According to the Greeks, there are three types of people on earth, “the idiots, the tribesmen, and the citizens.” For instance, it takes an idiot to douse the house with petrol. It takes a tribesman to set it on fire. Only the timely intervention of a citizen can extinguish the fire and restore the house.
Various studies have shown that only few percentages of mankind are truly world citizens. The rest are simply idiots and tribesmen. Which one are you? Unless you understand your status and role in society, you can never make any meaningful contribution.
Are You an Idiot?
When the Greeks used the word "idiot", they did not use it as an abusive word. They only mean that such people do not care or pay attention to important things.
An idiot is barely existing and not really living.
An idiot is satisfied with mediocre lifestyle.
If such gets a job, he will flunk it.
If he enters a relationship, he will ruin it.
If he leads an organisation, he will sabotage it.
If you put him over a business, he will rob the company. If he is a politician, he will abuse his office and betray trust repose in him. Idiots are the people you see dumping empty beverage cans everywhere. The environment is clean till an idiot arrives on the scene.
If he eats bananas, he throws the peels anywhere instead of putting them in a trash bin.
According to the Greeks, the reason for major problems in some societies is that they have more idiots than tribesmen and citizens.
Are You a Tribesman?
A tribesman is a person that sees everything from the point of view of his or her tribe.
These are people that believe in you only if you are part of their tribe.
No matter your greatness, you are not appreciated because you are not part of their tribe.
No matter how great a spouse you are, a tribesman will still return to his or her village to marry a tribesperson. They view everything from tribal prism and their allegiance is always to their tribe - no matter how wrong or evil such turn out to be.
They are suspicious of the motives of people outside of their tribe and so they have only people from their tribe in their circle.
When the Greeks talk about tribes, it’s bigger than ethnicity. They also consider religion as a tribe. There are many religious bigots out there who will destroy lives of other people just because such do not share their religious sentiments. A tribesman threats people from his or her ethnic and religious leaning differently from others. Tribesmen trust only their tribesmen.
Tribesmen make the worst leaders and will alienate the rest.
If a tribesman is made president, he appoints only people from his tribe into positions.
He does not obey the principle of fairness or equity.
Are You a Citizen?
A citizen, according to the Greek, is the ideal human being.
His citizenship is not because of birth or some other legal status but by the virtue of his maturity and enlightenment.
A citizen threats every one equal and is interested in doing the right things for public good.
A citizen is not partial to people based on tribal or religious allegiance or similarities.
A citizen upholds standard in conducts and ensures a fine running of the system.
A citizen is a person of integrity who will do the right thing either people are watching or not. Such will respect traffic light rules even if no one is watching them.
They respect the laws at all time. If such is a student she or he won’t cheat in exams.
In government they won’t steal. They live for the wellbeing of all.
Citizens are global players that promote projects that benefit everyone.
Which type of community are you building?
The quality of a community is determined by the type of people that formed the highest percentage of the population. Some countries have more citizens than tribesmen and idiots.
Others have more idiots and tribesmen than citizens.
The leaders of an organisation or nation have the duty to make citizens out of their population. For that to work out, the leadership must be citizens themselves for you cannot give what you do not have. A bad leadership will always attract bad followership and will end up leading a lawless nation. A circle of evil promoting creation of idiots and tribesmen can only be terminated by good leadership.
While a lawless nation will produce bad leaders whose reigns will bring woes on their people, a smart leader will oversee a lawful society where people obey the law.
The good news is that good attitude can be learnt, once the leadership is committed to it.
A tribesman can become a citizen through orientation.
And an idiot can become a citizen by training and constant enforcement of the law.
Things only fall apart if you elect or appoint an unreformed idiot or tribesman to lead.
Such can only lead to hell. That is why every sane society needs global citizens as leaders.
It takes an idiot to start a war.
It takes a tribesman to exacerbate and escalate it.
Only a timely intervention of a community of global citizens can stop the war.
The ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia has divided the world, with each part sticking to line of argument. Yet there can not be a loser or winner in a nuclear war since the whole world will suffer greatly from it. The only voice that matters now is that of neutral global citizens who can stop this unnecessary war that is capable of blowing the entire human race out of existence. The safety of the human race depends only on global citizens who can selflessly establish a peaceful and prosperous world where the wellbeing of all mankind is equally assured. Let the true global citizens stand up before it is too late for the world.