Will you be a Whale Rider?
Finding New Heroes, Forging America’s New Future
What, or who will save America? How will America be saved? Can she be saved at all?
I recently found profound answers to these consequential questions from “Whale Rider,” the powerful movie about a young girl’s struggle to “confront the past, change the present and determine the future.”
From the website; “In a small New Zealand coastal village, Maori claim descent from Paikea, the Whale Rider. In every generation for more than 1000 years, a male heir born to the Chief succeeds to the title. The time is now. The Chief’s eldest son, Porourangi, fathers twins - a boy and a girl. But the boy and his mother die in childbirth. The surviving girl is named Pai.
“Grief-stricken, her father leaves her to be raised by her grandparents. Koro, her grandfather who is the Chief, refuses to acknowledge Pai as the inheritor of the tradition and claims she is of no use to him. But her grandmother, Flowers, sees more than a broken line–she sees a child in desperate need of love.
“When Pai’s father, Porourangi, returns home after twelve years, Koro hopes everything is resolved and Porourangi will accept destiny and become his successor. But Porourangi has no intention of becoming Chief. He has moved away from his people both physically and emotionally.
“Koro is blinded by prejudice and even Flowers cannot convince him that Pai is the natural heir. The old Chief is convinced that the tribe’s misfortunes began at Pai’s birth and calls for his people to bring their 12-year-old boys to him for training. He is certain that through a grueling process of teaching the ancient chants, tribal lore and warrior techniques, the future leader of their tribe will be revealed to him.
“Meanwhile, deep within the ocean, a massive herd of whales is responding, drawn towards Pai and their twin destinies. When the whales become stranded on the beach, Koro is sure this signals an apocalyptic end to his tribe. Until one person prepares to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the people. Pai, the Whale Rider.”
Pai, young and female in a tribe that values age and male leadership, rises to the occasion against all odds, finds and fills a critical need that she appears to be unqualified for, and instills courage, dignity, and vision to a struggling people. She is an unlikely heroine, the one seemingly least likely to be able to create change and have lasting impact. But she ignores the limited perceptions around her, stays true to her heart and intuition, and quietly, humbly, yet persistently takes the daunting path of leadership.
Pai is an example of precisely what and who will save America. Leadership needs a new story. If America wants to be saved from our various and urgent problems, we need fresh, new ways of viewing, approaching, and dealing with them. The old stories, the old leadership models, have proven to be ineffective at best, and destructive at worst.
The new story is that ordinary, common Americans will rise up from the trenches of daily living and become the heroes and heroines our culture has been waiting for. The silent majority will be silent no longer. The good-hearted will become the great-hearted. Earthly beings will rise up to their divinity. The weak and the simple will cut through layers of complex bureaucracy to find empowering principles, liberating natural laws, and transcendent truths. Then, through diligence and sincerity, they will become a beacon in the darkness, a foundation of strength in seas of change and corruption.
Americans will stop looking outward to blame others and upward to wait for the government to save them. They will instead start looking inward to themselves and downward to the People for solutions. Where before they relied upon force and institutions, they will rely upon voluntarism, charity, individuals, and families. Where before they waited for politicians to hash out solutions, they will act immediately and self-reliantly. Where before they depended upon “command and control” to get things done, they will now trust in the goodness of citizenship.
What will save America? Common citizens becoming the change they wish to see in the world. Common citizens doing uncommon things. Common citizens revolutionizing themselves, their minds, and their hearts, and in the process revolutionizing the nation at large.
Who are these citizens? You and I.
Can America be saved? Yes. That is if you and I put our privileges in proper perspective, rise to our duties as free citizens, and be examples to follow, voices to heed, and rocks to rely upon. Like Pai transcended her limitations of birth, age, and prejudice, we must transcend our own limitations to be 21st Century “Whale Riders.” As Pai’s ancestors called upon her, so do ours call upon us. The government will not save us. Politicians cannot save us. We must save ourselves.
Recommending Reading:
A Renaissance of Kings by Dr. Andrew Groft
A Separate Peace by Peggy Noonan
Finding Our Way: Leadership For An Uncertain Time by Margaret Wheatley
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Written By Stephen Palmer. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
