We, the people, follow
by Miki SaxonStephen Covey says, “We simply assume that the way we see things is the way they really are or the way they should be. And our attitudes and behaviors grow out of these assumptions.”
And we, the people, did assume.
We, the people, assumed that the visions presented by the leaders on and off Wall Street were true.
We, the people, assumed that all those experts were correct when they lauded the Wall Street crowd.
We trusted them, even though it’s not the first time that the Wizards of Wall Street broke our hearts—and our economy.
Last year when I wrote about CEO pay I said, “If little girls are made of ‘sugar and spice and everything nice’ and little boys are made of ‘snakes and snails, and puppy dog tails’, then these CEOs are made of ego and greed and the skill to mislead.”
We, the people, have a short attention span and we’re lazy.
It’s so much easier to listen to the experts and then blame them when things don’t work out. Less painful than looking in the mirror and taking responsibility for our own contributions as passive followers.
But why should we? Our leaders take no responsibility.
President Bush pats us on the head, says he knows things are difficult, but doesn’t take responsibility.
Alan Greenspan, a great believer in deregulation, still thinks derivatives are good and puts the blame on the leaders who, he says, got greedy.
Whereas five years ago Warren Buffett called them “financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal.”
But it’s so much easier, not to meniton comfortable, to listen to the experts who say everything is fine than to the experts sounding a warning.
Our leaders may have led us down the garden path, but we, the people, were happy to follow—being careful to keep our rose-colored glasses intact and firmly in place.
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