Thursday, February 28, 2013

A Leader

                             "What It Takes to Be a Leader in Tibetan Community".

International Campaign for Tibet's Youth Leadership Workshop requires participants to write an essay on the theme of "what it takes to be a leader in Tibetan community?"as one of the creteria for selection for the weeklong leadership seminar in June. My inclination is that that this leadership training is worthwhile and could open door to limitless opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students, who are  the target trainees of the workshop. It provides the opportunity to nurture leadership and enable to interact with other Tibetan peers from Northern America. the seminar will be an eyeopenner for the students' own interest , potentional and possible future employment. If you are  Tibetan students activists, this could one of your crucial moment to bolster once own credential and gain real life knowledge in areas of  leadership and activism. In the following, let me dwell on the ideal requisite of a leaders in Tibetan community, which could be broadly categorized into education, dedication, and vision:


EDUCATION

This is a key qualification to be a leader in the Tibetan community. Education here means modern or traditional or combined. Along with education comes compentency, character and comunication skills, which is crucial in today's leadership.  One of the current and popular example of a leader whose educational achievement and fame brought him much crediability in his run of the office is Dr. Lobsang Sangay. A Phd degree in Harvard University puts him a head above all shoulder and the attraction for many voters. Wielding his Harvard degree, Dr. Losang Sangay has successfully presented himself to Tibetan registered  voters as a man of scholorship,intelligence,charism and great communication skills. The depth of his knowlwedge on international laws and his fluence in English language is a plus point for his candidacy for exiled Tibetan political leader. Education is key to success both for individual and as  leader or servant in Tibetan community. The nature of Tibetan people's struggle is peaceful through  nonviolent and peaceful  means.  Hence education is a invalueable weapon that all Tibetans requires to battle agaisnt communisty party leadership. As the Dalai Lama side we have the truth and it will prevail. For the truth to prevail, Tibetans youths need to be empowered and well educated, so that they can face any odd challenges and can  professionally defend Tibet's justice cause under any circumstance. With education comes wisdom and intelligence. Hence the saying goes pen is mightier than sword and this statemetn should resonated with the issue of Tibetan struggle for human dignity and human rights.  Education is the tool for a crasfman, who need it to design and rebuild thier prefered structures, like our leader needs to be armed with the weapon of education to do their job..

DEDICATION

While education is the foundation on which the individual's philosophy or principle is build on, educated Tibetan needs a crucial things  for the fullest utilization of their potentials.  That is his dedication for the cause . Another key quality of a Tibetan leader is his dedication for the cause. There are many educated Tibetan in the West, and how many of them are dedicated for the cause of Tibet, apart of their own career.  Dedication here means completely giving oneself for the cause of the struggle, by investing time and tirelessly work toward a goal. The Tibetan issue and struggle is such that one can not easily give up. It is not a lucrative business, and it is not welcomed all the time. Dedication will not whether the wills of the leaders when the going is getting hard. There will be ups and downs in the struggle, but the leader or the servant has to be fully committed for betterment of Tibet issues through awareness, activitism and so on. Tibetan community leaders should be able to inspire their fellow Tibetans by examples and leadership. With dedication, the movement and Tibetan struggle will not fizzle out as the Chinese wished with the pass of time. Fighting for a cause or issue such as Tibet's will require more than education and dedication, which I mentioned early. The leader of a Tibetan people needs to be visionary. Thanks to the vision and farsightedness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Tibetan struggle has sustained through all these years, and it is getting more vibrant with the full democratization the Tibetan society.

VISION  

When we talk of vision, it means what we foresee in the future. Tibetan people's fight for freedom has to be continued with same vigor and valor, even it takes hundred years. A Tibetan leader should be able to envision the fight down the road. Our fight is not only for the present, it has to be passed down to generations to come. Our leader should have the vision to   pass this fighting spirit to the future prosterity. The Tibet issue needs to be looked from a wide prospective and for long term survival strategy. Whatever plan and policy is underway, it should be aimed for not only for today but for tomarrow.  The strategy and slogans and statement should project that the Tibetan struggle will go on as long as the communisty party of China remain and as long as freedom is not restored in Tibet. The Tibetans inside and outside will not relent for generations to come.  We need to be aware that our battle is long and hard one. With that thing in mind, our leader should be able to fine tune it so it will withstand the test of time.

CONCLUSION

At the Youth leadership workshop, the participants should be fullty informed that these three qualities such as education, dedication and vision is the basic requirement for all future leaders. As one of wellknown Tibetan swami said once, "Give me four committed people and I will move the mountain". So dedication is required for the long and arduous task , and education is absolute necessity for the knowhow of cutting across the moutain and vision is what is expected after the work is done, how that will be handled.