Insights into the Leader’s Fall

In the story Antigone the reader is presented with a conflict at the beginning of the story. There are two clear-cut sides, with no grey area. Antigone’s brother, a former kind, is dead and she wants to burry him. Creon, the king and Antigone’s Uncle, believes him to be a traitor and that he does not deserve to be given a proper burial. Antigone’s brother marched on the kingdom after he had been exiled and died in battle. The question presented is if Creon is making the right choice. Should Creon say attacking the city is ok by exalting him with a proper burial, or should he overstep his boundaries as a mortal ruler to affect the afterlife by not given him a proper burial? The answer is simple when looked at from an Antigone’s viewpoint or any common person’s viewpoint, but it is not so simple for Creon.

Creon must protect his kingdom, and that is what comes first and foremost. If he buries him, he is saying it is ok for people to attack his city, and that is not in the safety of the citizens. This is much like the war on Terror currently being waged by the United States. On September 11th, 2001 a terrorist organization named Al Qaeda attacked the United States. President Bush had to retaliate and quickly to not only show that the Untied States is not weak, but to assure the safety of our citizens. Initially we struck into Afghanistan, where the leader of Al Qaeda was, and it was the right decision. While we were in Afghanistan, President Bush may have overstepped his boundaries. He felt that his citizens were in danger due to the reported presence of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. We began to wage war on Iraq, but was waging a war in Iraq the right thing to do. Was President Bush really protecting his citizens, or was it that Bush felt that it was his responsibility to wipe out all “terror” in the world? If the answer was so simple, Creon and Bush would have made the right decisions long before anything bad ever happened.

Creon needed to protect his kingdom, but he overstepped his boundaries by trying to punish someone who is dead. Bush needed to protect his country, but overstepped his boundaries when he took a single attack and made it into a global war. The decisions leaders make every day are some of the toughest in the world. Should a leader do something that is beyond his limits because he thinks it helps his country? The answer is yes, but most of the time that action doesn’t actually help the country. How does making a global war or not burying a former king help a country? It doesn’t, and if Creon and Bush had noticed that, they could have fixed their errors much earlier on and the whole world (in 2 different time periods) would have been happier. Sometimes showing a little humility and admitting defeat is more important that keeping your pride.