So two more public figures fall from on high this month due to secret relationships and internet indiscretions. How sad for us, for them, their families, our nation. But should we be surprised? I don't think so. Its nothing new. Power, money, and sex have been the downfall of all peoples, the haves and the have nots, the well connected and the forgotten, ever since the first tribal chieftains met for the first time, thousands of years ago to divvy up the deer meat and bear skins. True, the Internet seems to lend an aire of modern sophistication to today's lurid displays of no self-control and petty perversions. But the truth is, no matter which century you live in and no matter how crude or refined the technology, maturity is still maturity, self-control is still self-control, and being faithful and true in all its many forms and expressions has not changed one iota. In fact, despite all our so called progress through the ages, our modern weaknesses still perfectly mirror those of our ancient, agrarian ancestors.
More reality; weakness and taboos confront each of us. Who has not had to deal with the temptations of the untouchable, the forbidden, the thou shalt nots? On one level or another we have all been challenged; averting the eyes, flipping the channel, walking through the wrong door, lingering instead of leaving. And every family has a tale told in hushed tones only at night after the children are asleep, we hope! Who of us has not been touched by sad stories? Stories of fallenness, broken hearts, shattered dreams, shame and sorrow fall from the branches of every family tree, littering the narrative of each successive generation. We all know, deep down in side, that failure is all too human. So why are we so disappointed when public figures fall? Are they less human than we? Are they made of better stuff than we? No of course not. So why?
It has to do with hope. Hope is what gets us out of bed each day. Hope for a better life fuels our plans for tomorrow, finances mortgages and pays for college. Hope makes us try again. Hope is why we stand in line to vote. The political experiment begun in 1776 and labled, America, is the embodiment of this hope. America is the hope that free citizens can live side by side in peace just because we choose to. It is the hope we can agree on certain standards of conduct. America is built on the hope we will peacefully govern our own affairs without the iron fist of a dictator, or the purple robes of royalty directing our lives for us. We have forgotten much about who we are. In short, our Founding Fathers literally bet their lives, fortunes, families and futures on a hope, on what was a radical new belief back then, that we can and will moderate our own drives, desires and passions for the good of all.
So here lies the source of our disappointment. When we hear of yet another hero, another leader, another in whom we have placed the sacred trust of the hope that is America-when they are exposed as flagrantly lacking self-control and falling easily to the passions of self-gratification, we tremble for America. We cry a silent tear for our nation wondering if anyone still believes. We want to know if there is anyone left who has the sternness of character, to no, not be perfect, but to at least get the basics down-to be able to control their passions, at least during a time when the hot, scorching spotlight of public life and service exposes them to all the world? Is it too much to ask these people, at least during these brief public periods in their lives, to have sex, in all its variations, with only their spouse, go home when they should, tell the truth, and stay sober? We all know the answer to each is no.
Our nation depends on such accountability. We call for it, again not to wag a finger in someone's face and shout,"How could you!" Not at all. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. We do so to remind each other and ourselves of who we are and what we stand for as a nation. Hope in self governance is grievously wounded by gratuitous self gratification. Guilty verdicts heal those wounds, nurture hope back to health and re-establish it as the preminent American ideal. In 1863, at Gettsyburg, Pennsylvania President Abraham Lincoln pondered if a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people could long endure." I believe he had the American hope in mind as he penned those words on the back of a used envelope. He was asking does a nation so terribly divided by such strong regional self-interests, as America was in the Civil War, have any chance to linger long through the decades- or will the passions that stirred those self interests prove it folly to build a nation on the hope people can live in peaceful co-existence simply because they choose to?
150 years later, America has returned to Gettysburg. We are embroiled in a moral civil war as deeply divisive and deadly to America as our first. With every initial denial of guilt, followed a few days later by yet another hastily called press conference with embarrassing mea culpas, the hope dies a little bit. As a nation, a people built on faith in this hope we have it within us to all stand up and stop the bleeding. We don't have to take the easy road. We can insert old words like wrong and guilty back into our public discourse. We do not have to be intimidated into silence because we are not being intolerant, fanatic, insensitive or narrow minded. We are not trying to judge or condemn anyone. We each have too much on our own plates to do that. We are simply reminding ourselves and one another from whence we came 237 years ago in the hope of assuring that America will indeed long endure.
God Bless America
David Cornell
More reality; weakness and taboos confront each of us. Who has not had to deal with the temptations of the untouchable, the forbidden, the thou shalt nots? On one level or another we have all been challenged; averting the eyes, flipping the channel, walking through the wrong door, lingering instead of leaving. And every family has a tale told in hushed tones only at night after the children are asleep, we hope! Who of us has not been touched by sad stories? Stories of fallenness, broken hearts, shattered dreams, shame and sorrow fall from the branches of every family tree, littering the narrative of each successive generation. We all know, deep down in side, that failure is all too human. So why are we so disappointed when public figures fall? Are they less human than we? Are they made of better stuff than we? No of course not. So why?
It has to do with hope. Hope is what gets us out of bed each day. Hope for a better life fuels our plans for tomorrow, finances mortgages and pays for college. Hope makes us try again. Hope is why we stand in line to vote. The political experiment begun in 1776 and labled, America, is the embodiment of this hope. America is the hope that free citizens can live side by side in peace just because we choose to. It is the hope we can agree on certain standards of conduct. America is built on the hope we will peacefully govern our own affairs without the iron fist of a dictator, or the purple robes of royalty directing our lives for us. We have forgotten much about who we are. In short, our Founding Fathers literally bet their lives, fortunes, families and futures on a hope, on what was a radical new belief back then, that we can and will moderate our own drives, desires and passions for the good of all.
So here lies the source of our disappointment. When we hear of yet another hero, another leader, another in whom we have placed the sacred trust of the hope that is America-when they are exposed as flagrantly lacking self-control and falling easily to the passions of self-gratification, we tremble for America. We cry a silent tear for our nation wondering if anyone still believes. We want to know if there is anyone left who has the sternness of character, to no, not be perfect, but to at least get the basics down-to be able to control their passions, at least during a time when the hot, scorching spotlight of public life and service exposes them to all the world? Is it too much to ask these people, at least during these brief public periods in their lives, to have sex, in all its variations, with only their spouse, go home when they should, tell the truth, and stay sober? We all know the answer to each is no.
Our nation depends on such accountability. We call for it, again not to wag a finger in someone's face and shout,"How could you!" Not at all. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. We do so to remind each other and ourselves of who we are and what we stand for as a nation. Hope in self governance is grievously wounded by gratuitous self gratification. Guilty verdicts heal those wounds, nurture hope back to health and re-establish it as the preminent American ideal. In 1863, at Gettsyburg, Pennsylvania President Abraham Lincoln pondered if a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people could long endure." I believe he had the American hope in mind as he penned those words on the back of a used envelope. He was asking does a nation so terribly divided by such strong regional self-interests, as America was in the Civil War, have any chance to linger long through the decades- or will the passions that stirred those self interests prove it folly to build a nation on the hope people can live in peaceful co-existence simply because they choose to?
150 years later, America has returned to Gettysburg. We are embroiled in a moral civil war as deeply divisive and deadly to America as our first. With every initial denial of guilt, followed a few days later by yet another hastily called press conference with embarrassing mea culpas, the hope dies a little bit. As a nation, a people built on faith in this hope we have it within us to all stand up and stop the bleeding. We don't have to take the easy road. We can insert old words like wrong and guilty back into our public discourse. We do not have to be intimidated into silence because we are not being intolerant, fanatic, insensitive or narrow minded. We are not trying to judge or condemn anyone. We each have too much on our own plates to do that. We are simply reminding ourselves and one another from whence we came 237 years ago in the hope of assuring that America will indeed long endure.
God Bless America
David Cornell
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