Tag: unity

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inaugural

A subjective review of history suggests that most second term inaugural speeches error a bit on the boring side.  While each of us can discern for ourselves whether such was true of Pres. Obama’s address yesterday, one second term speech stands out with certainty… written in 1865…  penned by Pres. Abraham Lincoln.  With the end of the Civil War and slavery in sight, Lincoln still spoke not of great hope nor previous promises.  Lincoln spoke of sadness… and of what binds us together…

 

“Fellow-Countrymen:  At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

 

[Still acknowledging conflict, Lincoln widely recognized what so many forget — that more can often be said with fewer actual words…]

 

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.

 

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. ‘Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.’ If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

 

[Wow… in an address that audiences would attend to for years, Lincoln not only acknowledges the reality of God but also a submission to God…]

 

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

 

With just over 700 words and a remarkable reliance upon the divine, the revered Lincoln soberly recognized the depth of division within our country.  There’s a focus on unity, a call for healing, and a humble commitment to heal the wounds together; there is also a respect for all people regardless of position or politics.  Yes, today, we have much to learn.

 

41 days after this address was delivered, Pres. Lincoln was assassinated.  Let’s face it:  the brave call to unification and reconciliation is not popular.  It is a far easier route not to unify and not to heal.  As we face the next 4 years together, I pray for the braver, more humble, more difficult route.

 

Respectfully,

AR

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hail to the victor… oops… wrong approach

The people have spoken in different ways.  Some this day are jubilant.  Others are deeply disappointed.  Friends, we don’t all feel the same way.  In fact, as previously posted amidst this setting, the candidates have spent much of the past year actually encouraging us to not feel the same.  In order to propel their individual candidacy — arguably advocating the end justifies the means — the candidates have intentionally divided the country in order to drum up increased passion for their agenda.  Here’s the problem:  the election is done, but the people remain divided.

 

Many will take to the oratorical airwaves to proclaim that there exists no division; in fact, one of the many things I appreciated about Pres. Obama’s acceptance speech Tuesday night was his recognition of our differences, but his added comments that “we are not as divided as our politics suggests” nor “as cynical as the pundits believe.”  Perhaps not as divided or as cynical, but the Intramuralist suggests that we will only not be that segregated if we are intentional in addressing this issue.  There is no way around it; we are a nation in which millions of boys and girls weekly stand up in their classrooms, affirming our existence as one indivisible nation under God, and yet, we haven’t acted like it for years.

 

So how do we become less divided or cynical?  How does the healing begin?

 

Perhaps if I had all of life’s answers I wouldn’t be as busy with this blog nor my self-amusing caricature habit (all right, I’d still be doodling those pronounced facial features).  But I have a sense of a few steps essential in our healing…

 

Step 1:  Start now.

 

Healing can’t wait until next month or next year or the next election cycle.  If we want to keep the division from assuming permanent root, we must begin the healing today.  Looking it in the eye.  Calling it what it is.  And making a commitment to seriously and soberly address the divisiveness.

 

Step 2:  Be empathetic.

 

If you’re like me, you found the initial 24 hours on Facebook and Twitter a bit overwhelming.  Some gloated.  Some complained.  Some announced their readiness to exit the country.  Others responded with ‘good riddance.’  The bottom line with each response — from those who both loved and loathed the results:  neither worked to understand the emotions of those who felt differently.  Instead of empathy, they chose arrogance.  Arrogance is never attractive.

 

Step 3:  Eliminate the following words:  “mandate” and “compromise.”

 

Many will claim a mandate…  “We voted.  We won!”  And quite true is that such is often the winner’s bold assertion and the loser’s rueful admonition.  Please remember the context of this post.  We are acknowledging a “divisible” state of America.  With an estimated popular vote margin of 50% to 48%, almost as many people voted for the victor as against.  Thus, to profess a mandate is not a process that builds unity; it will encourage further division.

 

Let the record also show that many others will claim the need for compromise.  While I was never fond of the President’s 2009 quip that “Elections have consequences, and at the end of the day, I won,” the reality is that Obama was victorious.  More voters supported him than Gov. Romney.  Hence, Obama should not be expected to always meet in the middle.

 

Step 4:  Listen.

 

Remember (as does my 15 year old) that to listen means to both hear and consider.  To only hear does not qualify.  To only hear and consider the likeminded also does not qualify.  To listen reveals an interactive, respectful process with those on all sides of any aisle.

 

And Step 5:  Be humble.

 

Earlier I mentioned that arrogance is never attractive.  I can’t say that enough.  Confidence is contagious, but arrogance is polarizing.  When career Major League Baseball stolen base leader, Rickey Henderson, declared he was “the greatest of all time — thank you,” did that make any feel better about his accomplishment?  My point is that humility is always more unifying than arrogance.  Allow me to be clear:  humility doesn’t mean silence nor submissiveness; it doesn’t equate to weakness.  Humility means joyfully being of one spirit, doing nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit… considering others… and looking to their interests.  It is not an abandoning of one’s own interests, but rather, it is a respecting of those who are different.

 

We do feel differently this day.  We are in need of leadership.  We have some tough issues to tackle in this democratic, debt-ridden, capitalistic, and freedom-driven society.  We are also in need of healing.  If we begin now, we can be that one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.  It’s time to be intentional.

 

Respectfully,

AR

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‘nutty’ unity

Tomorrow everything changes.

 

Some may believe that everything changes after the November election, but dare I suggest:  tomorrow everything changes more.  And perhaps even more noticeable, the change will last for quite some time… for days, weeks, months… at least until winter is well upon us.

 

Tomorrow, no less, is the day, when many reasonably intelligent people begin to justifiably act a little, incredibly nutty…

 

Beginning with a little town in northeast Wisconsin, folks will care less about the zillions of dollars spent on the recent divisiveness of state politics.  They will instead quickly unite behind a powerful meat-Packing team, riding on the arm of Aaron Rodgers and his beloved, Green Bay football cohorts.

 

Out will also come the Lions and Tigers and Bears…  oh, wait, Tigers play baseball… but out will come the Lions and Bears… and while my keen sense is the teams don’t like each other all that much, within their people group, they are united indeed.

 

I notice the unity elsewhere…

 

… in the Patriotic type, for example, a people group that always seems so solid and sound regardless of the partisans in Washington; their massive defense budget never seems up for debate.

 

… and let’s not forget those united, yellow towel-wavers from the Steel City.  Some call them “terrible.”  I doubt that.  After all, the Steelers seem to win more than most.  The rest of the sporting world just isn’t quite as polite when their opponents are doing most of the winning.

 

Yes, tomorrow everything changes…

 

With the Dallas Cowboys at the New York Giants, the NFL begins their 2012-13 season.

 

It’s a little odd; I mean, there’s a newfound fascination with the backup quarterback in Jet land, and Peyton Manning is wearing orange.  (Not sure it looks good on him.)

 

Also, like the recent divisiveness in Wisconsin, there is a labor dispute within the nation.  No, not with the players or teachers of the game; this dispute is with the union referees.

 

(…some days, don’t you just wish people could get along?)

 

All this change and nutty enthusiasm that accompanies the NFL season reminds me of both the unity and divisiveness that currently marks our land.

 

The divisiveness is obvious.  Too often, too much, we focus on what divides us; instead of accepting self circumstances and celebrating others’ blessedness and success, we too often compare ourselves with those around us, thinking, “That should have been me.”  There is simply too much me.

 

The beauty, therefore, of the NFL season is that the teams that are most successful and arrive at Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans in February of 2013, will be the teams that are most united in purpose and performance.  They are unlikely to have a coach who operates from a perspective of “too much me.”  They are also unlikely to be led by a quarterback who thinks he is God’s gift to his team, state, or country.  No, the teams in the Super Bowl will be marked by an excellence that comes only via unity and hard work — knowing their purpose, accepting and embracing the need to work together…

 

… and of course, accepting and appreciating those nutty fans.

 

Watch for the unity in Pittsburgh and Green Bay.  It can be nutty…  but attractive and kind of contagious, too.

 

Respectfully,

AR

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fanfare

In case I have somehow failed to be transparent, allow me to briefly reveal that the Intramuralist is a diehard Reds fan.  Diehard.  I love them.  Growing up in the era of the Big Red Machine (and as a child, opportunistically desiring to root for a winner), I have long followed their failure and success.  Hence, when in the bottom of the 9th with loaded bases and 2 outs Sunday, when former MVP, Joey Votto, hit a walk off grand slam to win the game, I was literally jumping up and down.  It was awesome!  (… with all due respect, newfound Washington National fans…)

 

Yet perhaps what was most awesome about Sunday — and what’s most relevant here (for even the non-sports fan) — is not Votto’s all-star performance; it was not the fact that the dramatic game winner was actually his 3rd round tripper of the game; rather, it was how Votto spoke about his exceptional performance thereafter.

 

He didn’t boast.  He didn’t brag.  He didn’t chastise his opponent.  In the immediate post-game interviews, where superlatives were generously cast upon him, Votto resisted all attempts to affirm his own performance and his worth to all others.  Contrastingly, he complimented the opposing team’s pitcher, noting how difficult he is to hit, and then calmly spoke in regard to how all the fanfare wasn’t his forte.  Votto said, “Moments like this, this is kind of the icing on the cake, but all the little grinder type things are more my style.”  In other words, when the lights were on and the camera was rolling — with nothing scripted — Joey Votto displayed genuine humility.  In a moment where he could have bragged and could have boasted and we all would have listened — he intentionally chose not to.  He chose to be humble instead.  That, my friends, is something from which even the non-sports fan can learn.

 

We speak much these days about desiring unity — how if we were somehow more united in purpose and pursuit, we would be wiser; we would be more productive and successful.  And yet, we routinely abandon that which is our greatest unifier.  Unity is absolutely dependent on humility.

 

And so in Washington, intelligent men and women say they desire unity, but then they…

 

… blame all lack of success solely on someone else…

 

… use “I/me/my/myself” in a speech more times than we can count…

 

… say their top political priority is to deny one person a second term…

 

… and/or take credit for an outcome that was contributed to by many…

 

Friends, these actions reek of arrogance.  There are too many people touting their claim to their desired icing on the cake.  There is no humility in these actions.  When there is no humility, regardless of intentions uttered into a public microphone, there exists no unity.

 

Then again, perhaps that’s the actual bottom line.  Perhaps unity is merely an exercise in lip-service for environments extending beyond the Reds’ clubhouse.  Perhaps unity is simply something that sounds good — that many say they want — but in actuality, is merely the desire for others to cede individual opinion.  Thus, I conclude that many who boldly proclaim sincere unifying efforts often wish most to squelch opposing opinion.  That’s not unity.  If we desire unity, we must instead begin by modeling personal humility.

 

After Sunday’s Reds’ game, it was not only Joey Votto who donned a seemingly ceaseless grin.  The entire team was elated — the veterans, the rookies, the coaches and local media.  Age didn’t matter.  Experience was irrelevant.  The Reds’ clubhouse was completely united in their joy.

 

Were they united because they were victorious?

 

Were they united because Votto hit a walk off grand slam?

 

To some degree, yes.

 

But they were perhaps more united because of how Votto spoke about his role in the victory.  In the unscripted moment of truth, Votto affirmed others and focused on much more than his own accomplishments.  He demonstrated great humility.

 

(Did I mention I love the Reds?)

 

Respectfully,

AR