“For Such A Time As This” – In America

In writing this, I intend to speak to those who I believe still represent the vast majority of Americans. That is those who love America more than having their views on every political issue being fully adopted … more than their hatred for those whose views differ from theirs … more than their desire to get their “pound of flesh” from those who have opposed them, especially those who have done so in an unscrupulous way.

To help our perspective on this, I’m going to start with a Biblical illustration. I think you’ll agree with me that it’s fitting. It’s from the 3rd and 4th chapters of The Book of Esther. This Scriptural story takes place when most of the Jewish people remained in Babylon under the rule of King Ahasuerus, though they had been given permission to return to Jerusalem. The King had made an evil man, named Haman, his second in command. Haman hated the Jews and he convinced the King to issue a decree to annihilate all the Jews. At that time, neither the King nor Haman knew that the King’s beautiful and much beloved Queen, Esther, was Jewish. Esther was unaware that this decree would apply to her too and if she had any thoughts of how she might save the Jews from annihilation, it wasn’t apparent. Knowing this, Esther’s Uncle, Mordecai, who had raised her as his own Daughter, confronted her with this message:

“Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Esther 4:13(b)-14

The polarization in the U.S. seems to have reached critical mass. Without intervention, it may well result in civil war. It strikes me that, most Americans, who love their country, may be finding themselves in a similar mindset about this as Esther did about the decree of King Ahasuerus to annihilate all the Jews. With that being the case, the logical question then is, “How do we constructively apply Mordecai’s admonition to Esther, to result in the urgently needed intervention with America’s acute polarization?”

ESCAPE?

Part One of Mordecai’s message was the admonition, “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews.” There is also truth in that for all Americans today. Perhaps due to our rich history of meeting and overcoming monumental challenges, it’s not uncommon for Americans to think of themselves as invincible. From our beginning, in our Revolutionary War, we took on and defeated Great Britain, then the world’s greatest superpower. And, arguably, America’s greatest victory was in WWII, emerging victorious over the Axis, a coalition of nations bent on world dominance who were, initially, vastly superior in their military preparedness. Somehow, with this invincible mentality, we tend to ignore the military engagement in which the most American lives were lost … the American Civil War. A war in which, since it pitted American against fellow-American, it was impossible for America to emerge victorious. In this conflict, 618, 000 American lives were lost. It nearly fulfilled a proclamation that had been made a quarter-century earlier by the man who was U.S President during that war, Abraham Lincoln. A paraphrase of this proclamation says,

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we lose our freedoms it will be because we have destroyed ourselves from within.”

Paraphrased from Abraham Lincoln’s 1838 speech at the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois.

In large part, thanks to Lincoln’s great leadership, though it came incredibly close, America managed to avoid destroying itself from within via civil war. But, it should serve as proof positive to all Americans that it’s very unlikely for us to survive a second American Civil War in the 21st century. So, like Queen Esther, we need to understand that this would have a dreadful effect on us all and we all should be deadly serious about it.

PERISH?

Part Two of Mordecai’s message, another admonition, was, “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.” Here, too, there is similar truth in that for all Americans. In fact, without even trying to listen too closely, you can hear it in the news right now. For quite some time China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and others have been watching events in the U.S. like a hawk, just waiting for opportunities to pounce. That’s been especially true since the tragedy of the Capitol Riot on January 6, 2021. The “relief and deliverance” that would come from any of these sources for the American people would mean the utter end of “The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave”.

HOPE?

Part Three of Mordecai’s message was an admonition containing a note of hope, saying, “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” My greatest aspiration in writing this is to motivate the vast majority of Americans, who I defined earlier, to take it to heart that we are in a time that could easily lead to the demise of the land we love and to recognize that, “For such a time as this”, we must commit to individually doing our level best to avert this impending disaster.

Obviously, with all this said, the outstanding question each of must have is, “What can I do, as an individual, to positively impact our staggeringly overwhelming circumstances?” Well, I don’t have all the answers but I do think it’s helpful to start with the attitude expressed by answering the question, “How do you eat an elephant?” That answer is, “One bite at a time”. But, even with that mindset in place, the initial question remains and as stated above, I don’t have all the answers. However, I believe those answers can come to us through some serious introspection. To give an example of what I’m suggesting, below, I’m offering an approach, both for the Right and for the Left, that could help in healing our land.

FROM THE RIGHT

Consider that you may have developed tunnel vision about “Stop The Steal”. Certainly, there were irregularities in the November 3rd 2020 election. They all need to be investigated and fixed. But continuing to insist that it’s what cost President Trump reelection is not realistic and doing so is counterproductive. The key factor contributing to President Trump’s 2020 Election loss was President Trump himself … more specifically, it was his egotistical behavior in response to all the hatred aimed at him. I, first recognized this following the first Presidential debate. At that time, voting had not begun and there was a legitimate set of undecided voters. Most of them were considering whether they should vote for a guy whose administration had accomplished many good things while he sometimes showed that he could behave like a jackass or vote for a guy who seemed well past his prime and represented old-school politics. Disappointingly, in that debate, President Trump provided a stunningly clear reminder about his tendency to behave like a jackass and most of those undecided voters moved away from the President. From that point forward, that erroneous direction of the President’s ego just picked up steam, rolling like a juggernaut. It culminated in the Capitol Riot of January 6, 2021. I don’t know what was in President Trump’s heart leading up to this event. I don’t believe he meant to incite a riot. But, I do believe he should accept responsibility for, following the November 3rd 2020 election, allowing his ego to set his followers on a volatile course, with very destructive potential. Whether you fully agree with me or not, continuing to beat the “Stop The Steal” drum and denying the President’s role in the demise of his own presidency is counterproductive. It’s time to accept this, to be as supportive of the new president as possible and to work toward more productive ways of effecting Conservative views.

FROM THE LEFT

Consider that you may have developed tunnel vision about President Trump and his supporters. As a case in point, consider that you don’t know what was in President Trump’s heart leading up to the Capitol Riot of January 6, 2021. Certainly, you can hold the view that he should accept responsibility for the ego-driven failed leadership of his supporters following the 2020 Election. But, impeachment is not justified. It only demonstrates the hateful desire for revenge and it’s unlikely to succeed. Continuing to pursue it is counterproductive. Concurrent with this event was the meeting of the Electoral College. At that meeting, a number of Republican legislators posed challenges to the legitimacy of the election results in several states. As a result, there has been a movement to take punitive actions towards these individuals. But what these lawmakers did was fully constitutional and in fact, similar challenges were posed by Democrats in several 21st century meetings of the Electoral College. Furthermore, while it may not have made a difference in the outcome of the 2020 Election, there were voting irregularities across the nation. The constructive approach here would be to call for a halt to the vindictive efforts against the Republican legislators mentioned and to call for investigating all voting irregularities and fixing their sources. It’s time to accept these realities and to look for the most productive ways of working with the half of the nation who don’t share your Liberal views, who are your fellow-Americans.

E PLURIBUS UNUM

Last May, in an article entitled Wounded Giant, in the early stages of the COVID crisis, I outlined how, in facing this crisis, Americans working together with one accord seemed to be creating an ideal environment for the healing of its great wound brought on by deep divisiveness on social issues. Obviously, we missed that chance. Over 12 years ago, in an article entitled The President Bush/Senator Daschle Hug – 7 Years Later, I pointed out how we had missed one of our greatest opportunities for that on 9/11, nearly 20 years ago. My prayer is that we all will take time for the introspection I recommend, on each and every issue. That we won’t miss this, perhaps our last, opportunity to heal our land. That we won’t make the scene depicted above, from the movie planet of the Apes, an inevitable reality.

OUR HEALING ATTITUDE

In order to assure that America avoided destroying itself from within, at the conclusion of the American Civil War, President Lincoln proclaimed the right attitude for our nation’s healing, in saying:

“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 a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.“

President Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address (1865)

This is the same healing attitude we must adopt today, if we are to avoid allowing America destroying itself from within.