This stuff is hard, these angry days, but that is the nature of challenging times. Good people take it all in, think for themselves, and do not give up on the future. They must try, persevere, strive to understand complex situations, control emotions, use logic. value their own counsel. They – we – must care.
The world seems to be on fire. Can you say it any better way? Hatred, disorder, international violence, cross allegations, repeat default to war, which is hell.
Of more concern, if you are a reader f Winston Churchill’s six epic volumes – chronicling WWII – The Gathering Storm, Closing the Ring, Their Finest Hour, The Hinge of Fate, Triumph and Tragedy, and The Grand Alliance – we seem, once again, to be in a “gathering storm.”
Let me break this down, just think it through with me. Mankind stumbles when we go black and white, forget grays – but also when we ignore darkness growing in our midst, fail to step up and intercede, fear the blowback, consent to tolerate evil.
Men stumble when they are able to stop evil at their elbow, a madman or proliferating crime, persecution or hatred, let alone terrorism. Even among the unfairly aggrieved and heartbroken, if terrorism is not stopped, violence comes.
Men stumble when they give up on honest dialogue, forsake other humans, dehumanize them – for any reason – lose faith in law, stop pleading a case, instead choose war’s fog, radiating violence, language of a radical ideologue.
Men stumble when they forget courage is required for progress, even small steps, that history is incremental – seldom without suffering, patience, persuasion, belief in the possible, breaking the cycle, being lawful, not choosing the awful.
Men stumble when they look away from plans to terrorize innocents, pretend peace is out of reach, forget to learn or teach, embrace an irretrievable error, terror.
Men stumble in other ways, forgetting how precious is just one small life, how worth saving is one guileless, trusting, terrified child, how the really strong man is one who is powerful but proportionate, the strong woman filled with mercy mild.
Men stumble when they forget “an eye for an eye” was not written to promote revenge, two for one after war has begun, but proportionality, precision, a wise decision.
Men stumble closer to home when they see in one shade, leave no room for compromise, instead legitimize – on ethnicity or faith – a right to despise.
Americans have always strived to be better than all this, to encourage others. We have worked hard to honor those who aspire to a better life, to world peace as well as St. Paul’s “good fight,” not driven by passion, hatred, or loss of humanity.
Nor have we given up on making things right, when the world depended on us most for honesty, no matter the sacrifice, length of conflict, or size. That is how both Theodore Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter secured their Nobel Prize.
That is how Lincoln and Reagan restored humanity to itself after wars that saw evil rise and rage, by calling on us to hear our “better angels,” then to lead in each age.
So, we are here again, in a period of rising, ravaging, ruinous wars, with cries rising to indulge or permit, look away and display prejudice, hate, and vengeance.
We are tested again to see in each living face, broken heart, terrified Jewish and Palestinian child, ourselves, to recall who we are, we Americans who always care.
We need to pull ourselves to a higher level, suppress reckless words, tamp down emotion, make this a time of American leadership, maturity, and moral rebirth.
What does the Good Book say? “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall inherit the Earth.” In this season, of all seasons, we must take the charge to heart and start.
If we believe in ourselves, while all men stumble, we must again be leaders, strong and humble.
This stuff is hard, these angry times, but good people try, take it all in, think for themselves, and do not give up on the future. We must shake loose our preconceptions, passions, prejudice, and whatever holds us from truth.
In short, if war is to be deescalated, peace revalued, moral men caught from stumbling; if we are to trust ourselves again, our past, and ability to understand complexity; if we are not to be riled but to value each child – we must care.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.
