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The Meaning of Reverend Wright
(Written for publication on Monday, March 17)The Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's pastor, has caused quite a stir, as various news outlets have aired excerpts from some of his sermons. Now the question is, What should we make of it? This is a dangerous topic, because no matter what one says or writes, there is a very real chance that it'll be twisted and turned to fit another person's narrative. So, I weigh in with these thoughts, knowing full well that I run that risk.
Let me say from the outset that I do not endorse - indeed, I flatly reject - much of what I have heard Reverend Wright say that is now being reported in the news, comments like these carried by MSNBC.com:
"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York, and we never batted an eye. We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is brought right back in our own front yards."
"No, no, no not God Bless America - God damn America!"
But in everyone's rush to condemn the Reverend, I wonder if we have missed some key insights.
First, the tendency among political leaders, bloggers, news reporters, and others to corner Senator Obama and get him to shout "Uncle!" seems blatantly ridiculous, serving no other purpose than to fan the flames of political division and score points. I often watch with utter disgust and disbelief as they manipulate news in ways that only coarsen and cripple public life.
Instead, there is the question I wish Senator Obama would answer: What is it that you found to be inspiring, insightful, or engaging about Reverend Wright and Trinity Church in the first place? The Senator could have joined any church, but he joined this one - why? I suspect his answer to that question will yield something about Reverend Wright, but even more about the Senator's own beliefs and values. My guess is that there is something powerful in the history and teachings of that church that speak to the Senator's sense of faith and service, something beyond the handful of comments by Reverend Wright now being highlighted.
Next, what does it mean to have people in society, such as Reverend Wright, who aggressively challenge the status quo, who send out messages which some say are phony and which others call prophetic, who dare to cross the line of politeness and rupture norms of give-and-take, and whose comments merely reflect a portion of what they preach? Such comments can be mean-spirited and can produce ill-effects; we should not turn a blind eye to those. But neither should we automatically condemn someone's entire career because of selected remarks pulled out of context; indeed, we must not be driven by our fear of their remarks.
The alternative is to step forward and renounce them in ways that reflect the kind of public life and politics we seek to create. Let us take in the fullness of their argument and respond in kind - with clarity, forthrightness, and strength of conviction, even love. I do not suggest that anyone should back down, but neither do I advocate a slash and burn response that poisons the very public square we wish to invigorate.
Finally, I think the Reverend Wright situation raises the question, What does it mean to stand by a leader - in this case Senator Obama - who has worked for years to reengage people and build bridges, and who himself can hardly be accused of promoting incendiary comments that pit people against one another?
It seems to me that we must learn how to judge a public person, with all their misdeeds and maladies, with the expectation that they cannot comport themselves with absolute holiness over time, and nor should we be ready to grant them unfailing redemption at each turn. Doing so would forfeit our own claim to think and act for ourselves. Indeed, it is the depths of our very engagement -- our own willingness to step forward -- that may be the biggest issue we face this year.
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Where Will You Stand?
Let’s start with Monday’s news. In his endorsement of Barack Obama, Senator Ted Kennedy sought to position the young candidate alongside his brothers, John and Bobby, both of whom sought to usher in a new day in politics, one infused with service and idealism rather than triangulation and fear. Now, once again, there’s something undeniable emerging across the nation: a new breed of leader who sees public life and politics differently. Two basic questions stand before us with concern to this new breed of leader, and only you and I and others like us hold the answers to these questions.
Whether Barack Obama is one of these new leaders remains to be seen. But there is a growing cadre of such leaders dotting the American landscape including, for instance, mayors such as Cory Booker (Newark), Adrian Fenty (DC), Jay Williams, (Youngstown) and, yes, Michael Bloomberg (New York City). In my essay Make Hope Real, I write about this new breed of leaders as:
“…people who have highly pragmatic approaches to policy, who seek to find ways to make public life and politics work rather than to disparage it, who vigilantly look for opportunities to engage people in the ongoing process of governing and improving their lives, who try to avoid hyperbolic and heated rhetoric.”
If we truly want to usher in a new day in public life and politics, each of us will need to answer two fundamental questions:
1. Will we stand by these new leaders when they come under fire? At issue is whether or not we literally stand beside these leaders and vouch for their integrity, even when we do not agree with a particular position. Will we say clearly that, we and others will not stand for scurrilous and mean-spirited attacks against them?
Our willingness to stand beside this new breed of leader is essential if we want the trail-blazers to succeed and additional individuals to step forward. The task before us is to create the conditions for the new breed of leader to emerge, engage, and sustain their efforts. Each of us, hand-in-hand with others, can make this happen.
2. Will we assume our own role as public innovators? No matter how good or inspiring an elected leader might be, no matter how much hope they might engender, the reality is that the majority of the actual work to be done in our communities and the nation must be done by us.
Each of us must continue our own good work, but we must also cultivate new public innovators so that we have more public allies; create new pockets of change that ripple out and produce greater impact; and transform various groups and institutions into catalytic, boundary-spanning organizations that can incubate change and bring people together. If we are to make real the hope of this new breed of leaders, then we must do this.In recent weeks I’ve received a lot of phone calls, emails and notes from people asking me if I’m excited about how the current presidential race is unfolding, with its emphasis on “hope and change,” long-standing hallmarks of our work here at the Institute. Yes, I’m excited about the growing sense of possibility, but I am also old enough now to know that we cannot pin our hopes for change on one individual in the White House. For presidents come and go; the true measure of hope is whether it resides in the houses of people all across
Let us seize this moment in history and support the new breed of leader emerging across America, and take our own place in this unfolding story to make hope real in all our communities.
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Do You Have a "Deserving" Family?
This was my reaction when listening to an ad on WFLR 96.7 FM—a Christian-contemporary station—while driving from
It went on to tell listeners about WFLR’s holiday-season partnership with Aspen Heating and Cooling, and that each listener was now invited to visit the station’s web site (myflr.org) to nominate “one deserving family” who would become eligible to win a new furnace from the good folks at Aspen. The web site says, “Nominations are being accepted until November 7, with the winning family announced on November 14.”
- Since when do we anonymously “nominate” poor neighbors to receive such care? Is this some new kind of charitable approach, where if a well-to-do person deems you needy enough, you can receive help? If not, what then? Are you to stay at home shivering in despair?
- What about the next time the station runs this competition: will they choose to pick three “needy finalists,” who will then go on-air to make their case so the rest of us can pick the winner? Is this the new kind of citizen-driven philanthropy everyone seems to be talking about?
- Exactly what does the phrase “one deserving family” mean? As a child, if your family doesn’t get the new furnace, is your family somehow un-deserving? What happens this winter when your family can’t afford to heat your home?
- Then there’s the obvious question about once people nominate a family, and the “deserving family” wins the new furnace, do we just move on to the next issue? Does one’s limited participation in the station contest fulfill their need to look beyond themselves and be responsible for one another?
For as long as I can remember, there have always been raffles and other efforts to support people in need by groups such as Rotary Clubs, Knights of Columbus and others. But have our marketing, public relations, and other strategies to capture people’s attention run so completely afoul that we’ve lost sight of what is required to make society work? When do our attempts to “game” public life blur our very ability to keep sight of the essence of what brings each of us to our work?I know that simply raising our voices and imploring people to care will not bring about the progress we seek. There is already too much noise and fatigue and isolation in society; attempts to push and cajole people only cause them to retreat further from public life. But is the solution to merely give in to those who say that people won’t care, or that people can’t connect their self-interests with the interests of others, or that people merely want to be left alone? I believe such arguments miss the undercurrents of what’s happening in our society.
People do care. People want to be part of something larger than themselves. People know that we must believe in something deeper than simply unfettered consumerism. Trust and hope and, yes, even love, do matter (as does being ruthlessly strategic in our change efforts!). We must not cede the public square to those who tell us that the only way to engage people is to mimic what happens in a shopping mall.
We can’t control what everyone else does. But we can direct our own efforts and help to create conditions in our communities that root out such cheap gimmicks like holding raffles for “one deserving family.” I know lots of deserving families.
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Dear Barack:
(Photo: David McNew/Getty Images)Last week the Washington Post ran a front page story that Americans may be too angry to embrace your message of hope, and instead are aching for a heated partisan campaign of division and resentment. I think they’re wrong. But I also believe that you and other leaders who care about hope must be vigilant in how you engage Americans on hope. It is too easy to misstep here and for politics as usual to triumph. Thus I’ve listed below five key points for winning the public fight on hope. Know that my concern here is not your election, though I wish you luck; instead it is the task of rebuilding hope in our land.
One of the most searing insights I have gained from my 20 years of work across the country is the centrality of hope in people’s lives – and also its fragility. I say this after tirelessly seeking new ways for individuals, organizations, and communities to address social ills and act on their aspirations. And yet, the surfacing and expression of hope is uniquely beautiful, enabling people to stand up and step forward even in the face of adversity and when odds are dead set against them. But false hope is insidious, a contagion that breeds skepticism and leads to cynicism the likes of which causes people to retreat and disengage.
There’s been enough false hope in our society, we all know that. Nonetheless, many leaders continue to engage in an assortment of unseemly and nasty games in public life at the expense of our common interests. They tell those of us who care about hope that we should toughen up or get out of their way. The upshot is that those of us who pursue the path of hope – whether we are a presidential candidate or a local public innovator – must marry our conviction for change with the ability to be ruthlessly strategic in our actions. For if we fail in our current attempts to pursue hope, I fear we will squander the opportunity to re-engage and reconnect Americans.
Here, then, are five key points for us to consider in the pursuit of hope – you as presidential candidate and those of us who live in communities across the country.
Key Points for the Pursuit of Hope
1. We must always keep in mind an important distinction when talking about hope: the difference between false hope and authentic hope. Anyone who wishes to be a champion of hope must be clear about maintaining their focus on authentic hope. This will require immense personal discipline not to blur lines into false hope in the name of convenience or easy wins, and to maintain the clarity of purpose among those who surround you so as not to be pushed off course.
2. When opponents question your motivations, go after you on policy, or attack you personally, you must keep focused on authentic hope. The moment you engage in a tit-for-tat in public discourse, you will erode your own authenticity and your claim to authentic hope. BUT, this does not mean that you should never fight back. Indeed you should and must! But when you do, train your arguments on substantive matters and provide clear contrasts of vision. Do not back down; but nor should you fall prey to playing politics as usual if you want your position to be compelling and forthright.
3. Remember that “hope” is a result of your articulated vision and related positions, not proclamations about hope! When notions of hope become overly familiar – that is, when one makes it their stock and trade – it loses meaning and currency. Hope is not a message unto itself, but over time the byproduct of actions we take and results that emerge. Thus I would urge you and others not to overdo talk about hope; instead, people should see hope as a result of the change you wish to bring about. Otherwise, hope can become an empty slogan.
4. As strange as it may sound, none of us “own” hope. We must remember that hope resides within individuals and communities. Hope is the result of people tapping their own potential to make a difference and joining together to forge a common future. Anyone who talks about hope must know that they are merely a messenger or carrier for something larger than themselves. Therefore, when talking about hope, the focus must be on people, always the people. I know this is difficult because talk of hope can be personally intoxicating; I have experienced this in my own small way. We can mistake people’s response to hope to be about ourselves. When we make that mistake, we can lose our way.
5. We must deliver big on a message of change and authentic hope if people are not to fall sway to heated partisan appeals. This requires that we step forward and articulate a clearly different point of view; hold up a mirror to people so they can see their shared realities; make meaningful entreaties to people to re-engage and reconnect. Some people will aggressively attack you and others who take this path; so be it. But if you and the rest of us straddle the fence in presenting an alternative; if we seem to be accommodating special interests under the cover of new rhetoric; if attempts are made to soft peddle what must be said, then all that will be left is the muddled pursuit of hope. Then people will reach for partisanship and its fleeting comfort of surety rather than our lukewarm hope.
I should say that I admire anyone who steps forward to illuminate possible pathways toward authentic hope. I know that attempts to generate deep change on issues before us will not yield immediate results; but I also know that we can and must place a stake in the ground about what we value and how we seek to move ahead. My own belief is that our task now is to make hope real for people. This too is a long-term endeavor. And no doubt there will be many enemies of the public good who will try to block us along the way. But people are waiting.
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Why Do We Need Public Innovators?
Many people have written about the talent deficit in the non-profit and civic sector. Today, I want to focus on one big part of it. While the talent deficit is very real, maybe the most pressing facet of it is our lack of public innovators. These civic change agents are essential to helping organizations and communities create change and authentic hope. But we need many more public innovators if we are to make the progress we seek.
Consider the following challenges and think about the kind of person it will take to create meaningful progress:
- Recently,
my colleague
- In
their new book, Come On, People,
Bill Cosby and Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint
(a leading psychiatrist at Harvard
University) argue that to bring about
hopeful change in people’s lives and
create the necessary daily support
systems, we must create more locally-generated
efforts that involve, engage, and tap
into local people’s voices, talents
and gifts. Anyone who has attempted such
work knows how difficult it can
be.
- The
other day a colleague told me that while
his group has the skills and core
competencies to implement quick, one-off
projects in communities, the
local leadership does not exist to spark
deep and lasting change within
communities. But how can they help
develop that leadership?
- Another
friend who leads a national organization
with hundreds of local affiliates
told me recently that one of their most
pressing challenges is developing and
supporting the talent within communities
to initiate and lead meaningful
change efforts, especially those that
occur long periods of over time.
Each of these challenges requires more than just recruiting more people who can run organizations, make programs work, and manage the books. They demand that we find and cultivate and support a particular kind of civic change agent, one who can help to bring about a certain kind of change. I call these change agents, “public innovators.” Less heralded than social entrepreneurs, public innovators form the backbone of our communities. And our own research suggests that communities need a critical mass of these innovators to help create the conditions necessary for change in our society.
But what do public innovators do? Based on our years of research and on-the-ground experiences, public innovators must know how to gain a deep understanding of the rhythms and conditions of their communities so that they can understand the context within which they’re working. Public innovators must also know how much capacity their community has for action and design initiatives that reflect that knowledge. They must know how to authentically engage people so the community can generate the knowledge, public will, and civic energy to move forward. They must understand that change emerges over time and they must cultivate pockets of change in ways that promising ideas and innovation do not get choked off or dissipate. Public innovators must know how to open up new spaces for discussion, innovation, and learning so that people can get things done – not just talk. Meanwhile, public innovators must be “ruthlessly strategic;” they must know that they cannot afford to become “activity happy” and lose their focus, when fundamental choices must be made to bring about lasting impact.
Many organizations claim to develop leaders who are able to do these and other things. Oftentimes they create ways for local leaders to connect with one another (“meet and greets”) or provide training programs that teach a specific skill or a process for dealing with conflict. But learning a new process or skill is not the same as learning a new sensibility about one’s work or how to be “ruthlessly strategic.” So, while many of leadership training efforts have value, they do not cultivate and support public innovators and fall short in helping us meet the kinds of challenges described in Come On, People, or those described by my friends and colleagues.
To address these problems and challenges we must cultivate more public innovators.
- Recently,
my colleague
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What Would Lincoln Say Tonight?
Today’s Republican debate is a vital test to see whether any candidate is willing to authentically engage voters – to step forward and speak to us honestly. Just over a week ago the top-tier Republican candidates skipped the Morgan State/PBS debate focused on African American and Latino concerns. I have returned to issues surrounding the
Weary of the acrimonious and divisive nature of politics and the lack of adequate progress on a host of issues, people yearn for leaders who can pull us together, get things moving in a positive direction, and engage with the realities of our lives—we are searching for a “new breed of leader.”
I wrote about a “new breed of leader” in my essay, Make Hope Real. Unlike many of the “outsider” leaders who emerged in the 1990s and spoke about a hostile takeover of government, disparaged public service, and exploited wedge issues, today’s new breed is highly pragmatic on policy issues, seeks to make public life and politics work instead of tearing them apart, and actively engages people in coming together to solve problems. Instead of dividing us one from another, this new breed of leader believes in calling upon people to come together to improve their lives.
As I travel the country I sense the slow but steady growth in the number of such leaders. I see a new breed of leader emerging all around—the mayors of
However, when the top-tier Republican candidates skipped the Morgan State event they sent an unmistakable message: they value fund raising over rebuilding communities, politics over people, and have little regard for those with little money or political clout.So the question for today is: Will any of the Republican or Democratic candidates for president emerge as part of the new breed of leaders? Tonight’s debate provides an opportunity to gauge the kind of leader that each of the major candidates for the Republican nomination will be. When the candidates debate in
- First, they should make sure the issue is on the table. If a direct question is not put to them, then they should raise the topic themselves, no matter the time limits, ground rules, or angst they create.
- Second,
when talking about
Click here to download a set of questions to consider as you think about these candidates' answers to questions about Morgan State
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Would Lincoln Have Gone?
Last week a stunning event occurred: Republican presidential candidates were invited to
I write to neither support Democrats nor undercut Republicans, but to shine a bright light on the need for authenticity and hope in public life and politics. People have had enough of acrimonious and divisive politics and now yearn to find ways back into the public square. Authenticity and hope are essential for any candidate who seeks to reconnect and re-engage with Americans and cut through prevailing conditions in society to foster a new can-do spirit.
To engender authenticity and hope requires candidates to step forward and show their face. They cannot achieve this simply by hiring consultants to carefully craft commercials and slick web sites. Rather it demands that candidates reveal something of their true convictions; that they recognize that campaigns are really not about them, but about people and their lives. It takes candidates who are truthful about the conditions of our country and the lives of our citizens. Authenticity and hope come from candidates who call each of us forward to help create a sense of possibility about our shared future– something we can only create together.Is this a tall order for any candidate? Yes, of course it is, and it should be. I have come to believe that it is not perfection from candidates that people seek, only their real engagement. We do not expect them to have all the answers, but we do expect to hear from them. Thus, when it comes to opportunities like
Exactly what calculation led the major Republican Party candidates to forgo the
Only a few days after the
No doubt,
We have had enough division in this nation – from Red States vs. Blue States, church goers vs. non-church goers, blacks vs. whites. It’s enough already. Central to promoting authenticity and hope is that we see and engage in society with a renewed sense of affection for others. This doesn’t mean we will all agree with one another; or that we will all like one another. But it does ask us to open ourselves up to see and hear and feel things around us. It does require us to be present so that we can engage with others. Neither the nasty politics of division nor a timid Miss Manners-style civility give us the tools we need to make hope real.
We need leaders who are willing to be present and fully engaged at
It can be done.
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Planned Serendipity
The emergence of change is truly inspiring to watch. It takes the right conditions and the right people to ignite and sustain something real and in
Way and St. David's Community Health Foundation that attracted nearly 600 people from the 10 counties ofA while back we wrote a report analyzing why some community efforts work while others fail. We titled the report, “Planned Serendipity.” The title captured something of the nature of change – that communities where efforts took root and succeeded had laid the foundation for future success. They created the conditions for change, and when those conditions are cultivated and worked, eventually what seems like serendipity or happy accidents become more and more frequent. There really isn’t any “magic,” just people producing the right groundwork and some luck.
Debbie, Dick, and David (perhaps they are the 3D’s of Austin Public Life!) have created planned serendipity in
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9/11 and A Way Forward
Last year on 9/11 I wrote about my good friend and college roommate Frank, who died in the
As I travel across the country, especially when I am in airports, I find myself staring at soldiers in their green fatigues and heavy boots. I wonder where they are going; what will meet them wherever they arrive. I cannot help but cringe when I consider their fate; that one day their parents or some other loved one may receive a visit at the front door to announce their death.
Equally harrowing is the fate of soldiers who have come home missing a limb or two or more; or maybe they are scarred with psychological trauma. I wonder if we have silently adopted a new "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy with these men and woman. Will we forget them? What will be their future? Who will ask them; who will they tell?
If you or I were sending a child or brother or a mother off to this war, what would we tell them? That everything will be okay? That we will be sure to see them after their tour? What would be your response to a loved who has finally returned from this war, only to be told it's time for another rotation?
I miss my friend Frank. This past June was our 25th reunion at Skidmore College and I visited the room in Palamountain Hall that we named for him; the room that was dedicated five years ago; a dedication I would miss because the pain was too great.And yet, Frank is one person. What about all the others for whom there was a choice about whether to send them to meet their fate? What was our decision? On what basis can we justify the steps we have sent them to take?
Memories can be very tough. There's no easy way to extinguish those that shadow us. Only time and some luck allow us to come to terms with them. But what about those lives touched by this war, the people we will never meet, the new memories that are being created for them each day, ones we can't take back, ones that will linger and shadow them.
I hear the President, and now Republican candidates, and Democrats too, and I am not sure what to make of their comments and statements. To me, they are simply the sounds of politics -- about collecting votes; about raising unseemly amounts of money; about positioning.
As I listen to the empty voices of candidates and watch the pictures of 9/11 get replayed, as I see in my mind's eye Frank looking out a window 100-plus stories up with terror written across his face, as I think about him struggling to call his loved ones and find a way out before the end, I am filled with sorrow.
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The Day after Labor Day Plea
On the heels of this Labor Day, I have a plea: as leaders and public innovators I wish for each of us to consider the meaning of our own humanity in our work. I’m not talking about how to create more connections or connectivity in society; nor is this about how to build more social capital or get more people together in your community. Instead, I am appealing directly to you and others we work with. I know that making this plea may sound silly or vacuous or simply obvious. Well actually it is obvious and that’s all the more reason to talk about it.
A little more than a week ago we held our second Annual Public Innovators Summit. About fifty public innovators and leaders spent three days talking about issues that often are in the back of our minds but which require our full attention. Much like things you’ve probably been involved in this conversation was amazing to watch unfold. People moved from being professionals in the grip of their work to telling stories about their own lives and the essence of their efforts.
I’m not surprised this happened; in fact, it typically happens in the work we do. But each time it happens I am humbled once more by just how vital and necessary it is, how grounding it is for people, and the true beauty that can emerge from it. Hence, you have my plea on this day after Labor Day.
Closer to home this happened to me just last night at a party. I was talking to a father of a boy my son often hangs out with; we’ve seen each over the years. Our conversation started by us talking about his business, and about how as an independent builder he goes about forging trust with his clients. Then, after talking for about twenty minutes, we discovered that we each grew up in similar houses, hundreds of miles apart from one another, and began to trade stories about the old dishwasher you had to hook-up to the sink, the steep and hidden back stairs, the dark and cool unfinished basements… and the different smells of the wood of a house built in the late 1890s or so.
Somehow in our daily grind we lose touch with our stories and feelings and hopes – even our own sense of passion and drive. We get caught up in our planning and strategizing and fund-raising. We worry about our positioning. We feel the need to endlessly perform – for others, for our boards, even for ourselves. None of these things are intrinsically misguided. But there is a kind of distorting or warping effect that takes place. We become encrusted in something called work and meetings and e-mails.
I happen to like work. And I am someone who believes deeply that in doing public work we must be ‘ruthlessly strategic’ if we want any chance to engender change and authentic hope. The challenges we face are too big to do otherwise. What’s more, we must find ways to be open to the possibilities of serendipity and all it potentially offers. Navigating these competing forces can be trying.
But we must not lose ourselves in this process called work. (As I said, my point today is an obvious one, but is one that requires our special attention.) For somehow we come to push down our need to be present and open and willing to see things. We somehow forget our own calling. We somehow dismiss what we feel and what we know. We often refuse to be open to what we don’t know. Out of our own fears we can end up sidestepping moments when we must summon our own courage, and then tripping when a sign of humility would be most welcomed. As an individual at the Summit put it, somehow we can forget to breathe.
Those of you who know me know that I’m not one to sit around a circle, hold hands, and sing kum-by-yah. That’s not my plea today; nor is my plea rooted in undertaking yet another activity for us to do. Simply put, my wish is for each of us to make the room to remember where we came from, why that is important to us, and how we seek to engage those around us. It is about our own sense of humanity and how it can guide what we do. That is my plea on the day after Labor Day.
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Michael Vick's Dog Days
Maybe the Michael Vick story is striking such a rich vein in American life because it holds up a mirror of reality to us and we're not sure what we see or feel.
For many of us, the first response to hearing about Vick's involvement in dog fighting and his sundry repulsive acts was outrage. How could anyone commit such heinous acts? One can only hope I am asking a mere rhetorical question here, but we all know I'm not. Just take the three young people recently gunned down execution style in Newark, NJ. Such matters reflect a side to our society that many of us feel unable to change. So, many of us retreat from public life and turn inward where we try to gain some semblance of control over our lives.
There's the issue of Vick's contract as well. Tell me how anyone could be worth a $137 million to play professional football? It makes me think about what Tom Cruise gets paid per movie or to try and understand Paris Hilton's notoriety. The extent to which sports figures and celebrities have overrun society makes people wonder if fantasy drives society more than reality. Anyone with kids, myself included, worries about the effects of these trends on their children's values and their sense of what of is real and important.
Still, there is an even uglier part of the Vick episode: the focus on race. I don't know what the breakdown is of where whites and African-Americas stand on the Vick affair, but this issue, like so many before it, has given rise to the fanning of racial tensions. Fast knee-jerk assumptions get made that people are divided on this issue according to their race, even thought we may know little about their views, or even consider that people may be conflicted themselves. Instead, discussions in the news media and elsewhere can be cartoon-like, overly simplistic, and downright irresponsible. The unfortunate truth is that we still fear the genuine discussion of race issues in America. The Vick controversy only reminds us about our own discomfort and squeamishness and how far we still need to go.
Just yesterday Vick appeared before cameras to reveal for the first time his own thoughts and repent for his sins. News stations and radio talk shows immediately embarked on their predictable feeding frenzy. One key topic in news coverage was whether Vick seemed to be "authentic" in expressing his remorse. After all, people said, he didn't speak from a script or even use notes. He was impressive, if one can use that phrase here.
But surely everyone realizes that Vick's lawyers did not simply pull up to the building's front door, push him out of the car, and race away, without giving him some expert help with his remarks. Chances are he practiced that talk numerous times, maybe scores of times, each time his advisors looking for just the right phrase and intonation that would win people over.
Still, I do think there is something to this authenticity point. I have come to the conclusion that many people are privately rooting for Vick, even as they express outrage, or notwithstanding their outrage. Outside of egregiously disgraced individuals such as Richard Nixon or the most-greedy corporate executive, we Americans fundamentally believe in redemption. The nation was founded on the idea that you can make and remake yourself into anything or anyone. We all yearn for second chances, whether for ourselves or others. So when Vick stepped forward yesterday to express remorse; when he declared that he accepted full responsibility and will do his time; when we could finally envision this strapping young man on his way to jail for something as stupid as dog fighting; when we hold the wish that each person can turn into a productive member of society, then his touch of authenticity gave us at least a glimmer of hope that maybe something can be made right here.
None of us wants to see another person waste their life. We have too much of that now when each day we see reports that another young man or woman has died in Iraq, a war that appears to be a march of folly. Here then is Michael Vick, the gifted ballplayer now seeking repentance. It is a shame that so much potential is being grinded to a halt.
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Independent Minds
Just this week we witnessed the phenomenal product launch of the new iPhone. Americans of all ages waited in long lines to claim the first offering of these hot consumer products. These gadgets will purportedly produce a transformative leap in people’s ability to connect with one another. At first glance one might view these purchases as just another example of consumerism run amuck.
Meanwhile, the daily calls continue from all corners for an end to the American occupation of Iraq. President Bush views such calls as a “Cut and Run” mentality. His opponents say it’s time for our troops to come home. And yet, no matter the bumper sticker slogan one chooses to sum up their own heart-felt point-of-view, the reality of war and terrorism and global mistrust was front page news yet again this week when terrorists in London sought to destroy innocent lives. News from Scotland the following day only reinforced all our fears.
This past Sunday the top story in The Washington Post reported on a new poll that found one-third of American voters self identify as political “independents.” But the survey suggested that this group is hardly monolithic. Independent voters, the survey says, fall into a variety of small subgroups. The bottom line: No one appeal will work for the entire group, thus no one can be taken for granted.
Finally, later this week, Live Earth will bring people together from a host of far-flung places from here at home and abroad. People’s goal: show their support for a new environmental ethos. But, one must wonder, where did all these people come from?
Obviously, the world is changing and fast. For quite sometime I have argued that such changes have prompted people to retreat into close knit circles of families and friends. But that doesn’t mean people want to give up on public life and politics or that they don’t see a need to come together to address common challenges. Most Americans are neither apathetic nor indifferent to our common affairs. They care.
Indeed, look around and you’ll see that many signs today point to Americans trying to reconnect and establish new relationships. What I take away from recent news is the following: Americans are in search of answers to two fundamental questions in their lives.
• First, how can they create a new sense of community amid the fractures and fragments of our current ways of life?
• Second, how can they find re-entry points back into public life and politics?
The very idea of “independence” is to be free from unwanted forces and to self-govern. On this July 4th we should recognize that people’s moves to declare their independence – from political parties, terrorism, global warming, porous borders, and other unwanted forces – is not an attempt merely to separate themselves from these problems. Rather, it is the very expression of a deep yearning to reconnect with one another and to feel a sense of agency. What we can see is people looking for new ways to practice self-governance in a society driven by too much cynicism, hate, and disconnects.
So, for me, the message from Americans on this July 4th is clear and rooted in something quite revolutionary: people want be part of something larger than themselves and believe once more that they can make a difference. I suspect that’s one of the messages coming through clearly from those new swanky iPhones.
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The Skidmore Challenge
This past week I spent an amazing three days at my 25th college reunion. (I know I’m getting old.) At the same time I have been reading David Halberstam’s bestseller, The Best and the Brightest. What do these two things have to do with each other? Everything!
While at Skidmore College I gave a talk about the conditions of public life and politics. During the Q&A, my fellow graduates focused a great deal on how so many of us are now overwhelmed by the avalanche of unfiltered news, a lack of trust in political leaders and the belief that few good ones are on the horizon, and a nagging worry about how change can be created when so many of us are focused inwardly on our own needs.
Meanwhile, The Best and the Brightest is a story of a group of people who believed that they knew answers to the tough questions of their day. But the tale reminds us that no one individual, or group of self-selected individuals, has a lock on the vision or the knowledge necessary for moving society forward. Indeed, the book brilliantly reveals the sheer hubris that can take hold of people when they lose sight of what is required to create change, especially change that accounts for and reflects people’s reality and their aspirations.
Which leads me back to my talk in Palamountain Hall at Skidmore College.
You see, we are trying to navigate our lives in a time when so many aspects of our society are up for grabs and being reshaped. The newspaper industry that so many of us grew up with is in a free fall and may not exist in the years ahead. The ways in which we communicate on cell phones and via the Internet have altered how gather information and relate to one another. The spread of a consumer mindset into virtually every facet of our lives – especially our public lives – has titled the balance of society inward, away from notions of the public good.
The discussion that people wanted to have at Skidmore was that we are living in the midst of a major societal transformation. That’s not news, obviously. But because we are only a portion of the way through the transformation, we often experience tremendous dissonance in our lives, can feel incredibly unsettled, and are concerned about what’s next on the horizon. That is important.
But, still, what does this have to do with The Best and the Brightest?
Well, my point is this: we cannot expect a new, select group of leaders, however much we trust them, to get us through this transformation. No one individual or group knows exactly what it will take to move ahead; even more to the point, what is required, in large part, is that we generate new pockets of innovation and change that will create new pathways forward. Indeed, what people yearn for today is a sense of possibility that we can discover such pathways – whether on challenges such as health care and public schools to re-connecting people and growing new public leaders and civic-minded organizations.
I told my fellow Skidmore grads that their communities, and this country, are waiting for them to step forward and help lead the way to create these new pathways. Indeed, the work of change must often start at the local level, where people can come together, build new relationships and solutions, and innovate (and, yes, fail from time-to-time, and learn). It is these pockets of change that will help us to cultivate the necessary conditions to support larger, more systemic efforts.
The notion that some small collection of best and the brightest people will lead the way forward fails to take into account history and how so much innovation and change has occurred in our nation. Look back over time and it is clear that so many efforts were initially led by small groups of like-minded people who were willing to initiate change.
Like other Americans, my Skidmore friends are hungry for a new way forward.
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The Flag - A Memorial Day Message
On this Memorial Day, the assembly of little flags in the photo below reminds me of fallen American men and women who have given their life in the name of our country. Each flag could be a person, limp and alone; and yet, the stars and stripes remain strong and bold, reminding us of an enduring journey.photo by Ernest Morin (click on the photo for additional photos)
On this Memorial Day, what comes to your mind when you see our flag, the American flag? During this extended weekend, each of us will encounter the Red, White & Blue. When we see it, what will we make of it?
Remember the old game some of us once played as kids, “Capture the flag”? Since September 11, it can seem that the flag has been captured by those who believe they hold the truth about patriotism; many may even believe they have received Devine inspiration about this truth.
But look up patriotism in the dictionary and you will find that it often means, simply, a love of country, a devotion to country.
So, I invite you to click on the image above and look at the attached photos which were taken by Ernest Morin, an old college buddy of mine. For me, Ernie’s photos give rise to an assortment of emotions. Some make me feel sad; others upbeat; almost all of them make me feel proud. Through a snapshot in time they help us to see people’s deep sense of attachment to the flag – they want to show it, wear it, wave it… they want to be a part of it.
On this Memorial Day, my sense is that much of the nation looks at the flag and wonders what our next steps should be here at home and around the globe. How do we protect ourselves from terrorists and yet engender peace in the world? How can we build a good and just society right here?
My questions may seem to border on being platitudes. But I don’t think so. The most difficult issues are often those that deal with fundamental choices about our values, our sense of purpose, and our willingness to pay attention and engage.
On this Memorial Day, the sight of the flag in these photos makes me want to express my patriotism – my sense of love and devotion – which ought never to be confused with either blanket approval or a blank check for misguided missions and disregard for those less fortunate.
Instead, these simple and elegant photos remind us of the call of the flag. It is a call for us to find better ways to express our ideals. It is to join together to make a more perfect union. This is the task I wish to accept; this is the message I take from our flag.