Be The Change You Wish To See In The World
Volume 4, Issue 1 December 1999
Be The Change You Wish To See In The World
Oliver DeMille
The following speech was delivered at the GWC Commencement Exercises held September 11, 1999, in Cedar City, Utah. Dr. Mark D. Siljander is a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, a three-term U.S. Congressman, and the 1996 recipient of the Mohandas K. Gandhi International Peace Award. He is also a doctoral graduate of George Wythe College.
Dr. Sills and Dr. and Mrs. DeMille and I were discussing statesmanship over breakfast this morning. I told them the following story, which is one of the most remarkable stories in the world of politics, diplomacy, statesmanship and intervention by God in contemporary society.
In South Africa, just prior to the elections, Chief Buthelezi, head of the Zulu people, was contemplating participating in the historic South African elections (and his non-involvement would certainly have catapulted South Africa into a major civil war). This was the first time in South Africa's history that non-whites could participate politically and vie for the presidency. There's a Kenyan gentleman named Washington Okomo. He's not a politician; he's not necessarily famous; but he's part of a small group in Kenya that meet and talk around the spirit of Christ and pray for the future of Kenya and Africa. Chief Buthelezi, similarly, is in a group in South Africa that prays and fellowships together. This is the base for his group of mentors.
These two little groups ultimately bumped into each other some years ago in Washington at a Presidential Prayer Breakfast, where they shared their common bond though fellowship groups--brotherhood, if you will. Well, to make a long story short, during a time of prayer, Washington Okomo felt he had an answer to this crisis, the stalemate in South Africa. So, the day before the final decision by Chief Buthelezi, where he was to announce to the world whether or not the Zulus would participate in the presidential elections, Mr. Okomo called him and asked to speak with him in person. "I must talk to you privately," he said. As soon as he received the audience, Mr. Okomo flew down to South Africa and hurried to get to the airport where Chief Buthelezi was sitting in a VIP room preparing to take off in his private jet. The Chief had decided to announce to the world that he was not going to participate in the elections, thereby causing what most analysts believe would have been a bloody civil war.
Mr. Okomo, caught in a traffic jam, didn't make the airport in time; and Chief Buthelezi departed in his private jet. However, immediately, numerous red lights started flashing — caution lights, warning lights — so the pilot frightfully turned around and landed the plane to determine the terrible mechanical problem.
That put Chief Buthelezi back in the VIP room just in time for Washington Okomo to arrive. Now I don't know what Washington Okomo said, but he told him something inspired; and after they prayed together, Chief Buthelezi changed his mind. I don't know all the other people involved who were working with Chief Buthelezi and encouraging him toward peace and reconciliation; but the idea at work here was a brotherhood of friends around the world seeking a peaceful world, one without war and without conflict. This was accomplished through the concept of loving one another without condition and listening to each other with respect. Whatever Okomo said impacted Buthelezi so much that he literally changed his mind, his strategy. Moments later the captain came and said, "Your Excellency, we're ready to depart." Buthelezi asked, "What was wrong with the airplane?" He said, "We could find nothing wrong with the airplane." Chief Buthelezi, stunned, got back on the airplane and flew off and made his historic announcement, and the rest as you know is history. Elections went off without serious glitches, and democratization has proceeded.
Now believe it or not, this story has to do with an amazing man who serves as Chairman of your College Board of Directors, Dr. Sills. After telling this story, Dr. Sills said to me, "I was there." He was one of the men who was instrumental in this little circle of friends around Chief Buthelezi. So when we talk about statesmanship and strategy, it's remarkable that here in a bed and breakfast located in Cedar City, Utah, I'm telling this amazing story; and it wasn't so amazing to this man to my right because he was there! Dr. Sills, I appreciate all the work that you do for the College and for love of humanity and for your compassionate caring for the children of the world, even to the far stretches of South Africa.
I want to thank George Wythe College for the opportunity to allow me to earn a Ph.D. degree in International Business; and I'm extremely thankful because I applied my dissertation in a practical manner to business, and happily, I'm producing a profit from it. So, theory came into practice. One of your pillars is field study, and that's precisely what I did — took my dissertation and, as you talked about earlier today, Dr. DeMille, in a very practical way applied the principles to my own life.
I'd like to tell you about a profound situation in my personal life. About five years ago I was sitting in the middle of the Sahara Desert. When I tell you I was in the middle of the Sahara Desert, I'm not exaggerating. We flew into Algiers, and from Algiers to Tinduf and drove for two hours and saw nothing but waves of sand to meet the President of the Sahara people who had been warring over the Western Sahara against Morocco for years.
Consider my situation: I'm sitting on the floor in the Presidential Tent with my legs crossed preparing for a Presidential Banquet, and the President arrives with his entourage. I'm with a delegation, including Senator McCain's mother (who could walk through the sands of the Sahara Desert faster than any of us), and he looks me coolly in the eye and says, "What can I do for you?" I'm thinking, what in the world am I doing here? I'm not a congressman any more — I put my 15 years in and retired — why am I in the middle of the desert with Senator McCain's mother and a few other high profile people? And this President of these people asks me what I am doing here. My whole life sort of went through my mind as he waited patiently for a response before we started our banquet. And everyone's hungry; we'd made a long trip. I could just sense it, "Come on Siljander — hurry up, get it out! Why are we here? Why are you here?"
My original view of statesmanship was this: we need to get as many God-fearing, conservative people into Congress as possible. When I first came to Washington, I was young and enthusiastic, and I made quite a controversy -- I was on everyone's "A List." You know what that is? That's the "inviting list" -- all the people seeking power and prestige and position want to be on that list to be invited to all the important parties. Well, I went to about two parties, and I was wiped off the list. I talked about God, even mentioned the no-no name of Jesus. Oh goodness, mentioning your faith in these environments is not appreciated; so the "A List" lasted a very brief time. I thought my original view was the key strategy: "We need to get conservative, God-fearing men and women in these positions; then we'll change America, and ultimately change the world!" Later as a diplomat to the United Nations, I still adhered to the same view.
I met privately with an estimated 47 ambassadors and spent hours with each. I asked them about their wives and their children, what motivated them to be an ambassador, what they hoped for in their country, what they hoped for from America, what our country could do to improve in the U.N. Do you know what almost every single ambassador said to me? That I was shockingly the only diplomat (and some diplomats had been there for years) from the U.S. to have ever asked them a question that was deeper than, "Isn't the traffic in Manhattan terrible?" Or insisting how they should vote on a particular matter or a given resolution. In other words, the too often rightly perceived arrogant United States was not pursuing relationships, just mandating shallow "forced diplomacy." So, I could have been the greatest God-fearing person with an ideology to match everything Dr. DeMille alluded to at lunch today, and I still would have been a very poor diplomat -- lacking meaningful relationships, personal skills, no real connections, and frankly, that was a shocking wake-up call for me. So I spent the rest of my service in the 42nd General Assembly getting to know ambassadors intimately, personally, their issues, what made them happy, what made them sad, their hopes and dreams.
It was only after 15 years of public life, reflecting about all those years of struggle with leaders such as Newt Gingrich and so many others that I realized we needed a different strategy. I started in the early 80s, with the so-called `young Turks' in Congress. We were the first to utilize C-Span (now it's very popular, but it had just begun back in the early 80s) espousing our philosophy to hundreds of thousands of viewers for countless hours at the end of each regular legislative day. There were only two or three congressmen who did this; and with the legislative chamber nearly empty, the very perturbed Speaker of the House decided to show all the empty seats and that we were presumably talking to no one. Nonetheless, we knew we were talking to hundreds of thousands of people. I remember Jack Kemp (we walked back and forth together because we had offices next to each other), and he would say, "Mark, I'm going off to speak to 8,000 people in California." Jack would spend 5 hours getting there and 5 hours flying back while I could walk 3 minutes to the House floor and speak to half a million people. Better use of time, isn't it? But anyway, our strategy was aggressive, in your face, take over. That was the beginning of our revolution that led to the takeover of the US House of Representatives. But, has it impacted our society as we had hoped?
President Teddy Roosevelt in 1909 said this, "Every thinking man realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven with our whole civic and social life that it would be impossible for us to figure out for ourselves what that life would be if these standards were not kept." As I started reading the Bible and great classics (speaking to Dr. DeMille), an astonishing revelation came to me: I had chosen the wrong strategy. I was incorrect about the concept of statesmanship and what strategy would lead to change the world. My study included historic writings such as the Koran and other holy books of other religions and faiths, which have aided greatly in understanding how to build bridges of friendship that will truly lead to impacting the world.
Marx, Lenin, Mao and Jesus -- what do they have in common? They all employed the same strategy for statesmanship leading to change. Marx, Lenin, and Mao studied Jesus! They studied the classics; they studied the strategies of the greats; and what they implemented is surprising. While the lexicon sounds different, their strategy parallels much of the five pillars of George Wythe College and the four principles of statesmanship: (1) they were unconditionally committed to communism and to each other and to their ideology; (2) they expressed that through forming small cell groups; (3) they were unconditionally committed to each other in the cell; (4) if they met others from another cell they didn't know, they would call them "Comrade," another word for "brother"; and (lastly) they had a deep desire to learn, to grow within themselves, because they knew within themselves if they would learn and grow and develop, they could impact the world.
Communism swept Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America -- and nearly took over the world; but the basis was wrong. Their desired goals were wrong and their system thus destined to fail, but still the strategy worked sufficiently to nearly take over our planet. Why? Because of a carpenter! He had no degrees, no wealth. He wasn't called Chief, as you are, Dr. Sills, or a Dr. or Congressman or Ambassador or any of these other titles we so endear to ourselves. He was just Jesus of Nazareth. He and a ragtag band of 12 who were of equal status or even lower, impacted the world profoundly -- including me. So, in retrospect, the strategy of Jesus is really the key to statesmanship.
General McArthur said, "In military alliances, the balances of power and leagues of nations all in turn fail, leaving only war. If we do not devise some greater system, Armageddon will be at the door. The problem basically is theological and about spiritual renewal and improvement of human character -- yours, ours -- our human character. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh." Isn't that profound? It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.
So here is what I feel is the key to the strategy of Jesus: in order to impact the world, our society, our community, we need to first change ourselves. It's profoundly simple. We're all so busy trying to change the world -- like I was as a congressman -- that we have no time left to change ourselves. Oh, I had worthwhile goals. I meant well but was deceived into thinking that politics alone, strategy alone, intellect alone, revolution or taking over congress alone would change the world. But it did not and will not. Maybe in the short run a political peace initiative in Christian/Muslim -conflicted Lebanon will temporarily place an appeasing Band-Aid on the wound. Accomplish this by putting a Christian into office as president and a Moslem made Prime Minister -- and everyone will claim to be satisfied with their little chiefdom of power, but their hearts still hate one another. A flair-up of conflict is as inevitable as the sunrise. Similarly in Africa, the Hutus and the Tutsis are massacring each other -- 95% of the Hutus and Tutzis who are interviewed say, "We're Christians, we're Christians, oh Praise God!" Then they butcher each other's children. So titles and religion alone -- unless accompanied with heart changes and character changes -- will not change the world or our beloved America. Political gain will not change the world nor even change our communities. We need to first change ourselves.
What George Wythe is propagating will inspire true change. It may not have 10,000 graduates, but Jesus only needed 12 who knew the secret. Lenin knew the secret. Mao knew the secret, but they were devious and diabolical. Jesus had the secret, and He used it correctly. It is not relevant if you're Catholic, Baptist, or Mormon; it doesn't matter if you don't claim a particular religion. Jesus of Nazareth holds the revelation of this mystery, the strategy to change the world: establish personal integrity, pray hard, and create a dynamic network and wait for God to lead you.
So, anyway, getting back to the Sahara Desert, I was thinking about so many things -- and the people in our party were getting so hungry by now; all the dishes were before us (and of course they eat with their hands over there), and our people were eager to eat with anything -- they were so famished by the time I responded to his question, "What do you want?"
I said, "Your Excellency, I belong to a group, with no name, consisting of members of the US House of Representatives who each week eat breakfast together, pray together, think about the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, play together, and we learn about each other's personal private lives. We ask each other about our spouses, our children, our hopes, our dreams, and our sorrows. There is also a group in the Senate that meets on the same basis. (There are 110 members in the House and 30 in the Senate.) They're white, black, Asian, they're Latin, they're women, they're men, they're old, they're young, they're liberal, they're conservative, they're republicans, they're democrats, they're new members or senior members." He looked at me quizzically and said, "That's hard to believe!" Most foreign government officials are cognizant of the diversity, and resulting suspicious, competition within our two-party system. So they find it curious that we get together, have fun, and establish trust among each other. They also find it hard to believe because in most cultures, it's death if you disagree; so there's rarely personal relationships established because of the lack of trust. Still questioning, the President said, "How does it work? How could you possibly bring a group that diverse together?" I responded, "Well, it's as simple as getting to know each other because as you begin meeting together in small groups, getting to know each other's hopes and dreams, soon you build trust; and once that trust is built to a sufficient level, then powerful things can happen. Especially as you center around the teachings of Jesus, things can happen. Even if you have no faith, simply the structure and a few with faith will create exciting dynamics; and if you do have faith, the power is that much greater -- that is far beyond the power of man."
I remember going into the office of a congressman (I was retired at this time). He's part of this sizable Congressional group of 110 who break up into smaller groups, or cells. I said, "John, how are you?" He said, "I'm doing great, Mark; I've never been better!" I said, "John, this is Mark, your colleague, how are you really doing?" He started weeping. He went from "great," which was a political answer, to weeping. He sobbed, "I've ruined my daughter's life and my wife and I…oh," and he just fell apart. I didn't expect that either. I was a bit taken aback by that extraordinary change. However, this is the key. I was close enough to penetrate his heart, because we had built up trust over years through eating breakfasts together. How many congressmen have cried to one another? Very few. Who do they have to cry to? Certainly not their staffs, their constituents, and sometimes not even their spouses. To me the key to relationship building is trust.
I went to Libya not too many months ago, and the State Department said, "You can't go to Libya." I replied, "What do you mean I can't go? Why not? The Supreme Court says Americans can travel where they please." They smugly retorted, "Yes, you may go, but you cannot use your passport, nor can you acquire, buy, trade or sell tickets to, from or through Libya. How are you going to go with those limitations?" Well, years before we had built up a relationship with a President of one of the countries in West Africa who was one of the most extraordinary Marxist-Leninist leaders of the region. Subsequently he met a man called Jesus. After the Soviet empire had collapsed, he ran in a free election and lost. He stayed five years out of politics, where he met Jesus. He then ran again and beat the man who had beaten him. He is now an enthusiast for democracy, for America. I spent literally weeks with this man in both his country several times and in the United States. Senators have flown quietly to talk to him about relationship building, about little groups, changing lives, networking around the world -- and he became so excited that he called Muammar Qaddafi and said, "You have to meet these men and listen to what they have to say." He said, "They can't travel using their passports, so you'll have to send a plane down to pick them up." So Qaddafi sent a plane to pick us up (we didn't acquire tickets, and we left our passports back in the home base in Africa). Thus, we traveled to Libya legally to meet with their leadership. They insisted that we had come "to get the two terrorists released that you think bombed the Pan Am jet over Lockerbee, Scotland, and that killed 241 Americans, aren't you?" Now, just between us, deep inside that was certainly a concern, but not the principal purpose or agenda. If I had an agenda with that congressman named John when he began to weep, do you think our relationship would have lasted? My agenda was limited to trying to build friendship, a relationship with our country's most nefarious enemy. So I said, "No, I have no agenda. I'm here simply to be your friend." The Libyan leader looked at me and said, "What do you mean? We're enemies. We are about the worst enemies two countries could be." "Perhaps our countries are enemies, but individually we are not enemies -- it is possible to be friends." He then said, "You're not my friend." I said, "I want to be your friend." He said, "I don't believe you -- I am sure you're here to get the Lockerbee suspects out of Libya, that's the only reason anyone would come to Libya." So I said it again a second time that our motive was friendship. He asked, "On what basis is this proposed friendship?"
This same question was posed to me by the President of the Western Sahara. I had to answer him the same way I did five years before. I said, "I came here in the spirit of Jesus." He said, "Oh, you're here for a big Christian crusade." I said, "No, I'm not here in the spirit of Christianity, or religion or denomination or in the name of any institutional organization. No, I represent a diverse band of friends in the House and the Senate who meet together in the Spirit of Jesus. It's a group similar to the parliament groups and in about 142 countries all over the world." He was puzzled, "There are such entities?" Then he called his intelligence people and wondered why he didn't know about this. I said, "I've come in the spirit of Jesus of the Koran -- the same spirit that breathed Jesus in a Virgin, thus born supernaturally. The same Jesus who healed the sick, the blind, raised the dead, was taken up by God in full view of man, who now sits near to God and is coming back to judge all mankind. He was also called the `Messiah' in your holy book." Since all these quotes are from his holy book the Koran, he jumps up and screams, "Alhumdeilla!" which means in Arabic "Thanks be to God!" Now, most of you think I was quoting the Bible, don't you? Similar statements are in the Bible, too. But it's also in the Koran; so through this remarkable commonality, we have an opportunity to build a bridge of friendship.
You know, Dr. DeMille talked about building bridges today; and I was trying to build such a bridge with a sworn enemy of the United States. I stated to the Libyan leader, "Since I agree with the Koranic verses, I'm with you; so in that same spirit, I come in friendship. The Koran also says that people who do not listen to the teachings of Jesus are unwise and the people who follow his teachings have great wisdom." Then he said, "Do you know the Koran very well?" I replied, "I know a little bit. I'm a student of the Koran." So we talked more and more about how these little groups work, and I invited him to meet the groups. He asked, "You mean I could come or send my people to your country and meet with congressmen and senators privately?" I answered, "Yes, and they'll love you, they'll hug you, they'll pray with you and they'll be your friends." He asked, "But don't they think I'm a terrorist and a murderer?" I said, "I know what people think of your government -- but that's the governments again, not us individually." On the way out the door after praying and hugging this particular official, he said to me, "Next week you'll have good news," and you know what happened a week later? (And not that our trip had impacted it; I think that the decision had already been made...) The two Lockerbee terrorists were released about six or seven days later.
The impact through relationship building is the secret of true statesmanship. However, to be in a position to implement such statesmanship, one must be in a position to first change oneself and to do so with the camaraderie of others through mentoring. This is the key. We can't do it alone. All the degrees you may assemble, all the titles you may collect, will not prepare you enough for the temptations and challenges of the world. We need at any age, with any intellect, in any position -- from the President of the US to the children in the streets of Bangladesh -- to be mentored; we need to be together, unified with the same spirit.
So, looking back once more to my time in the sands of the Sahara, I explained this whole idea to this President. He questioned, "So you're not here for Christianity, you're not here representing a group or organization, you're just here representing a sort of fellowship of people?" I said, "Yes, and I believe there's a solution to your problem." He said, "We have no solutions but war." I said, "Let's give a little group a chance. If you'll give me your ambassador for one year, let him stay in Washington and be part of a group, study the teachings of Jesus, study the idea of relationship building, eating, playing together, studying together, praying together . . . Let's give it a try for a year. If I'm wrong, then you never need to talk to me or listen to any of our friends again." He agreed. His ambassador was in a group.
Within a year and a half, former Secretary of State James Baker was appointed by UN Secretary General Kofe Anan to work in a little tucked away country called the Western Sahara. Why would Jim Baker risk such prestige and profile to bother dealing with such an issue? Because he's a man of integrity and understands this idea of the potential of little groups. He knows that "God can work a miracle." So they met together, talked together, strategized, and now there's going to be a vote for self-determination in the Sahara. There hasn't been a shot fired since that meeting, and that was four or five years ago and they're finally ebbing toward a peace initiative with Morocco, and there hasn't been a single person killed. The President of Western Sahara has subsequently visited Washington several times. He looked me in the eye and this time on my turf -- sitting side by side -- he said, "Your God . . ." but then he paused and said, "no, our God worked a miracle." Who would have ever thought that such a remarkable turnaround of events would ever happen?
Jesus is the author. He had the 12 and Peter, James and John. And in conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, my question to you is: "Who is your Peter? Or who is your James or your John?" I don't mean this just for men, I mean it for all of us. Who do you mentor with? Who do you relate to on a personal basis? You eat together, play together, pray together, think together, hope together, and dream together. Who is the person, or persons in your life? If you don't have one, let me implore you, that if your desire is to be a statesman and to truly change yourself, your community, your country and impact the world, you need to think about implementing the strategy of Jesus Christ in your own life.
I recall visiting Khartoum, Sudan, about a year ago. Most Christian Westerners limit their Sudan visits to the south to assist the oppressed Christians and the Animists, but few have ever sought audiences with the Islamic regime of the north, because of accused state-sponsored slavery and terrorism underlined by a religious civil war. God told the Apostle Peter that no one is unclean -- no one -- and who are we to say "we are without blemish" ourselves? Thus, two of us boarded an airplane bound for north Sudan. While the US State Department didn't like it, we met with Dr. Turabi, the Islamic leader and President of the Sudanese Parliament in the north who has declared "jihad," which means "holy war" against the Christians. We also discussed establishing friendship, in the Spirit of Jesus, with President Bashir, quickly making great inroads in building new relationships. I am praying and believing that building trust through friendship will, in the end, come to be the solution to conclude that devastating crisis in the Sudan. Eritrea, Ethiopia, Angola, Bosnia, Ireland -- are a few other great challenges everywhere, ladies and gentlemen. As with Moses, who did not live to see the fruit of his efforts by entering the "Promised Land," tangible results in these complicated situations may not always seem immediate. Nonetheless, the secret to the strategy of both good and evil leaders throughout this century rests in whom we can call our Peter, James, or John. What is statesmanship? Oliver DeMille outlined it perfectly today with the Five Pillars and four characteristics. My nomenclature may be different, but the goals are the same. Think about the strategy of Jesus, and begin to implement it.
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copyright © 2002 George Wythe College
Be The Change You Wish To See In The World
Oliver DeMille
The following speech was delivered at the GWC Commencement Exercises held September 11, 1999, in Cedar City, Utah. Dr. Mark D. Siljander is a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, a three-term U.S. Congressman, and the 1996 recipient of the Mohandas K. Gandhi International Peace Award. He is also a doctoral graduate of George Wythe College.
Dr. Sills and Dr. and Mrs. DeMille and I were discussing statesmanship over breakfast this morning. I told them the following story, which is one of the most remarkable stories in the world of politics, diplomacy, statesmanship and intervention by God in contemporary society.
In South Africa, just prior to the elections, Chief Buthelezi, head of the Zulu people, was contemplating participating in the historic South African elections (and his non-involvement would certainly have catapulted South Africa into a major civil war). This was the first time in South Africa's history that non-whites could participate politically and vie for the presidency. There's a Kenyan gentleman named Washington Okomo. He's not a politician; he's not necessarily famous; but he's part of a small group in Kenya that meet and talk around the spirit of Christ and pray for the future of Kenya and Africa. Chief Buthelezi, similarly, is in a group in South Africa that prays and fellowships together. This is the base for his group of mentors.
These two little groups ultimately bumped into each other some years ago in Washington at a Presidential Prayer Breakfast, where they shared their common bond though fellowship groups--brotherhood, if you will. Well, to make a long story short, during a time of prayer, Washington Okomo felt he had an answer to this crisis, the stalemate in South Africa. So, the day before the final decision by Chief Buthelezi, where he was to announce to the world whether or not the Zulus would participate in the presidential elections, Mr. Okomo called him and asked to speak with him in person. "I must talk to you privately," he said. As soon as he received the audience, Mr. Okomo flew down to South Africa and hurried to get to the airport where Chief Buthelezi was sitting in a VIP room preparing to take off in his private jet. The Chief had decided to announce to the world that he was not going to participate in the elections, thereby causing what most analysts believe would have been a bloody civil war.
Mr. Okomo, caught in a traffic jam, didn't make the airport in time; and Chief Buthelezi departed in his private jet. However, immediately, numerous red lights started flashing — caution lights, warning lights — so the pilot frightfully turned around and landed the plane to determine the terrible mechanical problem.
That put Chief Buthelezi back in the VIP room just in time for Washington Okomo to arrive. Now I don't know what Washington Okomo said, but he told him something inspired; and after they prayed together, Chief Buthelezi changed his mind. I don't know all the other people involved who were working with Chief Buthelezi and encouraging him toward peace and reconciliation; but the idea at work here was a brotherhood of friends around the world seeking a peaceful world, one without war and without conflict. This was accomplished through the concept of loving one another without condition and listening to each other with respect. Whatever Okomo said impacted Buthelezi so much that he literally changed his mind, his strategy. Moments later the captain came and said, "Your Excellency, we're ready to depart." Buthelezi asked, "What was wrong with the airplane?" He said, "We could find nothing wrong with the airplane." Chief Buthelezi, stunned, got back on the airplane and flew off and made his historic announcement, and the rest as you know is history. Elections went off without serious glitches, and democratization has proceeded.
Now believe it or not, this story has to do with an amazing man who serves as Chairman of your College Board of Directors, Dr. Sills. After telling this story, Dr. Sills said to me, "I was there." He was one of the men who was instrumental in this little circle of friends around Chief Buthelezi. So when we talk about statesmanship and strategy, it's remarkable that here in a bed and breakfast located in Cedar City, Utah, I'm telling this amazing story; and it wasn't so amazing to this man to my right because he was there! Dr. Sills, I appreciate all the work that you do for the College and for love of humanity and for your compassionate caring for the children of the world, even to the far stretches of South Africa.
I want to thank George Wythe College for the opportunity to allow me to earn a Ph.D. degree in International Business; and I'm extremely thankful because I applied my dissertation in a practical manner to business, and happily, I'm producing a profit from it. So, theory came into practice. One of your pillars is field study, and that's precisely what I did — took my dissertation and, as you talked about earlier today, Dr. DeMille, in a very practical way applied the principles to my own life.
I'd like to tell you about a profound situation in my personal life. About five years ago I was sitting in the middle of the Sahara Desert. When I tell you I was in the middle of the Sahara Desert, I'm not exaggerating. We flew into Algiers, and from Algiers to Tinduf and drove for two hours and saw nothing but waves of sand to meet the President of the Sahara people who had been warring over the Western Sahara against Morocco for years.
Consider my situation: I'm sitting on the floor in the Presidential Tent with my legs crossed preparing for a Presidential Banquet, and the President arrives with his entourage. I'm with a delegation, including Senator McCain's mother (who could walk through the sands of the Sahara Desert faster than any of us), and he looks me coolly in the eye and says, "What can I do for you?" I'm thinking, what in the world am I doing here? I'm not a congressman any more — I put my 15 years in and retired — why am I in the middle of the desert with Senator McCain's mother and a few other high profile people? And this President of these people asks me what I am doing here. My whole life sort of went through my mind as he waited patiently for a response before we started our banquet. And everyone's hungry; we'd made a long trip. I could just sense it, "Come on Siljander — hurry up, get it out! Why are we here? Why are you here?"
My original view of statesmanship was this: we need to get as many God-fearing, conservative people into Congress as possible. When I first came to Washington, I was young and enthusiastic, and I made quite a controversy -- I was on everyone's "A List." You know what that is? That's the "inviting list" -- all the people seeking power and prestige and position want to be on that list to be invited to all the important parties. Well, I went to about two parties, and I was wiped off the list. I talked about God, even mentioned the no-no name of Jesus. Oh goodness, mentioning your faith in these environments is not appreciated; so the "A List" lasted a very brief time. I thought my original view was the key strategy: "We need to get conservative, God-fearing men and women in these positions; then we'll change America, and ultimately change the world!" Later as a diplomat to the United Nations, I still adhered to the same view.
I met privately with an estimated 47 ambassadors and spent hours with each. I asked them about their wives and their children, what motivated them to be an ambassador, what they hoped for in their country, what they hoped for from America, what our country could do to improve in the U.N. Do you know what almost every single ambassador said to me? That I was shockingly the only diplomat (and some diplomats had been there for years) from the U.S. to have ever asked them a question that was deeper than, "Isn't the traffic in Manhattan terrible?" Or insisting how they should vote on a particular matter or a given resolution. In other words, the too often rightly perceived arrogant United States was not pursuing relationships, just mandating shallow "forced diplomacy." So, I could have been the greatest God-fearing person with an ideology to match everything Dr. DeMille alluded to at lunch today, and I still would have been a very poor diplomat -- lacking meaningful relationships, personal skills, no real connections, and frankly, that was a shocking wake-up call for me. So I spent the rest of my service in the 42nd General Assembly getting to know ambassadors intimately, personally, their issues, what made them happy, what made them sad, their hopes and dreams.
It was only after 15 years of public life, reflecting about all those years of struggle with leaders such as Newt Gingrich and so many others that I realized we needed a different strategy. I started in the early 80s, with the so-called `young Turks' in Congress. We were the first to utilize C-Span (now it's very popular, but it had just begun back in the early 80s) espousing our philosophy to hundreds of thousands of viewers for countless hours at the end of each regular legislative day. There were only two or three congressmen who did this; and with the legislative chamber nearly empty, the very perturbed Speaker of the House decided to show all the empty seats and that we were presumably talking to no one. Nonetheless, we knew we were talking to hundreds of thousands of people. I remember Jack Kemp (we walked back and forth together because we had offices next to each other), and he would say, "Mark, I'm going off to speak to 8,000 people in California." Jack would spend 5 hours getting there and 5 hours flying back while I could walk 3 minutes to the House floor and speak to half a million people. Better use of time, isn't it? But anyway, our strategy was aggressive, in your face, take over. That was the beginning of our revolution that led to the takeover of the US House of Representatives. But, has it impacted our society as we had hoped?
President Teddy Roosevelt in 1909 said this, "Every thinking man realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven with our whole civic and social life that it would be impossible for us to figure out for ourselves what that life would be if these standards were not kept." As I started reading the Bible and great classics (speaking to Dr. DeMille), an astonishing revelation came to me: I had chosen the wrong strategy. I was incorrect about the concept of statesmanship and what strategy would lead to change the world. My study included historic writings such as the Koran and other holy books of other religions and faiths, which have aided greatly in understanding how to build bridges of friendship that will truly lead to impacting the world.
Marx, Lenin, Mao and Jesus -- what do they have in common? They all employed the same strategy for statesmanship leading to change. Marx, Lenin, and Mao studied Jesus! They studied the classics; they studied the strategies of the greats; and what they implemented is surprising. While the lexicon sounds different, their strategy parallels much of the five pillars of George Wythe College and the four principles of statesmanship: (1) they were unconditionally committed to communism and to each other and to their ideology; (2) they expressed that through forming small cell groups; (3) they were unconditionally committed to each other in the cell; (4) if they met others from another cell they didn't know, they would call them "Comrade," another word for "brother"; and (lastly) they had a deep desire to learn, to grow within themselves, because they knew within themselves if they would learn and grow and develop, they could impact the world.
Communism swept Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America -- and nearly took over the world; but the basis was wrong. Their desired goals were wrong and their system thus destined to fail, but still the strategy worked sufficiently to nearly take over our planet. Why? Because of a carpenter! He had no degrees, no wealth. He wasn't called Chief, as you are, Dr. Sills, or a Dr. or Congressman or Ambassador or any of these other titles we so endear to ourselves. He was just Jesus of Nazareth. He and a ragtag band of 12 who were of equal status or even lower, impacted the world profoundly -- including me. So, in retrospect, the strategy of Jesus is really the key to statesmanship.
General McArthur said, "In military alliances, the balances of power and leagues of nations all in turn fail, leaving only war. If we do not devise some greater system, Armageddon will be at the door. The problem basically is theological and about spiritual renewal and improvement of human character -- yours, ours -- our human character. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh." Isn't that profound? It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.
So here is what I feel is the key to the strategy of Jesus: in order to impact the world, our society, our community, we need to first change ourselves. It's profoundly simple. We're all so busy trying to change the world -- like I was as a congressman -- that we have no time left to change ourselves. Oh, I had worthwhile goals. I meant well but was deceived into thinking that politics alone, strategy alone, intellect alone, revolution or taking over congress alone would change the world. But it did not and will not. Maybe in the short run a political peace initiative in Christian/Muslim -conflicted Lebanon will temporarily place an appeasing Band-Aid on the wound. Accomplish this by putting a Christian into office as president and a Moslem made Prime Minister -- and everyone will claim to be satisfied with their little chiefdom of power, but their hearts still hate one another. A flair-up of conflict is as inevitable as the sunrise. Similarly in Africa, the Hutus and the Tutsis are massacring each other -- 95% of the Hutus and Tutzis who are interviewed say, "We're Christians, we're Christians, oh Praise God!" Then they butcher each other's children. So titles and religion alone -- unless accompanied with heart changes and character changes -- will not change the world or our beloved America. Political gain will not change the world nor even change our communities. We need to first change ourselves.
What George Wythe is propagating will inspire true change. It may not have 10,000 graduates, but Jesus only needed 12 who knew the secret. Lenin knew the secret. Mao knew the secret, but they were devious and diabolical. Jesus had the secret, and He used it correctly. It is not relevant if you're Catholic, Baptist, or Mormon; it doesn't matter if you don't claim a particular religion. Jesus of Nazareth holds the revelation of this mystery, the strategy to change the world: establish personal integrity, pray hard, and create a dynamic network and wait for God to lead you.
So, anyway, getting back to the Sahara Desert, I was thinking about so many things -- and the people in our party were getting so hungry by now; all the dishes were before us (and of course they eat with their hands over there), and our people were eager to eat with anything -- they were so famished by the time I responded to his question, "What do you want?"
I said, "Your Excellency, I belong to a group, with no name, consisting of members of the US House of Representatives who each week eat breakfast together, pray together, think about the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, play together, and we learn about each other's personal private lives. We ask each other about our spouses, our children, our hopes, our dreams, and our sorrows. There is also a group in the Senate that meets on the same basis. (There are 110 members in the House and 30 in the Senate.) They're white, black, Asian, they're Latin, they're women, they're men, they're old, they're young, they're liberal, they're conservative, they're republicans, they're democrats, they're new members or senior members." He looked at me quizzically and said, "That's hard to believe!" Most foreign government officials are cognizant of the diversity, and resulting suspicious, competition within our two-party system. So they find it curious that we get together, have fun, and establish trust among each other. They also find it hard to believe because in most cultures, it's death if you disagree; so there's rarely personal relationships established because of the lack of trust. Still questioning, the President said, "How does it work? How could you possibly bring a group that diverse together?" I responded, "Well, it's as simple as getting to know each other because as you begin meeting together in small groups, getting to know each other's hopes and dreams, soon you build trust; and once that trust is built to a sufficient level, then powerful things can happen. Especially as you center around the teachings of Jesus, things can happen. Even if you have no faith, simply the structure and a few with faith will create exciting dynamics; and if you do have faith, the power is that much greater -- that is far beyond the power of man."
I remember going into the office of a congressman (I was retired at this time). He's part of this sizable Congressional group of 110 who break up into smaller groups, or cells. I said, "John, how are you?" He said, "I'm doing great, Mark; I've never been better!" I said, "John, this is Mark, your colleague, how are you really doing?" He started weeping. He went from "great," which was a political answer, to weeping. He sobbed, "I've ruined my daughter's life and my wife and I…oh," and he just fell apart. I didn't expect that either. I was a bit taken aback by that extraordinary change. However, this is the key. I was close enough to penetrate his heart, because we had built up trust over years through eating breakfasts together. How many congressmen have cried to one another? Very few. Who do they have to cry to? Certainly not their staffs, their constituents, and sometimes not even their spouses. To me the key to relationship building is trust.
I went to Libya not too many months ago, and the State Department said, "You can't go to Libya." I replied, "What do you mean I can't go? Why not? The Supreme Court says Americans can travel where they please." They smugly retorted, "Yes, you may go, but you cannot use your passport, nor can you acquire, buy, trade or sell tickets to, from or through Libya. How are you going to go with those limitations?" Well, years before we had built up a relationship with a President of one of the countries in West Africa who was one of the most extraordinary Marxist-Leninist leaders of the region. Subsequently he met a man called Jesus. After the Soviet empire had collapsed, he ran in a free election and lost. He stayed five years out of politics, where he met Jesus. He then ran again and beat the man who had beaten him. He is now an enthusiast for democracy, for America. I spent literally weeks with this man in both his country several times and in the United States. Senators have flown quietly to talk to him about relationship building, about little groups, changing lives, networking around the world -- and he became so excited that he called Muammar Qaddafi and said, "You have to meet these men and listen to what they have to say." He said, "They can't travel using their passports, so you'll have to send a plane down to pick them up." So Qaddafi sent a plane to pick us up (we didn't acquire tickets, and we left our passports back in the home base in Africa). Thus, we traveled to Libya legally to meet with their leadership. They insisted that we had come "to get the two terrorists released that you think bombed the Pan Am jet over Lockerbee, Scotland, and that killed 241 Americans, aren't you?" Now, just between us, deep inside that was certainly a concern, but not the principal purpose or agenda. If I had an agenda with that congressman named John when he began to weep, do you think our relationship would have lasted? My agenda was limited to trying to build friendship, a relationship with our country's most nefarious enemy. So I said, "No, I have no agenda. I'm here simply to be your friend." The Libyan leader looked at me and said, "What do you mean? We're enemies. We are about the worst enemies two countries could be." "Perhaps our countries are enemies, but individually we are not enemies -- it is possible to be friends." He then said, "You're not my friend." I said, "I want to be your friend." He said, "I don't believe you -- I am sure you're here to get the Lockerbee suspects out of Libya, that's the only reason anyone would come to Libya." So I said it again a second time that our motive was friendship. He asked, "On what basis is this proposed friendship?"
This same question was posed to me by the President of the Western Sahara. I had to answer him the same way I did five years before. I said, "I came here in the spirit of Jesus." He said, "Oh, you're here for a big Christian crusade." I said, "No, I'm not here in the spirit of Christianity, or religion or denomination or in the name of any institutional organization. No, I represent a diverse band of friends in the House and the Senate who meet together in the Spirit of Jesus. It's a group similar to the parliament groups and in about 142 countries all over the world." He was puzzled, "There are such entities?" Then he called his intelligence people and wondered why he didn't know about this. I said, "I've come in the spirit of Jesus of the Koran -- the same spirit that breathed Jesus in a Virgin, thus born supernaturally. The same Jesus who healed the sick, the blind, raised the dead, was taken up by God in full view of man, who now sits near to God and is coming back to judge all mankind. He was also called the `Messiah' in your holy book." Since all these quotes are from his holy book the Koran, he jumps up and screams, "Alhumdeilla!" which means in Arabic "Thanks be to God!" Now, most of you think I was quoting the Bible, don't you? Similar statements are in the Bible, too. But it's also in the Koran; so through this remarkable commonality, we have an opportunity to build a bridge of friendship.
You know, Dr. DeMille talked about building bridges today; and I was trying to build such a bridge with a sworn enemy of the United States. I stated to the Libyan leader, "Since I agree with the Koranic verses, I'm with you; so in that same spirit, I come in friendship. The Koran also says that people who do not listen to the teachings of Jesus are unwise and the people who follow his teachings have great wisdom." Then he said, "Do you know the Koran very well?" I replied, "I know a little bit. I'm a student of the Koran." So we talked more and more about how these little groups work, and I invited him to meet the groups. He asked, "You mean I could come or send my people to your country and meet with congressmen and senators privately?" I answered, "Yes, and they'll love you, they'll hug you, they'll pray with you and they'll be your friends." He asked, "But don't they think I'm a terrorist and a murderer?" I said, "I know what people think of your government -- but that's the governments again, not us individually." On the way out the door after praying and hugging this particular official, he said to me, "Next week you'll have good news," and you know what happened a week later? (And not that our trip had impacted it; I think that the decision had already been made...) The two Lockerbee terrorists were released about six or seven days later.
The impact through relationship building is the secret of true statesmanship. However, to be in a position to implement such statesmanship, one must be in a position to first change oneself and to do so with the camaraderie of others through mentoring. This is the key. We can't do it alone. All the degrees you may assemble, all the titles you may collect, will not prepare you enough for the temptations and challenges of the world. We need at any age, with any intellect, in any position -- from the President of the US to the children in the streets of Bangladesh -- to be mentored; we need to be together, unified with the same spirit.
So, looking back once more to my time in the sands of the Sahara, I explained this whole idea to this President. He questioned, "So you're not here for Christianity, you're not here representing a group or organization, you're just here representing a sort of fellowship of people?" I said, "Yes, and I believe there's a solution to your problem." He said, "We have no solutions but war." I said, "Let's give a little group a chance. If you'll give me your ambassador for one year, let him stay in Washington and be part of a group, study the teachings of Jesus, study the idea of relationship building, eating, playing together, studying together, praying together . . . Let's give it a try for a year. If I'm wrong, then you never need to talk to me or listen to any of our friends again." He agreed. His ambassador was in a group.
Within a year and a half, former Secretary of State James Baker was appointed by UN Secretary General Kofe Anan to work in a little tucked away country called the Western Sahara. Why would Jim Baker risk such prestige and profile to bother dealing with such an issue? Because he's a man of integrity and understands this idea of the potential of little groups. He knows that "God can work a miracle." So they met together, talked together, strategized, and now there's going to be a vote for self-determination in the Sahara. There hasn't been a shot fired since that meeting, and that was four or five years ago and they're finally ebbing toward a peace initiative with Morocco, and there hasn't been a single person killed. The President of Western Sahara has subsequently visited Washington several times. He looked me in the eye and this time on my turf -- sitting side by side -- he said, "Your God . . ." but then he paused and said, "no, our God worked a miracle." Who would have ever thought that such a remarkable turnaround of events would ever happen?
Jesus is the author. He had the 12 and Peter, James and John. And in conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, my question to you is: "Who is your Peter? Or who is your James or your John?" I don't mean this just for men, I mean it for all of us. Who do you mentor with? Who do you relate to on a personal basis? You eat together, play together, pray together, think together, hope together, and dream together. Who is the person, or persons in your life? If you don't have one, let me implore you, that if your desire is to be a statesman and to truly change yourself, your community, your country and impact the world, you need to think about implementing the strategy of Jesus Christ in your own life.
I recall visiting Khartoum, Sudan, about a year ago. Most Christian Westerners limit their Sudan visits to the south to assist the oppressed Christians and the Animists, but few have ever sought audiences with the Islamic regime of the north, because of accused state-sponsored slavery and terrorism underlined by a religious civil war. God told the Apostle Peter that no one is unclean -- no one -- and who are we to say "we are without blemish" ourselves? Thus, two of us boarded an airplane bound for north Sudan. While the US State Department didn't like it, we met with Dr. Turabi, the Islamic leader and President of the Sudanese Parliament in the north who has declared "jihad," which means "holy war" against the Christians. We also discussed establishing friendship, in the Spirit of Jesus, with President Bashir, quickly making great inroads in building new relationships. I am praying and believing that building trust through friendship will, in the end, come to be the solution to conclude that devastating crisis in the Sudan. Eritrea, Ethiopia, Angola, Bosnia, Ireland -- are a few other great challenges everywhere, ladies and gentlemen. As with Moses, who did not live to see the fruit of his efforts by entering the "Promised Land," tangible results in these complicated situations may not always seem immediate. Nonetheless, the secret to the strategy of both good and evil leaders throughout this century rests in whom we can call our Peter, James, or John. What is statesmanship? Oliver DeMille outlined it perfectly today with the Five Pillars and four characteristics. My nomenclature may be different, but the goals are the same. Think about the strategy of Jesus, and begin to implement it.
http://gwc.edu/newsletter_1999_dec.asp
copyright © 2002 George Wythe College
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