ALL-ALBANIAN LEADERS
The problem with Albanians is not a lack of potentially talented leaders. It is rather that, far too often, those lacking such a talent are over-ambitious in becoming leaders. The less talented they are, the stronger is their ambition and the more ruthless their fight against anybody who could jeopardize those ambitions.I was recently at a dinner party where I met the granddaughter of Aubrey Herbert. During the evening we had a chance to share some of her memories about her grandfather, among Albanians better known as a friend of Albania.
A short reminder: Aubrey Herbert was a British diplomat. Born in 1880, he was a son of a fourth Earl of Carnarvon. A Conservative Member of Parliament, his politics have been described as an expression of his human sympathies. He visited Albania more then once and was passionate supporter of Albanian independence. He advised the Albanian delegation at the Balkan Peace Conference in 1912 and his influence is considered of crucial importance in securing Albania’s independence. His daughter Laura married the well-known writer Evelyn Waugh. (More about the life of Aubrey Herbert in coming issues).
Known among Albanians too is the fact that he was offered the Albanian throne. This he had declined having been advised to do so by the then Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, a family friend.
It was this fact (supported perhaps by the gentle spontaneity of his granddaughter) that caused my imagination to travel into the past.
What would have happened had Herbert accepted the throne, were my thoughts as I was returning back home. What direction would Albania have chosen?
More precisely: Where would Albania be today?
While my imagination was indeed in a mood of all sorts of hypothetical speculations, the present reality was by now being imposed in a pretty rough manner. Without me calling on it, it was popping up and blocking every route that this imagination was trying to pursue. Right, left, forward… Nope… It would jump everywhere and push my imagination backwards… Only backwards… And so travelling backwards one would reach the pre-Herbert time… the time of dependence i.e. Ottoman occupation… the time of Kastriot, the time of before Kastriot… the… the… the…
The question, where would Albania be today, was fainting more and more, with the answer being self-imposed on it…
Where would Albania be today?
“Not far from where it is now” was my fast conclusion. Just as Albania went back to the “beginning” after the death of Gjergj (Kastriot), so it would have gone back after of Aubrey's (Herbert) death. The problem with Albanians is not the lack of potentially talented leaders. The problem with the Albanians is that, far too often, those without such a talent want to become leaders. The less talented they are the stronger their ambitions, the wilder their fight against anyone who could jeopardize those ambitions.
Indeed, the problem with Albanians is not the lack of talent. Among Albanians as among any other peoples, there are individuals of all sorts of talents. Some for teaching, some for journalism, some for health care… building… some for leadership… The problem with Albanians is that this talent remains mainly if not fully undernourished both on a personal as well as a wider social level… Far too often almost everybody wants “to become something” without challenging the inner energy and talent… Rather than nourishing inner and social talent, almost the whole energy is directed towards stopping those seen as a threat to those personal ambitions. All this time, the real talent remains locked within the walls of ignorance and misguided ambitions…
posted by Euro-Korrespondent @ 9:28 AM
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