Aren’t You a Bad Leader?

In the play of Philoctetes, Odysseus abandons a man on an island based on the wants of the people rather than the needs of the population. Later in the play, he realizes that through a prophecy that he needs that same man who goes by the name Philoctetes. Odysseus comes to the conclusion early on that Philoctetes was fully disposable which is an example of the denial of experience mentioned in class. Odysseus doesn’t see Philoctetes as an equal therefore he removes Philoctetes from society without considering the repercussions the exile would have on his mental state. I want to point out that there might have been better alternatives, in terms of the snake bite was there no access to herbs able to cure the infection? I mention this because in one of the passages it is noted that Odysseus assumes the reason for Philoctetes being absent from his camp was because of the search for herbs. In a society built on knowledge and philosophy, was there really no antidote to the bite and no better consideration of a person? I want to compare this to a real-world parallel where people with mental health issues are mistreated and instead of getting the proper help and attention needed they are shunned and exiled by society, some are taken advantage of because they are seen as easy prey. This is similar to how Odysseus sees Philoctetes when he asks his mentee to deceive Philoctetes because he knows given the situation and mental state of the victim it’s a possibility he can easily be persuaded. I commend Odysseus for this manipulative act but I also despise him for it. In the 5th passage we actually get to see what emotions and thoughts arose from Philoctetes’exile, in it, he begs not to be denied, and if he is denied he is willing to accept his fate. Philoctetes also confesses that he summoned his father and that he realizes that he fell victim to what was the opposite of prosperity. It’s almost as if he has regrets of not being more careful of coming into contact with the snake. This is a logical reaction but from the perspective of Odysseus, I doubt even the watchers of the play would have felt true sympathy for the character until we reached those lines.

I used to know a girl who felt like she was constantly dehumanized by her friends, I’ll call her Jesse. Jesse felt that her life was full of hardship so it wasn’t uncommon for her to seek support or validation from her friends and me. Similar to how Neotolemus played a role as her friend, I tried to be transparent despite all the things I’ve heard about her. I realized that she was troubled about her isolation and that my ear might have been crucial to her mental health. As I became closer to her I realized how her friends and family would dehumanize her emotionally. Her so-called friends would always compare her feelings to their own and gaslight her into thinking that her feelings aren’t enough of a priority. The end result would be her feeling that her feelings were invalid and that anyone who treated her differently from the process she was used to was an enemy. Her friends used that isolation and apathy of her emotions to control her. Jesse, however, had come into contact with me who pointed out the things I thought shouldn’t exist within healthy friendships. I didn’t want to lead Jesse past a certain point. the point would be when she realizes what a healthy social relationship is, I would mentor her in that sense. In the end, her friends and I were all pushed away and left behind in the past but she continued on to unlearned toxic habits and came into contact with great people.

The scenario I experienced encompassed and demonstrated what it was like to have power over someone, to have harmed them, and to be a witness of that harm.

It’s common knowledge amongst my peers that I am a heavily self-taught person. The subject of leadership has always remained a subject because I am forever unwilling to lead. I see myself as unfit for that role because of what I have learned through trial and error. These social experiences and sometimes experiments have presented several components of leadership that I am able to internalize but I still choose to seclude myself because of the foreboding qualities of a bad leader. In the situation with “Jesse”, I wanted to help the young lady but my needs interrupted that operation. I learned that not everyone’s needs are healthy but it’s required to maintain a stable condition whether mental, emotional, or physical. For example, the general populous know that chemotherapy is unhealthy for cancer patients but that the negative treatment effects and cancels out the negative condition. My need to push people away and observe from afar is deteriorating to the human psyche but it stabilizes me personally. This need is a by-product of my social anxiety which always keeps me from getting too close but also helps develop bonds with a lot of people as a floater. I choose not to stay in one group or place for too long and that’s what caused Jesse to turn against me. As a leader, you must remain reliable and prevent your followers from feeling that they were abandoned. It is a daunting task for young people because they could be unsure of themselves and their leadership could also be faulty. In order to help Jesse become humanized, I would’ve had to listen to what the human side needed and wanted to be taken into account. In class, we’ve been learning about the needs of the people over the wants. The balance between both those things is what makes a leader great, it’s what makes them human. A robot that is programmed to give you all that you require wouldn’t make a great leader but as a robot, it has no wants and therefore no objective. In order to exhibit optimal leadership behavior, I would’ve had to balance both our needs and wants, similar to what would’ve had to be done to Philoctetes. If Philoctetes' needs and wants were taken into account he would have remained an ally and Odysseus would have never needed deception to recruit him. I was like Odysseus in terms of failing to find the balance but we were both luckily successful in getting what we wanted to see from our operations. I wonder if I can still be a leader knowing that not everyone can be a leader.