The desire of many parents is to bring up their children in an upright manner, to enable them be dependable in the future. However, it reaches a point where a child makes his or her own decisions, especially on what he/ she wants to be in the future. At this stage of life, Parents should advice but not make decisions for their children. The decisions made by people of the young generation are different and based on the achievements of the predecessors. Personally, my dream has always been to be a diplomatic person, probably a peace negotiator. My role model has always been the former United Nation Secretary of States, Kofi Annan.
Kofi Annan is a soft-spoken person, born in Ghana. He served as the UN Secretary General between 1997 to 2006 December. During his career, Annan acquired several awards. Just to mention a few, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2001, as the founder of the Global AIDS and Health Fund. He has also an award from the Inter Press Service, for his contribution in security, development and peace. In essence, I categorize him as a successful person with a list of endless awards from all over the world.
In the current generation, people view their leaders in various dimensions. However, there has been a common perspective shared by almost all leaders, i.e., building excellence. A good leader is one who builds rather than command excellence. A person with strong ethos should be Fair-minded, broad-minded, intelligent, inspiring, forward-looking, honest, competence, courageousness and straightforwardness. By being fair-minded, it means that a person should not judge in favor of another group. A person with a strong character should be honest, and display integrity in all his/ her actions. Furthermore, one should be imaginative; so as to come up with appropriate plans to undertake an assigned project. To sum up, one should persevere all along until the goals are met. Not any obstacle should distract him or her from pressing on towards the goal.
Having mentioned all the above, Sir Kofi Annan fits in as someone with a reputable character in the society. Annan portrayed his competence as the UN Secretary when he advised the Americans not to invade into Iraq without asking for support from the United Nations. Based on his knowledge, it was illegal for the US Army to engage in war with the Iraq, without proper conformity with the UN charter.
In Africa, the main challenges faced include food shortage, Insecurity, corruption and diseases. Mr. Kofi Annan has actively involved himself in activities with the mission of alleviating poverty, and kicking diseases out of the continent. He has even jointly funded some projects such as Global AIDS and Health Fund, to respond to health matters. He has portrayed a sense of citizenship to Africa through advocating for peace and unity. Currently, He serves as a peace negotiator in Syria, with an objective of curbing the violence witnessed today in that country. His current duty indicates that this is a person of a strong character, result oriented and a courageous person worth emulating.
In essence, what makes Annan an ethical person is his respect to other people indiscriminate of factors such as race and gender. Also, being a hardworking and a dedicated person boosts his character and makes him respectable.
Works Cited
Fahraeus, A. & Jonsson, A.Textual Ethos Studies, Or Locating Ethics Volume 26 of
Critical Studies; Rodopi Publishers.2005, Print.
