Compassionate leadership

I read this on leadership expert John C. Maxwell's Leadership Wired newsletter (http://www.injoy.com/) and thought I'd share it here. It is challenging and thought-provoking.

COMPASSIONATE LEADERSHIP
Consider these sobering statistics:
• Two of three Americans are overweight.

• One child dies of hunger in the world every four seconds.

To feed a starving child for a year costs roughly $200, about the same amount the average American spends each year on soft drinks. By simply passing up soda, Americans could cut child hunger by 75% worldwide.

Leaders are responsible for leveraging their influence to serve others. When leaders use power for selfish benefit, we commonly refer to their “abuse” of power. Would it be a stretch to claim that Americans abuse their power by guzzling sodas when malnourished children are dying in slums?

Now, it’s impractical to think that Americans would never spend another dollar for Pepsi or Coke, and it’s unreasonable to ask of them. However, when 65% of Americans are overweight, surely some changes can be made to cut consumption in the USA and give generously to those in poverty around the world.

The list of the world’s ailments can be daunting—AIDS, starvation, water shortages, environmental contamination, etc. However, the affluence of Americans may be equal to the task, if only leaders would mobilize the resources within their grasp.

Many are simply too lazy to contribute to social causes, or they refuse to let the world’s problems disrupt their comfort. Still others justify their inaction by citing the “drop in the bucket” mentality. However, with enough drops, a bucket gets full.

Leaders are honor-bound to assist those in need. In the words of U2’s Bono, “In the Global Village, distance no longer decides who is your neighbor, and ‘Love thy neighbor’ is not advice, it’s a command.” In the age of globalization, we buy shoes made in China, shirts from India, oil from the Middle East, and diamonds from Africa. Is it just for children in those regions to suffer and starve while ours eat potato chips and play X-box?

THE CHALLENGE
How are you modeling compassionate leadership?

To what causes are you lending your resources?

How are you inspiring others to give generously to social causes?

Mike and I have had the pleasure of sponsoring two children through two different Christian relief organizations, Compassion International and World Vision. (The photo above is from Compassion's Web site, http://www.compassion.com/. A little girl named Hanna has a tea party outside her home in Guatemala.) Through Compassion, we sponsor a 13-year-old girl named Princy who lives in India, and through World Vision (http://www.worldvision.org/), we sponsor 6-year-old Lawrence who lives in Zimbabwe. Our monthly sponsorships provide Princy and Lawrence with basic needs -- health care, education, school supplies, spiritual teaching and formation, etc.

I started sponsoring Princy in 2001, before Mike met and I got married. I was inspired to start sponsoring her in part because I had just returned from a three-month experience in India, where the contrasts between rich and poor are staggering. The rich live just like most Americans -- nice homes, nice cars, nice clothing, opportunities to get a good education. In the area of India where I was, the poor live interspersed in the neighborhoods of the rich -- mostly in shacks rigged up in alleyways. Children dressed in rags beg on the street corners. Poor men may drive rickshaws or do the laundry of their rich neighbors. Younger women care for their children. Day after day poor older men and women hammer rocks into tiny pieces for construction projects.

I have also seen poverty in other parts of the world -- Vietnam, Mexico, the Dominican Republic. Seeing poverty like that had an impact on me. I have memories of these places -- the sights, sounds, smells, even tastes -- that snap me back into reality when I catch myself thinking that I'm lacking in any material way. It's easy in the United States to think you don't have enough -- after all, there are plenty of people who have more. But how much is enough? And when do we start giving away the excess we have?

Princy and her family live in a fishing village in south India, and it's been a joy to be part of her life for the past six years. We exchange letters a few times a year. A photo of her on my desk prompts me to pray for her and her family. It means a lot to me and Mike to be part of her life -- only one little life among the more than a billion souls in India, but that little life matters.

A few months ago, Mike and I started sponsoring Lawrence, who lives in a community in Zimbabwe severely affected by AIDS. Of the 40 million people worldwide suffering from AIDS, 24 million live in Africa. In Zimbabwe, the life expectancy for women is 34 years; for men, it's 37 years. (This is sobering -- Mike and I would likely be dead right now if we lived in Zimbabwe.) A missionary friend of ours in France recently visited Zimbabwe as part of a World Vision visit, and here's what he said about the experience in a recent newsletter:

. . . We saw firsthand how World Vision is seeking to bring the whole gospel to an impoverished area, empowering local people to work together towards development and transformation of their communities. I was so touched and impressed by the work being done; by the wonderful, all-African staff; and by the response of the people. Everywhere we went there was singing, dancing, praying, thanking . . . What a stark difference from my world. In utter poverty these people find a way to rejoice! There is too much to say! The trip was nostalgic, alarming, exhilarating, humbling and awakening. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

What a stark difference from our world here in the United States, too, in more ways than one. I share these stories about the children we sponsor not because we deserve praise or a pat on the back. We could certainly do more than we do. We don't sponsor these children to earn kudos with anyone, not even God. We do it because we can -- and because we have been blessed to be a blessing. We do it because it's a personal way we can respond to the stark needs across the world. And it's such a reality check for us when we get letters from the children or hear about experiences like our friend who traveled to Zimbabwe.

"If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like noonday." -- Isaiah 58:9-10

"He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." -- Proverbs 14:31