Finally, leadership. I have always said, that this is an indispensable part of global affairs. Again, the events of 2016 have reinforced this. If there ever was a time that patience, courage, wisdom, sincerity and a stomach of steel was needed, it is now. Cool heads and measured words may not grab headlines, but they are more likely to contribute to a future of peace and prosperity.
It may not excite your followers. But it will do more to create a world which their descendants will be grateful to be living in. In the months and years to follow, there may be many incidents where lashing out will seem like the easiest option. Indeed, these will come again and again. But if we love our children, then these are the hardships that we must bear. To work patiently, to unite our fractured world, to heal the divide, and to endure whatever tomorrow will bring.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Finally, as I have always said - the only thing constant in life and our world today is change. Referring to the saying “The more things change, the more they stay the same”. While everything may appear to be different, but it was, and always will be, part of the same picture, the bigger, ambiguous, picture, which remains the same throughout time.
I would like to end by just saying I am an optimist and I must be, because I am a father and a grandfather to two beautiful boys, Ayden and Adryan. It is up to us, to build the kind of future that our children will have to live with. They will pay for our mistakes, our shortcomings and our hesitations. Let us hope and pray in this holy month of Ramadan, to give us strength as somehow or another, we must be wise but bold. We must find it in us to be all of this and soon—because a better tomorrow must and can only be built today. |
