I had a chance to see “The Gangster Squad” and there was a great line that has stayed with me. First, I enjoyed the movie. It was like L.A. Confidential meets the Untouchables. As an L.A. guy it was a fun movie to watch.
But there was a great line in the movie that I thought really jumped out to me. In the climactic scene, I won’t offer any spoilers here, but mob boss Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) is fighting/boxing with the head of the secret mob task force by the name I think of Sean O’Mara (Josh Brolin). They are fighting and Cohen yells at him with great condescension,
“You’re an interrupter of progress!”
Cohen can’t understand why this cop, unwilling to be bribed, would go to such great lengths to stand in the way of his own pursuits. People with a power orientation towards life and leadership always view progress in light of their own goals. They see the progress of their own goals as an inevitability, something that people need to get with or else be left behind.
Servant leaders, moral and ethical people see progress much differently and it’s intimately related to the concepts of justice, ethics, and peace. Progress is not something that can be defined and co-opted by the powerful. Progress must be evaluated through the lens of the whole, the many, and not the few. While the power driven leader can’t understand why someone would stand in the way of the inevitable, of evolution if it were, the serving leader can’t understand why people would not stand up to such a tyrant and abuser of power.
Justice is always “in the way” of people who are consumed with pragmatic and quantitative gain – even for non-profits and faith organizations. We instinctively want to reach our goals in the most expedited and easiest ways possible. We have “our eyes on the prize” and forget what else our eyes might need to be on too.
Prophetic voices and agents of justice are “interruptions” in that they force people to stop and think twice. They slow things down. They provide moments for change and even for repentance. What those in power interpret as progress sometimes ends up being only “progress for people like those already in power.” From a faith perspective, I believe that God, as he always has done, consistently raises up “interruptions” for leaders to reconsider their course and “justness” of their actions. Yet we aren’t always responsive.
A test for leaders who would truly serve versus merely executing their own agendas and progress “in their own eyes” is how do you handle the “interruptions” brought to the table that raise concerns about justice and progress “for all?”
Do you respond like mob boss Mickey Cohen and try to stamp out these valuable interruptions with power and force?
Do you try one of his alternative tactics and use fear and intimidation to silence needed interruptions?
Do you just ignore them?
Or do you stop? Do you allow yourself the space to have your vision of progress to expand to include the whole of your community or society?
How we respond to those courageous voices that are serving as needed “interruptions of progress” reflects our heart and our vision of what we kind of future we envision creating. The people I want to follow are those that can handle such interruptions with humility and grace and a commitment to serving all.
