“Leader”ship

Ever wonder why folks in charge nowadays are still called “leaders” when they are really no where near the front of the column?

I mean Alexander the Great and William Wallace, they actually “led” their men into battle and the title was appropriate, but today that isn’t the case. Comedian Redd Foxx once had a routine about the military where he said, “I ran back so far, I ran into a general! He asked me why I was running. I said ‘Because I cannot fly, sir!’”.

Leaders back in the day were the leaders because they were the biggest, toughest, and usually smartest guys in the group. They were in charge because they TOOK charge. They were young, charismatic, and able. You can make a case that our current President fits this mold. Recently, though, not so much. Look at the cheerleaders for our current war. Most of them are old, fat, balding, and have those big jowly faces that kind of quiver when they get excited. I wouldn’t want a guy like that leading me into battle. He looks like a cub scout with a sling-shot can take him out pretty easily. So I guess, rightfully, they stay behind the lines. WAY behind the lines, you know, like in Wyoming or somewhere, no where near the war they started. I notice too that they don’t even fight in it. They give speeches to enthuse others to go off and fight in it. They aren’t military types either. They are mostly former businessmen; and like businessmen who never foolishly start a business with their OWN money, certainly don’t want to start a war if their own lives might be on the line. Ok, that makes sense.

I just have a problem with calling these guys “leaders”. Science Fiction author Larry Niven wrote a book many years ago called RINGWORLD. It had some characters in it called Pierson’s Puppeteers, named for the equally science-fictional guy who discovered them, I guess. Anyway these guys are a race of notorious cowards and are famous for manipulating others to do dangerous tasks, like fight wars, for them. Their “leader” is called “The Hindmost”. Yes, I think something like that would be far more appropriate.