by Dave Hughes

Created on: September 17, 2010   Last Updated: September 18, 2010

The current level of global poverty is rising. At the same time, those possessing most of the world's wealth live by a philosophy emphasizing their separatism from the general population, a philosophy that will crumble with the disintegration of society in the very near future. This piece proposes a different world view based on unity and compasion.

The Greeks have many words meaning, literally, love. The words actually apply to different kinds of love. One of those words is agape.

Loosely translated agape is brotherly love. In fact, it is love of all mankind and extends to those things which help man to thrive, including virtually everything that has brought a better life and a brighter future to man.

Man faces many trials. Some must face crushing poverty. Others struggle against circumstances brought about by those who would push vast numbers into servitude and call themselves liberators of the people. Still more follow religious philosophies that, according to the pedagogy who translate religious texts to their own advantage, promote the idea that any that do not follow that same religion be killed and thus removed as heretics to the true faith.

Agape encourages each person to love all others. That includes taking to heart the struggles that burden so many others. Education is the key to peace among us all, but stricter measures are often necessary for the simple reason that those in power will not release their control because it provides them with position, wealth, and dominion over their particular mass of people, all of whom have given up their lives to follow the leader in place of individual freedom, whose price would prove very high indeed.

Agape thrives in a free environment where individuals have the chance to express it. That expression can take almost any form from educating young people on the importantance of an open mind to providing a safe environment in the midst of tyranny where the voice of love and freedom has always been silenced with gunfire. Agape is ultimately gentle though its proliferation may require harsh measures.

Agape is a wonderful guide for forming new philosophies; thus it should be the foundation for every leader. The first priority for leadership must be the love, not of power or authority, but of people; first, those whom fall under their immediate rule and finally all mankind.

Our leaders cannot be shepherds, for we are all not sheep. We are a volatile lot, anxious to express our ideas which seem now to fall into a den

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