Who Will Lead?

While I was waiting for Mom to pick me up after my dentist appointment this morning, I read in the book Never Give In that I had brought along. It is an excellent book about Winston Churchill; I especially liked the chapter I read today called 'The Wilderness'. Here is an excerpt that I shared with Mom on the way home:

"There is a force in modern life that some have called the "herd mentality." It grows from the idea, drilled so effectively into the minds of youth today, that the group must be right simply because it is the group. The promise is compelling: peace and security are found only within the fortress of the many and so men ought to live their lives wisely guided by the expectations of the majority. Deviation is sickness; non-conformity the vilest sin. Such is the faith of a people who have lost their moorings in the eternal. It is the religion of our times, the religion of the people: vox populi, vox dei - the voice of the people is the voice of God.

But then who shall lead the people? Those who are products of society have no creative alternatives to offer. The system produces nothing that challenges the system. The surge of the masses cannot produce leaders. Leaders are rare. Leaders, like diamonds, are shaped by unrelenting opposition at work on the best of raw materials. The true leader has something to offer only because he has stood apart from his civilization long enough to view it as though for the first time. Indeed, what so often distinguishes the truly great leader is his willingness to pay the price of his vision in the coin of rejection and isolation. Then, no longer swept along by the current of his age, he is able to rise above it and lead."

~Stephen Mansfield pages 194-195

I would highly recommend this book. It has short, thought provoking chapters, and I have learned so much about a great leader and visionary man. I've enjoyed it a lot. ~Alyssa