This may be my final Horton Hears a Who Post. Then I’ll have to wait ’til it comes out on DVD because I am so buying it as soon as the price dips below $10.
There are two figures in the movie that represent two key profiles or dynamics in anxious systems – the power tripping kangaroo and the monkey clan.
The kangaroo is the one with political power who seeks to squash the potential revelation of a greater reality because it would upset the balance of power, her power, in the jungle. This is symbolic of those leaders who can only see through their own lens of power and control. Their insecurity blinds them to an authority that lies external to themselves and their positional power. I’ve been reading the gospels of late and this is the camp that the Pharisees and religious leaders fall under.
The monkey clan is the labor force that out of their own anxiety ends up executing the will of the kangaroo. They easily get worked up into a frenzy and are easily influenced by another’s strength and force of personality. These are the undifferentiated masses – those who cannot live out of their own sense of self, but are blown about by their own fears, insecurities, and unregulated passions. They become weak pawns to those trying to preserve power, but they can do inordinate damage by their sheer numbers and non-reflective action.
Both of these types of people are present in anxious systems and they will take root in the absence of secure, non-anxious leadership. They will take root because of the power of fear, the temptation of control, and the dynamics of anxiety in community. We all at times may face temptation to embodying one or the other depending on our situation and context.
There needs to be a counteractive force. In the movie – Horton represents this kind of presence in the prophet role in community. That same personal security and maturity needs to be reflected in the positions of power so that power is used to lead people to life and freedom as opposed to keeping people silent and enslaved.
The kangaroo led by intimidation and silencing difference and dissent and manipulating the masses to root out difference and new thought. What can our leadership offer to reproduce communities of life, creativity, voice, and empowerment?
