John Piper: On being disappointed by leaders
President George W. Bush, left center, joins fellow leaders during the APEC Leaders Retreat Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007, in Sydney, Australia. White House photo by Eric Draper. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) We live in a society that has become painfully skeptical about leadership — some of it for good reason. Stories of use and abuse abound, and the letdowns make for big headlines. We all have felt the sting of being let down by some leader in whom we had placed our trust. The pain and confusion are real. The wounds can be deep. We learn to guard ourselves from future disappointment, and cynicism feels like a trustworthy shield. But the high-profile failures of famous leaders can mask the true source of our discontent with being led: our love affair with self and autonomy. And coupled with it is a distorted sense of what leadership is. When leadership has become a symbol of status, achievement, and privilege, we’re happy to be leaders ourselves and get our way, but we’re reluctant