Accomplishment

Normally it isn’t seen as news when someone gets hired and quits within the year.  It is usually seen as a sad indicator of their lack of fortitude (because they wouldn’t stick it out for at least a couple of years) or lack of planning (because they should have known about the job conditions and requirements prior to taking it).  But this week we witnessed the world-wide reporting of someone quitting after 7 months, and the whole world recognizes the ceasing of that work as pure integrity.

Yesterday, Kofi Annan announced he is stepping down as the UN’s Syria peace envoy. In doing so he said, "I accepted this task, which some called 'mission impossible,' because I believed it was a sacred duty to do whatever was in my power to help the Syrian people find a peaceful solution to this bloody conflict."  Faced instead with a rapidly escalating conflict, which at the time of this writing is now a full scale civil war, Annan said, “'When the Syrian people desperately need action, there continues to be finger-pointing and name-calling in the Security Council.”  In the end, Annan quit not because of the Syrian conflict itself or it’s nature, but because the very same people who tasked him with the role of peace envoy to start with were unwilling to act on that same initiative when it really mattered.  A cynical observer might say Kofi’s role was really just a diversion.

So now the world waits to see who can take Annan’s place.  To see who is qualified enough and “crazy” enough (Annan’s phrase) to spend their days to accomplish nothing while thousands of people are slaughtered, hundreds raped and millions left homeless.  Fortunately, Kofi has too much integrity to stand in that role.  Nevertheless, the person who is willing to do that will be handsomely paid for accomplishing absolutely nothing.  That shouldn’t surprise us.  The world often rewards those who divert our attention from what is really important.  Hollywood makes multimillionaires out of anyone who can ignore the world around them enough to pretend and take our minds off what matters.  There are exceptions or course, but largely we pay to waste our time watching their output - things that do not impact us in any meaningful way.  Does Facebook add to your life or distract from it?  Does Youtube?  Twitter?  Much of what we currently ‘value’ in the economy of our world is ultimately a distraction from what eternally matters.

If only we can get our minds off that which distracts!  All around us real people are needing our help every single day.  All around us real people are dying and literally going to hell while we hold the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.  We can and must take advantage of the opportunities that surround us all day long.  As Horace said, “Carpe diem!”  But carpe diem for my sake or for other’s sake?