I hope my regular readers realize that almost every post I write remains focused on one thing….how to live well. I am an eclectic man, interested in many things (a lifelong aim is to be a Renaissance man, someone knowledgeable, conversant and with some skill in many different aspects, areas), so I do write about various topics. Still, beneath almost all posts (no…not all…my posts about Auburn and SEC football are typically selfishly motivated. LOL), is a desire to help point out ways to live well. Sometimes that is through a focus on things to do, how to live. Other times, like today, it is to point out how NOT to do, NOT to live.
We are awash, currently, in our country, with perhaps the worst level of political leaders that we’ve ever seen. The previous worst period, most historians would say, is the time after Grant (some would include him) and up to Grover Cleveland and William McKinley. It was the first time that the country’s leaders really seemed to succumb to the lure of easy wealth, personal benefits, bribes and the like. No, our previous 100 years wasn’t perfect, as no human is….but typically when you review the 100 years, you don’t see the graft and corruption that erupted after the Civil War.
Today, and perhaps since the 90s, our leaders have been among the worst. Most people realize that an regular person today rarely can get elected unless they are rich (most “regular” people aren’t) or if they know people who are rich. Thus, most get sucked into one of the two major parties as the only way to climb the ladder to where the party leadership will support their election. It’s an ugly system and even if a “good” person were to get involved, the secret deals and payoffs that one must accept in order to keep the party leadership happy all too easily suck you into the maelstrom. I honestly do not believe today that a good person could independently go into politics, certainly not at the state or national level, and actually maintain their integrity and freedom to operate as their morals dictate.
Thus, you end up with the foolish things that our leaders do, most recently modeled for us by the mayor of Baltimore. Did you catch her words when the riots there started? “We also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well.” Please, if you are a Democrat, don’t try to spin her misguided words. Can she seriously believe that? Are those really her values? If some of her children’s friends came to her house and started to “riot” over a poor snack, starting to destroy her plates or breaking windows, would she simply give them “space to do that as well”? I think not. What in the world could she honestly be thinking?
Well, I have some ideas about that, but rather than get into the issues happening within Baltimore, the take away for you my reader is to see how easy it is to compromise. And, if you wish to Live Well, you must find the courage and strength of convictions to stand up, even if what you stand for makes you unpopular.
I was thinking about this while watching the ongoing TV Series “A.D.: The Bible Continues.” I have found it very good. They are focusing a lot on the character of Pilate, the Roman governor of Palestine at the time of the events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus. It is clear that he acted as a politician, not as a leader of convictions. And yesterday, while reading a Bible study, I came upon this excellent quote that summarized his actions, and sheds light on our own politicians.
“Pilate may well be the quintessential example of what politics has come to mean. He knew what was right, but succumbed to the seduction of his position. In life’s most severe tests of motives, there is a politician in each and every one of us. While Pilate was ignorant of the role he was playing, the priests justified their heinous deed, quoting Scripture in support of their cause.”
The bold in the quote is my own….read it again: “In life’s most severe tests of motives, there is a politician in each and every one of us.” Yes. So, knowing that, the question of how to navigate becomes crucial. I must be willing to maintain what is right, what my core values are, and still navigate through life with others.
There’s a lot more to say right there, but I’ll stop for now on this. The key isn’t first to determine how to navigate with others….that was Pilate’s error. He FIRST wanted to find some way through the mess with Jesus, and then later with other issues that emerged in Jerusalem, RATHER than holding to his own convictions. In the case of Jesus, he had determined that Jesus was innocent, and thus should have acted with courage to uphold what he thought was right.
So, no, the key isn’t keeping the peace with all others….the key is to be confident about your own beliefs, morales and values. If you do that, then you can begin to work with others, even though at points you may have to take a stand that someone won’t like. In the case of Baltimore, there is no way to convince me that the mayor really believes personally that anyone can destroy property just because they are mad. So, giving her the benefit of the doubt that her own morals are to protect private property (certainly to protect her own), she should have had the courage of conviction to both support the right to protest, even to LOUDLY protest, while at the same time taken what may have been unpopular with some of her own supporters, people who voted for her, and said clearly that in her city, no one is going to be allowed to destroy someone else’s property.
Had she done that, she would happily not be a politician, but a leader. Sadly, we don’t have a lot of these in our political realm today. You, my reader, should determine that in whatever walk of life you take, you will be such a person. A person of convictions who will stand bravely for those ideas, even if others disagree.