to disperse these
virtues among a collective people, moving them into action.
That is exactly what the purpose of this university is for me. The
Victorian literature is a genre with a
leadership vision based on charity: characters who sacrifice and serve for the
sake of society. For example, Fra Girolamo and Sydney Carton are two very
important martyrs in Victorian literature, both who were charitable leaders until
their death. Fra Girolamo of Romola set an example for his followers, showing that
his charitable teachings were worth his life: “[He] fell on his knees, and in
brief passionate words retracted his
confession, declared that he had spoken falsely in denying his prophetic
gift, and that if he suffered he would suffer for truth—‘The things I have
spoken, I had them from God’”[2] Girolamo was depicted as a
great leader because he was capable of spreading his divine inspiration through
the people of Florence. He infuses into the people a new hope and a new purpose
--giving of yourself for the benefit of others. 
Charles
Dickens depicts another martyr in his book, A
Tale of Two Cities. He shows the charity of Sydney Carton, a man who leads
by example when he gives his life for the welfare of his friends. Preparing for
death, he thought, “I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful,
useful, prosperous and happy, in that England which I shall see no more…It is a
far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done.”[3] These closing lines of A Tale of Two Cities express the
willingness of Mr. Carton to lead by his charitable example.
My
own vision follows in this same thread. Growing up, my parents impressed upon
me the importance of service to society. Volunteering is an environment in
which I feel comfortable taking the lead. Similarly, Fra Girolamo teaches this
value of societal service to Romola also, who becomes her own example of
leadership when she discovers the importance of charitable work. She transforms
herself into “the Madonna,” a servant of the Lord and of
I
plan to extend these values upon which my leadership vision is based through my
future vocation. However, the obvious problem is that is that I still
don’t know how I will utilize this leadership vision since I have yet to decide
on my after-college plans. I frequently stop by the career counselor’s office,
and I recently paid them a
visit during which we discussed my extracurricular activities.
After hearing about work I
do through my church and volunteer work I have avidly participated in since
high school, she asked me to look into the non-profit sector.
I scoffed at the proposal. I hadn’t decided my career plans, but I
hoped they’d include a more sizable salary than non-profit would give. Since
then, I have realized that non-profit work fits exactly with how I envision
this charitable leadership to take shape. I hope to lead by example, not
needing to use the charisma favored by Dr. King, nor the dramatic acts taken by
characters in Victorian literature (which usually lead to their deaths). I
could lead in a way embodied by even my role model, to lead in a way that
compels others to follow.
Jane
Eyre finds her model for this leadership early in her life. She is spurred on
by the peaceful example of Helen Burns. Helen is a beacon for leading by
example. Helen imparts many lessons upon Jane before her young death, the first
of which is patience. “It is far better to endure patiently a smart which
nobody feels but yourself, that to commit a hasty action whose evil
consequences will extend to all connected with you, besides, the Bible bids us
to return good for evil.”[6] Helen goes even further by
living out these words she prescribes to Jane: “Miss Scatchered wrote in
conspicuous character on a piece of pasteboard the word “Slattern,” and bound
it like a phylactery round Helen’s large, mild, intelligent, and benign-looking
forehead. She wore it till evening, patient, unresentful, regarding it as a
deserved punishment.”[7] Helen leads Jane to follow
in her “patient [and] unresentful” example. I have similarly held a few offices
through various organizations where I strive to set such an example. Currently,
I am taking on a leadership role as a volunteer coordinator with the goal of
using appealing volunteer projects to help others add charity into their daily
lives. Like Helen I hope to inspire others into action by my spirit of charity
in the work I do.
I
am certainly not close to Helen’s good model of a leader at the
moment I certainly do not
apply myself to the leadership vision I claim to submit to, especially with
models like Mother Teresa and J.K. Rowling; they have set the bar pretty high.
For the time being, attending UT will help me to improve my leadership skills
so I can pursue my long-term leadership vision. Ram Dass says that, “We are
free simply to be. To taste this
freedom increases our flexibility immensely, and enables us to be fuller
instruments of service to others.”[8] My education gives me this
freedom of flexibility for the future. Upon finishing my time at UT, I will be
better prepared to serve others through
charity and to embark on my journey toward becoming a presence of leadership to
society.
To
begin work on this mission, I have looked into joining organizations like the
Jesuit Volunteer Corps and the Peace Corps after completing my undergraduate
degree. These organizations work within the communities to promote social
justice and civil rights. Through the independence these organizations provide,
I will have the opportunity to cultivate the leadership vision I discovered
first at UT. Kurtz of Heart of Darkness
found this independence too, in the dark corners of the jungle. We affirmed in
class the presence of Mr. Kurtz as the anti-hero, an example of a man who
abuses his power and placement as a leader. Mr. Kurtz only becomes a leader for
his own gain, not for the gain of his admirers. Marlow learns from Kurtz that,
“They adored him…he came to them with thunder and lightning you know—and they
had never seen anything like it—and very terrible. He could be very terrible.
You can’t judge Mr. Kurtz as you would an ordinary man.”[9] Because of his
self-serving leadership, Kurtz dies screaming out the words, “The horror! The
horror!,”[10]
a sign of a leadership vision poorly realized.
Both Marlow and I can learn from Mr. Kurtz’s leadership vision; serving
only yourself does not help anyone in the long run. A leadership vision must
fill followers with inspiration through words or actions. Even
though Mr. Kurtz may have been a leader, his results were detrimental and only
lead to his own demise. My leadership vision strives to move away from this
model. By helping and aiding
others I hope to be an example that will inspire followers for the good of
society
Achieving
my leadership goals will take grueling work on my character. There are some
people born with the inspiration to be a natural leader, I am not one of them. The famous quote from the 19th
century French radical, Alexandre Ledru-Rollin, says of leadership, “There go my people. I must find out where
they are going so I can lead them,” Alexandre lack assertiveness in his office.
He, like Thomas Carlyle, didn’t understand that it doesn’t take divine
inspiration to be a leader. It takes a strengthening of our own self-confidence
to achieve such a leadership vision. Carlyle wrote before his “conversion,”
“Here, then, as I lay in that CENTRE OF INDIFFERENCE; cast, doubtless by
benignant upper Influence.”[11] Even though I may not possess leadership
qualities now, I may acquire the character and passion of a leader through
practice, sacrifice and human experience. Carlyle’s "center of
indifference" is similar to the college lethargy many students suffer
from, including myself. Looking only into the immediate future, the benefits of
cultivating our leadership visions may not be apparent. I know that the lessons I learn in this
class on leadership and throughout the next two years at UT will help me to become
the leader I need to be. Maybe someday I will meet the Victorian expectations
of a leader and be ready to die for what I teach and who I lead.
RDB Word Count: 3,912
P2B Word Count (with quotes): 1,743
P2B Word Count (without quotes):
1,362
Words Added: 383
Words Deleted: 216
Illustrations:
1. http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/gmark/images/ut-seal.gif
2.
http://www.aerenlund.dk/
3. Personal
photo, 2006
4.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Beasts_and_Where_to_Find_Them
5. http://arsepoetica.typepad.com/blog/images/mlk.jpg
6. Personal
photo, 2005
7. http://www.peacecorps.gov/