Just as one prepares to enjoy a day at the beach, the weather delivers a sobering reminder of changing realities. Thunderstorms that began the evening prior continued through the night, cooling the air and tempering expectations. But this is hardly an isolated inconvenience—reports from across the globe describe patterns of extreme weather, growing more erratic and more dangerous with each passing season.
Meanwhile, many of the world’s political leaders appear preoccupied not with these urgent challenges, but with personal ambition and self-mythology. Some seek to cement their legacy through military aggression, evoking past empires and imagining themselves as historic figures. Others speak openly of their desire for recognition—Nobel prizes as if such honors could be bought—thereby cheapening the ideals such awards are meant to uphold.
This moment in history demands a different kind of leadership. The challenges before us—climate change, global inequality, public health, sustainable development—require bold, forward-thinking vision. Instead, too many policies are driven by ego, not ethics; by nostalgia, not necessity.
Investments in medicine, education, and environmental restoration could improve lives across nations. Yet resources are squandered on conflict, surveillance, and regressive ideologies. Climate-induced migration is no longer a forecast—it is an unfolding crisis. When fertile land becomes inhospitable, when homes are lost to floods or droughts, where are people expected to go? And who is listening?
The term “leader” implies someone who guides others into the future. But can it still apply to those whose gaze is fixed firmly on the past—on former glories, colonial maps, or outdated national myths? When exactly was the golden era they long to return to? Was it ever golden for all?
With so many global risks converging, the question is not only whether leaders will act, but whether societies will demand better. How much influence do these figures still hold over public opinion?
When will collective reckoning come?
And when it does, will the excuse still be: we didn’t know?
Between the Lines 
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