A clinic in real leadership

Nick Campbell, @TheNCExperience

In one of the deadliest mass shooting in New Zealand’s history, the Christchurch Mosque terrorist attack captivated the media’s attention and shocked the world. Carried out by an avowed white supremacist, the entire attack was captured on the killer’s GoPro camera and live streamed on Facebook.

The killer methodically and indiscriminately went from room to room to kill people. In the video, he’s shown shooting a woman begging for help point blank. The youngest victim in the attack was three years old, a toddler. The oldest victim was 77 years old. In predictable fashion, President Trump downplayed the increasing instances of violence from white supremacists. Trump, via Twitter, expressed dry and tone-deaf condolences of “best wishes” to the grieving country.

An interesting story to come out of this ordeal has been the leadership of New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. Ardern demonstrated true leadership in the aftermath of the attack.

She showed empathy and reassured her nation that in the shadow of such violence they can get through this. She’s displayed poise, grace, and most importantly, action.

Ardern tried to prevent someone being inspired by the shooter by keeping his identity a secret. Then, she worked with her legislature to look into ways to improve their gun laws. Meanwhile, in the U.S the commander-in-chief is still feuding with a dead war-hero. It is almost fascinating to watch as the leadership that used to be attributed to America, is now on display elsewhere and America has to witness it vicariously through Ardern.

It is tragedies like this that startles many Americans as we continue to live under incompetent leadership. It’s almost surreal to know that not too long ago, we once had that type of leadership.