Today we watched the film, "Alive", during one of my classes. It was supposed to teach us about leadership but as I watched, I can't helped but wonder at the resilience of the human spirit. Basically this film is based on a true story of a plane crash in the Andes mountains. The plane was carrying a group of rugby players to neighbouring Chile when it crashed. And as the narrator had said at the beginning of the film, nobody could anticipate what he could do in that kind of situation until he had gone through it himself. Of the 45 people onboard the plane, only 16 survived at the end of it all. They had spent around 60 days on the Andes mountains, before they were rescued, surviving mainly on the dead bodies of their team-mates. There was some controversy regarding that but I shall not comment on that here.
I know it was supposed to be a lesson on leadership but as we went through the strengths and weaknesses of the various leaders in the story, I just wonder how many of us would behave that way too if we were put in that kind of situation. I guessed it won't be easy, not when it seemed like all is lost. But they never gave up; they continued hoping and praying. Perhaps there wasn't anything left to do but hope and pray after all.
Nando, the unlikeliest of heros. He used to be a shy and awkward teen but he rosed to the occasion. If he had not persisted in walking to Chile, the team would perhaps never be rescued. If there's anything about leadership that I've learnt from this story, it is that leadership isn't about position or being the smartest among the group. It's about doing the right thing at the right time. Above it all, it's also about believing in what you're doing. So is a leader born or made? I do not know but I feel that no amount of training can prepare you for something like this. Actually, does it really matter who the leader is, as long as you know you've done the right thing? Is power and control that important?
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