Sunday Hardball: What we say, how we say it... all bear consequences

By Ababu Namwamba

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In 1825, Czar Nicholas I, ascended the throne of Russia. A rebellion immediately broke out, led by liberals demanding that the country modernise — that its industries and civil structures catch up with the rest of Europe.

Brutally crushing this rebellion (the Decemberist Uprising), Nicholas I sentenced one of its leaders, Kondraty Ryleyev, to death. On the day of the execution, Ryleyev stood on the gallows, the noose around his neck. The trapdoor opened...but as Ryleyev dangled, the rope broke, dashing him to the ground.

At the time, events like this were considered signs of providence or heavenly will, and a man saved from execution this way was usually pardoned. As Ryleyev got to his feet, bruised and dirtied but believing his neck had been saved, he called out to the crowd, “You see, in Russia they don’t know how to do anything properly, not even how to make rope!”

A mesenger immediately went to the Winter Palace with news of the failed hanging. Vexed by this disappointing turnabout, Nicholas I nevertheless began to sign the pardon.

But then: “Did Ryleyev say anything after this miracle?” the Czar asked the messenger. “Sire,” the messenger replied, “he said in Russia they don’t even know how to make rope”. “In that case”, said the Czar, “let us prove the contrary”, and he tore up the pardon. The next day Ryleyev was hanged again. This time the rope did not break.

Robert Green uses this striking tale in his 48 Laws of Power masterpiece to illustrate the wisdom in silence and measured speech: “...The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish. Once the words are out, you cannot take them back... Be particularly careful with sarcasm: The momentary satisfaction you gain with your biting words will be outweighed by the price you pay.”

It is a lesson I find particularly apt for those of us in positions of leadership. What we say, how we say it, where we say it...all bear considerable ramifications for both self and the public. That is precisely why we must feel the extra burden of being measured every time we feel the compulsion to engage the tongue. Indeed The Good Book teaches that to those who much is given, much is similarly is expected of.

Now, I am not by any stretch of imagination suggesting that we all suddenly switch to “silent mode” or start editing everything we say. Not at all. In fact, I am quite a passionate proponent of freedoms of conscience, thought and speech. I am even a disciple of Abraham Lincoln’s timeless wisdom, “to remain silent when you must speak makes cowards of men”. What I advocate here is restraint, sensitivity. Unless you just landed here from Pluto, you would be acutely aware of the heavy price this country has paid for the “loose tongued” in our midst.

To those wondering why I have become a disciple for the gospel of moderation, I can only remind you of these immortal words of Mahatma Gandhi: “You must be the change you want to see in the world”.

That is exactly what I am striving to do in Parliament and beyond, aware of Harry Emerson Fosdick’s that “No Horse ever gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No Steam or Gas ever drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into Light and Power until it is tunneled. No Life ever grows great until it is Focused, Dedicated and Disciplined”.

So, this Sunday, sit back and enjoy these three gems with me.

One, American writer Max Ehrmann’s famed 1927 prose,“Desiderata” (Latin: “desired things”): “Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit...”

Two, The Prayer of Saint Francis: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen”.

 Three, a Bill Clinton nugget “Nobody remembers the naysayers. In the end, all that endures are the builders, and in the end even the builders are forgotten and all that endures are the ripples of what they built...”

Sunday Hardball? Hardly...this was my special Sunday softball!

 

Writer is Budalang’i MP, and Chair of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee