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What we owe our people in uniform
I can’t get the pictures from Iraq out of my mind – soldiers who will never come home, others with multiple missing limbs and ingrained psychological trauma. Now, amid the rising hot air of the 2008 presidential campaign, a moment of sanity last week when U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) implored his Senate colleagues to “step up” and confront the Iraq issue squarely. “We owe it to those men and women that we send into that grinder,” he said.
Hagel asks nothing short of accounting for our own views, to me the most basic of public acts we must do in public life. In an impassioned two-minute plea, he asked his colleagues: “What do you believe?” “What are you willing to support?” “What do you think?”
I do not know questions any more fundamental than these. After all, it is the answers to such questions that reflect our deepest values and expectations; such questions prompt and prod us to reveal our own logic and take stock of our own heart. We can disagree about the war and the best course from here; but as we do, let us know that the grinder does not stop.
The grinder waits for no one.
In the last couple of years I have witnessed a remarkable tribute to our men and women in uniform. I am a regular ticket holder for the Washington Capitals hockey team and during many games in the Verizon Center people are asked to recognize those soldiers in attendance. A prolonged, standing ovation ensues; indeed, as opposition to the war has increased over the last year or two, the length and intensity of the ovation has only expanded. I cannot describe the feeling.
When we send our men and women into the grinder, we forge an implicit covenant with them – why are you going; under what conditions shall we bring you home; what is the nature of your service and how shall we support you?
When that covenant unravels, and when real disagreements arise about next steps, the next question becomes, “How shall we proceed?" Here, too, Senator Hagel has something important to say:What I hear on both sides of this argument, impugning motives and patriotism to our country, not only is it offensive and disgusting, but it debases the whole system of our country and who we are. My goodness, can’t we debate the most critical issue of our time out front, in front of the American people?
This is a reasonable request but not an easy one to fulfill. I suspect that many members of Congress are deeply torn about the war and what to do. Each option for action comes with its own dilemmas and none easy to reconcile.
But that’s the point, isn’t it? We can debate this issue like we do so many others, as if the only considerations are political. Or, people can step up and engage, even if, perhaps especially if, they are torn.
You see, the grinder waits for no one. -
Your State of the Union speech
Tomorrow night the president will stride into the House chamber to deliver a challenging State of the Union speech, which could easily be dead on arrival or so soft-peddled it goes flat. But what if you were to deliver the speech – what would be your main talking points? Let’s create the citizen state of the union speech!
I ask this because I’m wondering what people really want to hear – that is, how people want to be engaged? It’s clear that people want less rancor and partisanship in public life and politics; it’s also quite clear that there are tough issues before us.
Honest to God, the recent rhetoric around “let’s all get along” turns my stomach. It’s the polar opposite of the silly bravado and testosterone-driven shenanigans we’ve seen for all-too-long. Now, instead, we run the risk of false passivity, a kind of wolf in lamb’s clothing that will rise up to bite us all in the rear just when we’ve been told change was in the offing.
I’ve labeled this false hope in other venues! Sounds about right, but I don’t believe it has to be this way.
I heard this morning on NPR a political commentator suggest that we could gauge the meaningfulness of the president’s speech tomorrow night by whether congressional members on both sides of the aisle stand up and applaud for the same lines, or whether only one side stands to give their undying support. I had been thinking of the same notion this morning when I woke up. But then I thought better of it – utter hogwash!
I don’t care if the pols decide to stand up at the same time, so they can try to make themselves look good for the TV cameras and the voters at home. Oftentimes they look downright silly when they gregariously slap each other on the back and clap with unmitigated enthusiasm for someone they viciously attacked the day before. What I want to know is if they can reach some common ground on core challenges we must address.
So, for once, I wish the members of Congress would just sit there on their hands, not wiggling a bit, just listening attentively to the president. Let’s hear what he has to say; and let’s hear a real response from those who see things differently.
But, first, let’s hear from you. Please send in talking points for your State of the Union speech. Then let’s compare what you say with what we hear. -
The Drum Major Instinct
"The Drum Major Instinct" is one of my favorite Martin Luther King, Jr. sermons. It asks, “What does it mean to step forward to lead and serve?” This is especially important for any of us with a burning desire to create change in our society.
So, what is the nature of your own path?
It's no accident that I waited until the day after official events ended to write about MLK. I often worry about national celebrations like MLK Day – the hoopla, the commentary, the speechifying, the parades. I suppose that's how things in mass culture unfold.
But amid all the activity I was reminded of The Drum Major Instinct, the beloved sermon about our own desire to be in front of the parade, to lead, to be recognized. I found myself gravitating toward it all weekend. So, I reached for the sermon and re-read it, yet again, much like I would read a familiar prayer, once more, able to find new meaning as I recited the words, as if for the first time.
I have selected a few lines from the sermon for you to consider. No, the fact is that I really don’t want you to “consider” them at all; I want you to engage with them – to open yourself up and let them touch you. I urge you to do so alone; then maybe find some other people to sit with. Examine your own path.
So here are three segments from The Drum Major Instinct and some questions I’ve posed to each of us:
1. "…deep down within all of us [is] an instinct. It's a kind of drum major instinct – a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first." Is that true for you? If so, what's motivating you?
2. "I guess that's the most damaging aspect of it: what it does to the personality." King said that the desire to be out front can lead people to be "boastful," even "lie," to engage in "activities that are merely used to get attention," to "push others down in order to push himself up," for "snobbish exclusivism" and to justify "prejudice." What does the desire to be out in front of the parade do to you? What damaging aspects can you identify within yourself?
3. "If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice… for peace… for righteousness." So said King about himself; list three things why you're a drum major – and don’t worry, they can be big or small.
Some people might say that my own desire to focus on the drum major instinct misses the point in today's rough-and-tumble world. Our focus must be on winning in partisan politics, enacting government ethic laws and campaign finance reform, creating some new technology.
I don’t doubt that these and other matters are important. But I also know that if we are not clear on why we’re leading then we will not reach our own aspirations or fill the breaches that now exist in society.
Self interest will always be a part of us; we cannot wring it out of our nature. But we can be drum majors, where our words and actions are filled with purpose greater than just our own good. Let us use MLK Day to renew our own instincts to lead the parade in the right direction. If not now, then when? -
In Memoriam: Cole Campbell
This weekend I heard the news that Cole Campbell, dean of the school of journalism at University of Nevada, Reno, was killed Friday when his car overturned on an icy road. Every once in a while you realize we’ve lost someone special who made a true impression on the world, someone who will be remembered for years to come. Cole was such an individual. He was a good friend.
During the 1990s when the newspaper industry heard the call to change its ways, Cole was at the forefront of change. I worked with him during his leadership at the Virginian Pilot and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Some people are smart; he was brilliant. He always ran to embrace the toughest issues – such as the nexus between the role of newspapers and civic health; between the noble traditions of journalism and their applications to Web 2.0; between ethics and winning. Recently I was on a panel at the National Archives which Cole moderated. No one I know could cut through the maze of chatter and create a sense of meaning faster or better than Cole. For me, Cole stole the show that day. So many people came up to me afterwards to talk about his performance. But for Cole his engagement was neither unusual nor a performance. Indeed those in attendance were witness to just the very tip of his talents.
Cole also had a strong current of integrity running through him.
But, of course, some people were more ready to see his foibles. He pushed for change so hard that he could overwhelm people he worked with. He ended up in a relationship with a direct report at one paper which cost him dearly. It was said sometimes that he was too conceptual, too smart for his own good, too far out in front of colleagues. After Cole left the Post-Dispatch, finding the right job was not easy.
And yet each of these experiences made his sense of integrity even more alive and real. You see, Cole deeply understood the meaning of integrity. He knew it from growing up as a preacher’s son. He knew it from being tested by the mistakes he had made and then quietly searching for personal redemption. He knew it because so many people had told him that change was not possible; but he discovered that it was if he would stick by his convictions.
A lot of time is spent by people in our society trying to conform. We all do it. But in Cole Campbell we found that rare individual who was willing to step out of line and reach for his aspirations. That doesn’t always make for an easy ride; but it does make the journey ever more worthwhile.
You will be truly missed Cole Campbell.