It is the time of the year when some of us like to look back and decide who inspired most in the last year. Time magazine chose The Ebola Fighters as their ‘Person of the Year’. They must have struggled to find a single person who outshone all others in what he or she did in 2014. We have really seen very few examples of good leadership qualities in the different fields of public life in the last several months.
My choice of person of the year goes to Pope Francis, not because I am particularly religious, but because he has shown that despite his advancing age he wants to promote change in the Catholic Church. In 2014 he continued to open the proverbial windows in the corridors of power at the Vatican to let a breeze of fresh air blow away the centuries-old cobwebs.
He is earnestly trying to launch the Church in the 21st century by making it more relevant to a modern society that is evolving with all the complexities that characterise it. Pope Francis is not discouraged by the internal resistance that he is finding from the old guards that surround him. His disarming humility outshines the pompous paraphernalia that some of his cardinals and bishops adorn themselves with.
The effectiveness of our medical health service will depend on the quality of staff and the conditions of work we offer them
While lacking any political power, he is achieving some important breakthroughs in the political field because his moral authority can dissolve the decades-old mistrust between political leaders. For instance, Pope Francis has this year managed to break the ice that has existed for centuries between the US and Cuba. Whether the Republican Party will let this breakthrough blossom into something more substantial remains to be seen. But Pope Francis has shown that a genuine interest in what is good for ordinary Cubans and Americans is more important than the obstinacy of their political leaders.
In the political field I struggle to find a single international personality that has impressed me, with one exception: Italian Presid-ent Giorgio Napolitano. A few years ago he decided to continue serving as the President of his country not because of any inclin-ation to boost his image and ego but out of a sense of duty. Despite his failing health, he has kept the bickering politicians in Italy working together for the good of the country.
Napolitano is almost 90 and has now decided to call it a day. His decision is putting pressure on the leaders of the fragmented political class to put the interests of their country before their own sectarian ambitions. The Italian President is a shining example of a political leader who is solely motivated by a sense of duty to his country rather than any personal ambition to enrich himself with material wealth or with shallow adulation. If only Europe had more leaders of this calibre!
This year I had more than my fair share of meeting people who work in the medical field. I frequently feel humbled by the dedication of the majority of healthcare workers despite difficult working conditions. It is no secret that most medical and paramedical staff earn modest salaries when one considers the kind of responsibilitiesand difficult conditions that they work in. We often take them for granted and some of us even abuse them when we wrongly criticise them for seemingly not doing enough for our sick relatives.
It is a known fact that medical and paramedical staff often suffer from burn-out not just because of the long hours they work but also because of the low morale that easily affects them when they have to stretch themselves to cope with personnel shortages that seem to have become endemic in most heath systems.
So I have no hesitation in including the majority of workers employed in our health system in the list of persons who made us proud in 2014. Our health system will inevitably undergo major changes in the coming years because of worsening demographics. We must avoid the mistakes committed by other countries like the UK which have tried to economise on healthcare spending by cutting down on the recruitment and training of medical and paramedical staff.
The effectiveness of our medical health service will depend on the quality of staff that we employ and the conditions of work that we offer them. Most health workers look at their work as a vocation rather than just another job. They certainly deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.
johncassarwhite@yahoo.com