leadership

Nowadays, with the elections around the corner, leadership, or the lack thereof, is a word which has been freely tossed back and forth between the Republicans and the Democrats.
But leadership doesn’t only apply to politics. It encompasses just about every facet of our lives.
First of all, what is a leader? The Mirriam-Webster dictionary says that it is “a party member chosen to manage party activities in a legislative body”.
All right, but what is a good leader?
In my opinion, it is a person who leads by consensus and by example. It is a person who wouldn’t ask others to do something that he/she wouldn’t personally do. It is also a person who would listen to others and can be persuaded to change his/her mind if a consensus (contrary to his/her beliefs) is reached. And such a person in my opinion is Christine Cragg, our club president.
I have known Christine for over 3 years now, and my admiration for her has not dwindled but increased. Because you have to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar!
Christine has been involved in every crusade, in every fight, in every task which would benefit our club. When few people volunteer to clean up our field, she is there, when we need somebody to represent and speak for our club, she is there, when paperwork needs to be done, she is there, when petition signatures need to be collected, she is there, when purchases need to be done, she is there. She is always “sur la brèche”.
And besides club activities, she is also involved in functions too numerous to mention. I have often told her to slow down, but she won’t have any of this.
She also has as we say in French “le cœur sur la main”, wearing her heart on her sleeves. She is very emotional and can cry at the drop of a hat, but it denotes a good heart. She is in my mind, somebody who would like animals, and anybody who likes animals has the heart in the right place.
It is for all those reasons, and also for the fact that we seldom have the audacity to praise somebody publicly, that I felt compelled to write this little piece.
Here is to you Christine! Na sdarovia! In my book, you are tops!

Alain Efron