Skip to Navigation Youtube Instagram

" A good traveller has no fixed plans,

and is not intent on arriving "

Lao Tzu

We Need Dreamers

December 3rd, 2010
Claudio Crow, a Druid in Brazil wrote the following inspiring post:

We choose our leaders based on appearance.
So, you’d prefer to be guided by men and women dressed in ‘respectful’ suits – ties and tailleurs, three-piece suits and gowns. Fair enough. Or is it?
You’d rebuke at the sight of an ‘artist’ – a musician or poet – standing up and claiming he/she has the vision to create a better future – his craft, after all, is ‘another’ – not politics… Fair enough. Or is it?
Why shouldn’t a poet lead a country? Why shouldn’t a musician inspire a people?
I personally distrust anyone who wears the ‘businessman/politician’ uniform – suit and tie – because I cannot trust someone who willingly ties a knot around his own neck – it says it all, doesn’t it?
But you – he, she, me – we! – WE prefer to put our personal future in the hands of politicians, party leaders and CEOs that dress “according to the code”. How disturbing can this be?
Well, not for me – not anymore, at least.
Perhaps it’s high time we gave an artist a chance. His/her poetic vision, his sense of dream and imagination cannot be seen as a hindrance but a positive quality in a leader.
“Dream the dream and then make it real’ says the Poet.
Modern politicians know not how to dream. As a matter of fact, I believe they barely know what a dream is, their nights punctuated by nightmares of losing elections, losing votes, losing support, losing seats, losing deals, losing commissions, losing everything they gained after they chose to lose their most important asset: their souls.
In Celtic times, the Poets of Ireland (known as Filidh) were wise people, respected for their literacy, their wisdom, their fair judgement. They were trained to seek and find harmony, rhyme and rhythm everywhere – and to, with the aid of their well-crafted verses, share that knowledge of harmony, rhyme and rhythm with the people. We, the people.
Nowadays, if an artist stands up and says, “I can steer you out of trouble” the sheer fact that he/she is not a politician “by trade” is enough to have people labelling him… a madman, an irresponsible madman that meddles in other peoples’ affairs. John Lennon, Padraig Pearse, Milan Kundera, Borges…
Why do we agree with such blatantly nonsensical prejudice?
Come to think of it, it is PRECISELY for not having any previous political background that one should be chosen: no vices, no dictating cartels, no ties – no pun intended.
Old WB Yeats was an accomplished poet, a great spiritualist and an inspired politician. He helped a nation to blossom, with one foot strongly set on the Past – roots, origins, lineage – and the other daringly searching a better future. He knew a thing or two about life, so much so that his work still inspires people all over the world.
Should we find an artist whose VISION can inspire us, especially in a moment of crisis? Do we give a Poet another chance?
If a political artist is considered a ‘madman’ by most people, so be it. Perhaps we should ask other ‘madmen’ to lead us. All around the globe.
We need a new model, we need new leaders, we need people who dream.
We need Dreamers. Desperately.

Claudio Quintino Crow
(c) 2010

See Claudio’s website

6 Responses to “We Need Dreamers”

  1. I hate to say it but Claudio here is guilty of a bit of cultural stereotyping! I’ve often been described as ‘arty’ but I love wearing bow ties and even the odd suit and -shock horror! – waistcoats too! I don’t wear trainers, don’t own jeans and don’t intend to start now. This whole idea of artist = wild but authoritarian = tie is such old hat. Mind you, I suppose hats are authoritarian too…unless they’re berets…or is that too stereotypical? Perhaps Claudio ought to get out a bit and see just how many people are wearing the ‘creative’ ensemble of trainers, t-shirts, shorts, jeans. Pop out on Saturday and just count how many are wearing ties and other items of repressive formal wear. Not too many of the latter eh? Now I wonder which are the distinctively dressed individuals and which are the mindless masses? Excuse me whilst I go and wind my pocket watch…

  2. He may have laid it out a bit thickly black-and-white-wise, but I do think his underlying point is excellent. Why should dreamers and idealists be excluded from positions of influence and leadership simply because they weren’t groomed to play the game and may not have the ‘proper’ credentials or lifestyle we’re accustomed to seeing with career politicians?

    It’s a paradigm shift that’s needed, if a better balance is to be reached, if leaders are to be more than the sum of their party and office again.

  3. Perhaps we should put our hope on the fools and the artists – that is, to ponder over things; the actual doing might perhaps be left to persons with a more practical scope.

  4. I agree with the deeper point that Melissa mentions. There was a time when those entering civil service put the needs of the country before their personal needs. If ever we need to look to the past, this is certainly a good place to start.

Comments are closed.