Editorial

From the Business Manager

          ETERNAL HOPE

One of the most interesting documentaries I have ever watched is “The Fog of War” produced in 2004 by Errol Morris on the life of Robert McNamara, who is best known for his role as US Secretary of Defence from 1961-68.

McNamara was a boyhood prodigy who was born in San Francisco in 1916.  By the age of 24, he was the youngest and highest paid assistant professor ever appointed to the Harvard Business School.

In 1946, he was part of a group of young consultants appointed to introduce modern management practices to Ford Motor Company and helped transform it from a period of loss-making chaos to one of the world’s most successful companies. 

His innovations included studying data from car accidents and inventing items such as the seat belt and dished steering wheel.  He was the force behind the creation of the Ford Falcon, one of the most successful cars in history as measured by volume of sales. His “scientific” style of management gave significant impetus to what is now the management consulting industry. He was eventually appointed president of the company. 

In 1961, McNamara was approached by JFK to be the US Secretary of Defence and under the leadership of two presidents, was a key figure in dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War.

The documentary is structured around 11 lessons his experiences taught him which included “Empathise with your enemy” about the importance of seeing things through the eyes of others, “Get the data” which explored the importance of gathering and understanding facts and perhaps most confronting as a war leader that he sometimes had “to do evil in order to do good”. 

War generals are sometimes faced with the ultimate choices of having to choose the greatest good for the greatest number and having to sacrifice human life for the freedom of the many. 

I sometimes marvel at those including our military personnel who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. What great love enables such courage? For many of us, it is when we lose a loved one that we are compelled to reflect on what hope lies beyond the grave.

For we that put our faith in Christ, that hope is great indeed.  I lost my father recently and found myself comforted by passages such as Romans 18-28 and 1 Cor 2:9. The Apostle Paul was a wonderful example of a believer who had his eyes focused on the eternal prize and his heart was filled with hope by the certainty he had of his final destiny. (Hebrews 12)

Whatever suffering, pain, frustration or loss we may experience in this life, at the centre of our faith is a promise that these trials are temporary and that the joy reserved for us in heaven will cause anything we experience in this life to pale by comparison.

So, wherever you are today, a student striving before your year-end exams, or a business owner or employee going through a season of change or peace, remember that in our faith we always have hope.  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end (Lamentations 3:22,23)

Peter Bain