I have no idea how good a president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is. I don’t even know how good a man he is. But he sure swims well, for a man of 71. And he knows when to take the plunge.
President Rebelo de Sousa is the elected leader of Portugual, where the leading economic factor is tourism. COVID has put a serious crimp in that industry, and places like Praia do Alvor on the far south Atlantic coast are seriously underpopulated this tourist season.
Rebelo de Sousa is a man who, when he sees that kind of problem, tends to dive right in. More than 30 years ago, he was running for mayor of Lisbon, the Portuguese capital, when the level of pollution in the Tagus River became a major campaign issue. His opponent said the problem was deadly; Rebelo de Sousa said the waters were fine. To prove his point, he dove in the river and swam around a while. He didn’t win the election, but he didn’t get sick, either.
Last week, the president was on a working vacation, trying to drum up tourism in his beleaguered country, stopping on various beaches to talk with reporters and point out all the coastal beauty going unappreciated this summer. He had just taken a dip at Praia do Alvor and was wrapping up the day's press-conference-on-the-sands when he noticed two women out on the water, in trouble.
They hadn’t intended to be there, they explained later. They were kayaking over at a different beach when a strong riptide caught them and pulled them far out into this particular bay. Then their kayak flipped. Exhausted from the struggle against the undertow, they couldn’t right it, latch a firm grip on it, or even catch their breath.
This is the point at which powerful politicians turn to a nearby aide or lifeguard and direct them to do something. But this president didn’t do that. Before the reporters and other beach-goers knew quite what was happening, the elderly president was in the water, swimming out to help.
He wasn’t the only one. Another guy got there just ahead of him, and helped get the kayak right-side up. A fellow on a jet ski came zipping in to see what he could do. Between them all, they got the women safely to the shore. A happy ending. An appreciative press, catching it all on tape.
Still … the man is 71. And president of a country that didn’t elect him to do scenes out of Baywatch.
Interesting that none of his bodyguards or security officials swam out along with him. Sure, it’ll make for good press, come the next election time. But you don’t see any other candidates wading out into riptides.
Or standing in grocery lines, for that matter, doing their own shopping.
In this season of campaign videos and conventions, it’s not a bad thing to be reminded what, deep down, we all want most in a leader. Someone who cares more about saving others than he does about saving himself.
There are presidents, and there are precedents:
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage;
rather, He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!”
Like I said, I have no idea how good a president, or man, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is. But he doesn’t seem to think his position is more important than the people who elected him to it.
And he’s not afraid to get his feet wet.
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