Political heartbreaks and change

A single person’s rise in politics can change the destiny of a whole people, especially in times of crisis.

Politics is “an essential and eternal human effort to craft the common life on which we all depend”, wrote American author Parker Palmer. There are three key words in this definition–effort, common life and dependency. It is with the hope that our chosen representatives will do something for the collective good that we entrust them power and responsibility. But barring a few politicians, most prove us wrong. This repeated false hope breaks our hearts, giving rise to what in popular language is called alternative politics. Parker calls it the politics of the heartbroken.