Chapter 10 - pps. 230-231
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One of my key tenets of being an American is
that we as Americans are the thought leaders for the modern world. We can use this leadership to take the
actions and create the strategy and platform to deliver a world in which
everyone has the ability to exist in a peaceful manner and to pursue their own
life objectives. That is, if we choose to
be tolerant of other systems. Whether
they be managing a farm for the state, creating the biggest company ever known
to man or pursuing the word of Allah.
All to me are valuable contributions to society and should be
acknowledged and respected.
In order to be a thoughtful leader for the
world, however, you have to have respect for the views of others, rather than hold an overt contempt for how the rest of the world lives. Think about it this way, how often in your
life have you as an individual done something because someone forced you
too? Probably not too often, or if you
did end up doing it you did it begrudgingly, the results were likely not as good
as they could have been. I always found
that if you could get people to do things because they wanted to contribute and
feel that they mattered, then the results will be substantially better and
result in dramatic successes and exponential improvement for whatever area you
are focusing on. Once you have people
motivated for success and working to the best of their abilities, then you can
propose new thoughts and methodologies and philosophies to attain even higher
goals.
Now, with all that being said, quite often it
is advantageous for your counter-parts to know you are serious about your
capabilities and your desires. This does
not mean strong-armed approaches to negotiations and conflict resolution, but
rather that the inherent knowledge should be that your opponent is truly aware of
your objectives. This all sounds like
threatening behavior but utilized correctly it is not. Being number one gives you a distinct
advantage. No one ever said that
everything had to have an equal result, rather just an amicable one, and one that
everyone can walk away from with some level of positivity and know their role.
Following the financial collapse of Greece and
the attempts by the EU to save it, Greece’s internal politics became a shambles
and its people were crushed in spirit.
Greeks had been quite used to prosperity and what I will call a “relaxed
work ethic” coupled with extremely generous social policies. When the Greek government could no longer
afford to keep up the social policies for the nation, there was nothing to fall
back on, and the bottom fell out of the economy. Even at the end, and with generous offers from
Germany and the EU, sadly there was an unwillingness on the part of the Greek
population to accept much in the way of austerity measures. Therefore, Greece declared bankruptcy at the
end of 2013.
With nowhere left to turn, the monarchy of
Saudi Arabia arrived with the offer of billions in support. In exchange, they asked for a prominent seat
within the future government of Greece.
This in and of itself was not necessarily such a horrific thing on its own, but what was most troubling for people was that the Saudi’s were offering a
direct cash payment and jobs to individual citizens if they converted to
Islam.
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