To anyone reading this, the title, as well as the subtitle should be curiously engaging enough to give a guess on what's to come. Is it RWBY themed? Kinda, sorta, maybe. It touches on it though to an extent; particularly one subject the series has pointed out since the very beginning. Will I use RWBY names? Just one, for this particular friend of mine, who shall be called Yang; only because that's his favorite character in the series. Yes, it's a he. No shame in that.
But it all started when Yang personally found out that a girl he cared for and another individual he hated, were in cahoots with each other. No, it is not out of jealousy; I know what you're already thinking. It was more on the fact that, he had given several warnings about the individual he hated and now this girl is stuck with that individual. How? One word: pregnant. Now, I don't know all the details but even if I did, I wouldn't reveal them here.
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To make things worse, Yang's teammates for the online game, Black Desert Online became utterly disappointed and some were even pissed off that he decided he wasn't going to play with them due to the emotional issues he was facing with. As one of the top players representing his guild, of course, he was expected to follow through on his word to be on that night, which is understandable. But over the course of hearing his efforts into the game, I came to observe that his other teammates had become too reliant on his skills, instead of honing their own. They decided for themselves to ignore and rant at his temporary shortcoming.
I pointed out this fact to Yang and he responded "As a leader, it's my job to lead and help people, not just in a virtual game, but also in real life. And it hurts feeling like as a leader I failed them knowing I was being counted on. Some of those people I know personally, so it's a mix of disappointment and frustration."
I responded by telling him, "A leader's job is to create more leaders, not followers. Within those leaders or those you help out, you leave a small legacy behind. The more you keep on leading people without teaching them to be one themselves, they become too dependent and too reliant, hence exhibit A (his guild getting mad at him kinda thing). Besides, leaders screw up all the time and that's okay. Those you teach to become leaders themselves can decide whether or not to help you and also take up that mantle as their own."
Yang shared with me one of his main policies: "Would you rather be great at what you do and be recognized for that or be the person that taught someone else to be great so they can pass it on?" Being recognized is a personal achievement but you don't leave behind a strong legacy without teaching and helping others as well as sharing knowledge, it's a sort of legacy that sticks to people no matter how far along in life you are; they will always find you.
However, the thing to keep in mind is that not everyone is built to be leaders and that's also okay. If they have to follow you, then be the best person you can be because you are an example for others as an inspiration to be better and to continuously improve themselves. To those who call themselves leaders but lack the understanding and respect for other's personal issues as well as tearing others down, you are not leaders. You are those betas who pretend to have such a character in order to gain false empowerment for pride and ego. Real leaders do not allow such negativity to sway their decisions and neither do they allow it to exist in their life, with heavy influence. You, in return, will become irrelevant for incompetence.
If you're wondering if Yang had taught me to be one myself, to be a leader: he did and now it's my turn. It is not an easy journey; people will look up to you for guidance in some way, shape, or form. You'll make plenty of mistakes and so, you will be judged for it; the penalty is a lot heavier than you would think it is. But at the end of the day, you'll still get up and keep on fighting. You'll come to realize who will continuously support and grow with you on this journey and so, in return make leaders out of them, continue your legacy, and help them to start their own and become just as great.
"Well, that's why we're here. To make it better" ~ Ruby, responding optimistically to Blake's cynicism about fairy-tale endings in the real world.
