Do you have the Messiah complex? Part 2

My heartfelt congratulations to the people of America who spoke through the ballot box. With a total of over 150 million votes – the highest ever in American history and representing more than 50% of the population – split between the two leading candidates, the incumbent Donald Trump and Joe Biden, with Joe Biden winning with both popular and electoral college votes, Americans have again confirmed to the world that in a democracy, the power of the people resides in the ballot not in noise-making. This election is historical in many respects. For the first time in over thirty years, Georgia, a traditionally Republican state, fell into the hands of Democrats. Even though a recount has been ordered in that state, Biden already had enough electoral college votes to have a clear win. November 7, 2020, the day of his declaration as the 46th President of the United States of America was also the anniversary of his 48th unbroken years in politics and public service. Do you know what that means? He joined politics from age 30! He is now 78 years old and made history as the oldest man to have been elected into America’s highest office and the world’s most powerful position! But that is not all. America now has its first female Vice-President, in the person of Kamala Harris, an African/Asian from California who has also been in public service since 2003 when she was elected District Attorney of San Francisco. She became Attorney-General of California in 2010 and served till 2017 when she assumed office as Senator representing California, a seat she has occupied since 2017. She is currently 56 years old, meaning that she was less than 30 years old when she entered into politics! Lesson? Stop whining from the sidelines and on social media. Engage the system. Embrace responsibility. Join a party. Serve. The world only owes space for those who know where they are going! Young does not mean entitled, irresponsible and always complaining about what is wrong but never willing to lift a finger to take responsibility for doing anything right. There are several lessons to learn but I will reserve that for another day. But for now, congratulations President-elect Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., Vice-President-elect Kamala Devi Harris and congratulations America! Back to our discourse.

As we saw last week, leaders like David who operate on the wrong side of the Messiah complex are natural skeptics who because of their own insecurity, are convinced that no other person can do a job as well as they can. So, even when they have no choice to delegate, they never let go. In an almost psychotic attempt to reinforce their myth of indispensability, they give unrealistic deadlines and become unnecessarily Intrusive, breathing down the delegate’s neck to almost choking point in a way that almost makes the delegate begin to lose confidence in his own capacity! Then comes the “Messiah” and “knight in shining armour” to the rescue in a way that never fails to communicate to the delegate, “I always knew that you would fail without me!” What people with this dimension of the Messiah complex fail to realize is that those who are seen as indispensable in any position or job are hardly ever promoted from that desk. They may get a pay rise from time to time, but they are hardly exposed to new opportunities and hardly make quantum leaps in the organization because it would be difficult to get a replacement for them if they are ever moved from that seat!

Leaders who manifest the Oga David dimension of the Messiah Complex are more competitive than collaborative. Not wanting to admit that any subordinate could be smarter than them or have better ideas on an issue, they are terrible team players and are usually very Antagonistic, especially towards subordinates whose potentials they see as a threat to their little mythological empire. They will pick up a quarrel at every opportunity and will throw tantrums ad nauseam. They hate anyone or anything that appears like superior intelligence and argument and will never hesitate to tell their subordinates in no unclear terms that “I have been on this job longer than you and I know what it cost me to get here. When did you leave school? What do you know? Who taught you? So you think you can belittle me to get a promotion? Am I not the one who will still make the recommendation?” Their subordinates are only good when they simply shut up and do what the boss says while telling him that even his anus smells like an expensive Arabian perfume. Davids are only comfortable with “yes” men, sycophants and bootlickers whose mediocrity can also find refuge under him. When you work with a boss like that, it’s either “my way” or the “highway”. You are not safe under Messiah David if you are inquisitive, intelligent and capable of independent thought!

Ultimately, as we saw in the story of Messiah David, this kind of paranoid leader will suffer a Health breakdown! This is usually due to oxidative stress arising from carrying more than he could physically or emotionally handle. In many cases, the results could be fatal or keep him out of circulation for a long time. With God on his side, he could have another chance and learn his lesson like David.

When I was in the secondary school, I read an article by the late Tai Solarin. In it, he addressed the myth of indispensability. I cannot remember everything he wrote about in that article but one thing stuck with me. He said it is very easy to know how indispensable you really are. Just fill a bucket with water and place it on the floor. Then dip your arm inside it and slowly let it go all the way down to the bottom of the bucket. What happens? The volume of the water goes up as the water makes room for your arm. Then slowly bring out your arm until it is out of the water. Any space that you see in the water after you have fully pulled up your arm is an indication of how indispensable you really are! Ouch! Did I hear you say sobering? I agree. So, sir, ma, take things easy and calm down. Anyone, except God, is replaceable! When the world needed a Messiah, God sent one in the form of His Son Jesus. He did a proper and complete work in three and a half years, in which period He raised others to continue from where He stopped!

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

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