Sometimes, it is just a cigar

SMH.com.au

The photo of Joe Hockey and Mathias Cormann smoking a cigar just before the budget has raised temperatures in all sorts of places.

I wonder why?  After all, it is just a cigar.

Some are annoyed that they seem to be  promoting a nasty habit

Some say that it shows the inherent sense of elitist attitude in the government party

Some are just aghast at what seems to be a self satisfied indulgence.

Parts of all these reasons may be right, but I see it a  bit differently.

To my mind we the led are pissed that our “leaders” appear to have forgotten why they are there. They volunteered to  put us, the electorate before themselves, to do the right thing by us, to act in our interests, not their own.

That self sacrifice is the essence of leadership, and by this photo, a moment of time, two blokes who have worked hard together to deliver a project that has an impact on our lives, seem to be saying it was for them that they did the work, not us.

That is why we are pissed, or at least some of us, most are more realistic and recognise it is just a moment. Nevertheless, we rather it had not happened as it feeds our insecurity about the motives of those who volunteered to lead, and in whom we placed trust.