I saw Kingdom of Heaven sometime back. In fact I saw it twice. I thought it was a great show and I like the message that it’s trying to send.
Leadership
Balian, the lead character played by the Legolas guy in LOTR, is made lord of Ibelin after his father died. As a lord, he set out to make life easier for his people by working together with them digging wells and toiling the fields. He leads his people by showing them the way instead of just pointing the direction.
Integrity
He would be made king if he agrees to marry the king’s sister who is currently married to Guy de Lusignan. The current king would have Guy assassinated to enable this to happen. If he do this, he would get the woman he wants and war can be averted. Instead, he chose not to simply because it is wrong and he will have no part in assassinating Guy.
Righteousness
When they were surrounded by the Muslim army, the bishop cried out to all, “convert to muslim, repent later!” Balian and his lieutenants gave the bishop a ludicrous look. “I’ve learned a lot about religion from you” replied Balian softly. I thought that was so cool of him. He just made the bishop look like an idiot.
It’s no wonder the knights followed him willingly and loyally.
Today we have lots of so-called leaders that only knows how to issue orders. They usually aren’t aware of the entire process and the effort required to get things done. It’s all talk with no action. Some times they can just say “Do this.” without realising the process that entails to get this done. Talk is usually quite easy. Getting it done is an entirely different story. If we have more Balian leaders, the world would be a much better place.
Ok, I’ll stop preaching now. But you should catch it if you haven’t already.
