Being a leader is one of the most rewarding qualities intricately woven into our DNA. However…it comes at a price.
Each individual has the potential to be a leader; a person who’s deepest desire is to right the wrongs of this world we call home. A leader is someone who, right before falling asleep each night, thinks of how they are going to leave their mark on this world—how they will change it for the good. After it’s well thought out in your mind, you take action. Actions speak louder than words. The thoughts that keep me up at night mainly revolve around the intense desire I have to make a difference in this one, short life I’ve been gifted to live. I feel this pressure to be something more; to be a hero and save someone from the pain in this world; to be a significant part in someone’s life; to love someone unconditionally and show them that this is the kind of love they deserve. When I sit here before bed and reflect on my day, I always ask myself: did I help anyone today? Did I make a difference?
I think that’s all anyone in this world wants: to have purpose. Some people don’t know what that purpose is but there is something that pulls you out of your cozy bed every morning and it’s no coincidence. I’m not even sure what my purpose is; I just know that it isn’t this. It isn’t the petty drama of everyday life; it isn’t working until I die at a job I hate; it isn’t falling asleep for five minutes and waking up when I’m 45. It’s something so much bigger—something active. Being a leader is being present in the lives of others.
Robert Frost, one of the world’s beloved poets, in his poem “The Star-Splitter,” writes:
“'The best thing that we’re put here for’s to see;
The strongest thing that’s given us to see with’s
A telescope. Someone in every town
Seems to me owes it to the town to keep one.”
In this poem the town’s “idiot” burns down his farm—being no good at the rural occupation—to collect insurance money so that he could buy a telescope and find his “place among the infinities.” The man wanted to find his passion; the one thing in this world that made him happy. That one thing was his telescope. Robert Frost wants you to understand that looking at life through a different perspective can offer you a wide range of options you never saw before. Everyone in the town laughed at the man but he is the example of a leader. He realized how unhappy he was (something people in his narrow-minded town are too arrogant to do) and went after his happiness. Robert Frost says in this quote that everyone in this world should have a telescope and it’s a very scary world when they don’t. Without a telescope there is quick sand. A life stuck without a purpose.
When we feel like we’ve made a difference there is an air of relief, like this self-fulfilling moment when you think: this is where I’m meant to be, this is what I’m meant to be doing.
No matter how fulfilling, being a leader also means that at times we find ourselves in one of the loneliest places of our world. In one sense that means the thoughts, actions, and personality we have goes beyond what is typically accepted throughout society. The innovation levels in our minds surpass infinity. To others, we are strange—even ostracized for it because of envy and mistrust. It took me a long time to learn that the jealousy and envy will never go away.
At times you feel as though the weight of your world is crushing down on you and you’re powerless to stop it. It’s because you have everyone else’s well-being on your mind and you forget to put yourself first. You can’t save everybody no matter how badly you want to. You can only guide them and hope they don’t fall off a cliff. In the end, people will make their own decisions and as a leader we have to accept the things that cannot be changed.
The world is yours. How will you choose to lead it?
With your fists, or with your heart?
