This article was written for, and published by, ELIFE magazine’s Winter 2020 issue. You can read the article here, and peruse the magazine, here.
We are at the end of one decade and the beginning of another. The last saw an American experiment tearing itself apart. We are still embroiled in a nearly 20-year war with no real end in sight and no real understanding of the mission with little evidence that we care. We have impeached a President who is, arguably, a man completely devoid of character and honor. I could list the basis of that opinion, but I’ve been given a word limit for this essay.
This decade, which coincides with my 50th here on earth, has given the philosopher in me a cause for concern. I grew up with a notion of what was the “American character”; one that stormed the beaches of Normandy and Okinawa, one who survived Valley Forge, one who waged a Civil War to free an entire race of people, one who stood up for human beings when they demanded equality. I grew up with images of students facing down our military on collegiate battlefields to end an unjust war. I grew up remembering when a President resigned after the honor of his office was sacrificed upon the altar of personal paranoia. I grew up feeling as if “we the People” could accomplish anything once our honor was challenged and our way of life threatened.
This decade I no longer feel that same determination of character. Instead, I’m wracked in the knowledge that a President can be elected despite the overwhelming will of the People. I’m pained in watching a man of great dishonor lead others in a nationalistic fervor that not only threatens our way of life, but our standing in the world. It seems like we live in a society more concerned with partisan ideology than honor and more about Party than integrity.
James Carville once said, “It’s the economy, stupid.” I wonder if our American character has become one built solely on Wall Street whims, and if Goldman Sachs is the new rock on which our church is built. I’m not a Democrat, nor am I Republican. I’m just a man who cares about people, who strives to follow a sense of character born within, and I fear my society and my country no longer understands me as much as I no longer understand it.
“…a good moral character is the first essential in a man…It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.” – George Washington
Outstanding!