When Leaders Fail

It seems to be in the news everyday; another politician breaks a promise, another religious leader embezzles money from his parishioners, another leader commits adultery.

It is in these mortal beings that we place our trust, our hope that they will battle to improve our communities, to improve our lives, and change our world for the better. The trust that we hold is often unquestioning, unwavering, and strong—until we are faced with the proof that our trust has been betrayed.

We trust that our leaders will work hard, make good decisions, and serve the public with steadfast ideals; we trust that they will serve and live honestly, with dignity and integrity, and perform their duties ethically; we also trust that they will lead lives without blemish, without error.

And, it is here that we err.

The people who serve as our leaders, our government representatives, and our church examples are human. Without fail, each one will err many times in some form or fashion throughout their life, as will we. For that is what humans do as we live, as we grow, learning from our successes and our inevitable failures.

Mankind will always find mistakes in other people if we look—and we do. And, sometimes, we highlight those mistakes as if we, ourselves, are beyond error, flawless. But, once a mistake is made and the trust broken, can the trust be restored? Should it be?

Obviously, there are some mistakes that outweigh being called a mistake, crimes so heinous that there is no question that the leader should be removed from the position of authority and punished by law. But, in regards to human mistakes, bad decisions, and errors in judgment, is it possible to maintain or restore the trust we once held?

The public seems to believe that politicians, in particular, are mythical beings incapable of faltering, of failing, of being human. The news, especially during or prior to elections, is often filled with photographs, videos, and reports of voting in a manner opposite a campaign promise, of adultery or illegitimate children, or sound-bites removed from their context. These news clips are designed to destroy public trust in a candidate, and they perform their task well. And, the basis for these smears is this: If we cannot trust a candidate to live his personal life in a decent manner, then we must not be able to trust them in an official office of leadership.

But is this necessarily a reasonable argument? If a politician has an affair or a church elder has a beer, does this truly remove their ability to function well in their given career, to learn from their errors, to grow past their errors, and to use their mistakes to help guide us.

When choosing our church and community leaders and government representatives, we tend to search for human perfection. But, we’ll never find anyone perfect, and it is unfair and unwise to put such complete, total, and unquestioning trust in another human being. Our leaders are human, and we should perceive them as such and search for leaders who have the willingness and the ability to learn from the mistakes that they have and will make along their life journey.

Perhaps, then, the answer to the trust question is that each case must be decided upon by each individual of the general public on a case-by-case basis. But, in this day and age of recessions, unemployment, and war, if they’re doing a good job, let them be.