When did we decide that despising the poor is acceptable? When did turning a blind eye to the afflictions of others become a source of pride? When did churlishness morph from a fault into a strength? When did we elevate pettiness to virtue? When did we start admiring bullies instead of standing up to them? When did trampling on the weak and destitute become an honorable activity? When did dark become light?
I just finished “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and enjoyed it immensely, especially the character of Atticus Finch. If you’ve never read this book, go now, get it, or check it out, and peruse the pages. I’m drawn to Atticus Finch for the same reasons I’m drawn to Franklin Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, George Washington Carver, George Washington, Winston Churchill, Sergeant York, Abraham Lincoln, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, Joseph Elliott, Richard Sprague, David Sprague, and Jesus the Christ (this is a very incomplete list). They all understood what it meant to be an honorable man in difficult circumstances and walked it out to the best of their abilities. With the exception of Jesus, none were perfect. Look closely enough at their lives and you will find misdeeds. But, they all understood the need to stand up for what is right. We must reinvigorate, must honor, must cultivate that, and similar, character traits in our society and culture.
We must recall that it is noble to reach out and help someone in need and fight for those societal structures, official, unofficial, and personal, that help others, despite the cost to ourselves. I was taught, by word and experience on the playground, that one must stand up for those who are weak and unable to defend themselves. We must strengthen our courage, standing up to the bully and the strongman wherever we find them. Those that attack the weak for being weak do not deserve respect, adulation, or greater responsibility. They deserve, and have earned, censure, personal and public. After all, those of us who enjoy great personal strength, opportunities, and blessing enjoy them not for personal aggrandizement, but to transform and improve the world. And as a nation, we enjoy great wealth and resources, along with the attendant possibilities. Instead of aggregating and stockpiling our blessings, we should set as large a table as possible, pulling up a chair and making welcome the halt, the dispossessed, and the impoverished. Of course, creating such a society, culture, and nation involves expense, sometimes great expense; but, personal and corporate sacrifice is noble, not stupid or misguided. We enjoy abundant resources and a thriving economy. Despite the largess of the Lord, we hoard our blessing, turning away from the poor and needy at home and abroad. We spend far too much time listening to those among us that counsel fear and loathing of the other, encouraging selfishness under the guise of self-protection.
Those who choose to lead must call out our better selves, not encourage hatred and animosity. We must learn again to stand up to the bully, the selfish charlatan who demeans the helpless and hapless. When I was a child, my father taught me to stand up to bullies on the playground. Now, as an adult, I hear him urging me to stand up to the bullies on my adult playground. I must do this thing if I am to live with a modicum of self-respect. I must pick up the cause of the weak and downtrodden or give up any claim on decency and culture. Those who make themselves appear strong by oppressing the weak will not receive my support or respect. They do not deserve it. Instead they will receive my pity for their smallness and deluded state. We should reject their calls to denigrate the suffering because of their suffering. We must resist the temptation to savor judging those in need for the circumstances that put them there. After all, we enjoy our privileged place due to the help and assistance of many others. None of us can truthfully lay claim to being self-made. Much of our success stems from the accident of our birth, not the power of our intellect. We must deal gently with those of lessor fortunes if we truly wish to be a great nation.
This is the challenge of our time. We must remember that our greatness as a nation does not flow from a powerful military. We do not measure greatness by GDP or the number of millionaires and billionaires in our land. We do not strengthen our greatness through ridicule or snarky comments. We build our greatness by binding up the wounded. We establish our greatness when we generously welcome the needy into our fellowship. We become great through compassion and sharing. When we open the doors to those “huddled masses, yearning to be free” we will find our greatness.
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