Problems

“I think people know that when a problem arises we will deal with it” said our Prime Minister on a recent occasion.

Turbulence in the provinces, abuses and debauchery at the centre, enemies pushing at the gates, his personal fears and indecision on top of that, have, unfortunately, so far prevented the head of our government to deal with many sensitive and controversial problems.

History teaches us what to expect from our leaders. It tells us about Alexander the Great who solved his problem by a bold stroke of sword instead of wasting his time unpicking the knot. He did not claim the puzzle was unsolvable, nor was he indecisive in battle.It tells us about many other prominent statesmen who fought to defend the rule of law and the public order that the nation had entrusted to them.

History also supplies us with other, less providential, examples: the story of Pierro de Medici, also called the ‘Unfortunate’, who gave in to Charles VIII of France’s invading army, offering everything he demanded, without any attempt to negotiate better terms.
Or the case of the Carl Severing, the Prussian Minister of the Interior, who accepted to be, literally, driven out of office, declaring simply:’ I surrender to a mightier force’, and thus helped establish the Nazi regime in Europe. He believed he was being realistic, bowing before the unavoidable. Everything would be in vain, he thought. His social democrats didn’t even try to oppose the Nazis, justifying their passivity with the same “it’s useless” sort of resignation. Would it have really been useless?

As a theologian once said, each of our actions sets in motion a new series of possibilities, and, since their timing and probability cannot be perfectly predicted, we have to give the unforeseeable a chance. Especially when worse problems may otherwise arise.