The Lens:
The Magnificent Seven. This last week, seven Republican Senators had the nerve to vote contrary to the popular stance of their party. It was a remarkable crossover, the most bipartisan impeachment vote in history.
For some, it was a little easier to make the controversial move than others. Two of the senators are retiring. So, they didn’t have a future election that they might lose. Three were just elected so do not face a re-election campaign for several years.
Still, they all are facing considerable backlash. One has been censured. It is left to be seen if our former president seeks to exact his own revenge, as has been a modus operandi of his.
It honestly floors me that more of these legislators seem to lack the moral fiber to do what is right. I am not so naïve that I don’t get the career implications here. It is possible a vote to convict could be career ending whether from voter backlash or retaliation from the former president.
For some (maybe many), though, I think it was more than alienating a base. It was about claiming the base, making it their own, and becoming the heir to the throne. While I use the phrase “heir to the throne” metaphorically, I also use it a little more literally, as it seems almost certainly that is the direction our country would have been taken had our framers, in their infinite wisdom, not set up a government designed to stop such a course.
I go back to those who let their conscience be their guide, regardless of the possible consequence. It is possible their courage came from relative comfort they wouldn’t face negative career repercussions. Still, it is never easy to go against the majority.
Think about being with a group of friends who want to do something you know you shouldn’t (something as simple as going out when you have to get up in the morning). The peer pressure can be enormous. How inclined are we to give in or walk away?
Of course, that may depend on the extreme nature of what is being proposed. Does it become easier or more difficult to walk away the worse the proposed action is?
We are responsible for our own actions. Whether we choose to go along or walk away from situations we know are wrong, no matter how hard, speaks to our character.
We have legislators sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States. It may have been a tough choice to make, but they were bound by an oath to fulfill their duty as legislators. I would say that duty included making a decision – to convict or acquit – based on evidence and nothing else. It would seem many senators didn’t do this, for whatever reason.
At a time when we are in need of leaders, it seems we have lemmings.
The Refraction:
As I said, we are responsible for our own actions. Above, I say that isn’t always easy. Sometimes it is downright onerous.
Think about the characteristics your parents modeled for you.
My parents were not perfect people. Yet, they were honest. As a child, I cannot recall any instance where my parents lied, cheated, etc.
They were tolerant. That is not to say they spoke well of everyone. They might comment negatively occasionally about someone we knew. But, I never heard them utter racist remarks or disparage any group of people simply based on their race, sex, religion, etc.
They were hard working. They never expected something for nothing. (This is not meant as a disparagement of people who need a leg up at times in their lives. We never faced circumstances where no matter how hard we worked it wasn’t enough or where there wasn’t work to be had.)
These attributes my parents lived made an impact on me. They were modeled day-in and day-out by my parents and ones I carried into adulthood and kept throughout my life.
Yet, there is another characteristic they modeled, one that had an enormous affect on me. Was there ever an event in your life that left an indelible impact on who you are today?
I had the opportunity to witness my parents perform an act of courage. I was probably 9 years old at the time. I went to a Catholic School. This was back-in-the-day when hitting children in school was commonplace.
We had a pastor who was mean and overbearing. If you dared come late to Sunday mass, he would stop the mass and glare at you until you took a seat.
He ran the school with an iron fist. It was his way and no other way, period. I was scared to death of this man. As students in the school, we were required to go to the Sunday 8:30 am children’s mass and sit with our class. If you were not sitting with your class at mass, your parents had to send a note to the school as to why you weren’t there.
One Sunday, my family was going out of town. So, we went to the 7:30 am mass instead of the 8:30 am mass. When it came time to go to communion, we lined up in the usual procession to the front of the church.
It was my parents, my older sister, and me. My younger sister was too young for communion at the time, so was left back in the pew. A classmate of ours was in the group right before us who went up to kneel along the altar railing to receive communion.
When the pastor came up to this child, he loudly berated him for being at the wrong mass and sent him away without communion. I was both horrified and terrified. I prayed my parents would turn around, but they didn’t.
When it came our turn, they walked my sister and I up to the railing and had us kneel down. Instead of kneeling next to us, they stood behind us. When the pastor got to us, he stood there. He stared at us and my parents, then walked away.
We kept kneeling.
Seeing we weren’t going anywhere, another priest quickly came over, gave us communion, and sent us on our way.
The act of defiance was enormous. I still get shivers when I think about it.
My parents took a brave stand, one that could have had life-changing implications for us. This was a man you did not cross. I am honestly surprised we weren’t tossed from the school. My parents also could have easily been ostracized from both the church and school community. None of this happened but my parents didn’t know it wouldn’t.
I think this left such an impact on me because courage is not something we often get the chance to see up close and personal, if we get to see it at all. I got to see it. Even at 9 years old, I knew my parents had done something extraordinary. It was also the only instance where I saw the true fortitude of my parents.
And, maybe therein lies the problem of being courageous. We see courage in remarkable figures like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who are renowned for the extraordinary manner in which they live their lives. We don’t get to see it exhibited by ordinary people.
Without a model for living courage in our own lives, when an event comes along that requires it, we may be left floundering, unsure of what to do, how to act. While we are trying to figure it out, the moment for courage passes and we have forever lost the opportunity to do that one extraordinary thing in our lives we were asked to do.