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THE RETURN TO NOBILITY
Let us strive to believe in the possible rather than in the lowest common denominator of what appears to be possible. For it is each of us caring about the virtue and nobility that the ideals of this country represent that can ultimately influence leadership and government to become that which we ask for.
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In the midst of the current presidential campaign in the United State, in the midst of the public debate taking place among candidates and between those of different political parties, let us remember the ideals of nobility and respect. Let us remember the level of discourse that was possible among the Founding Fathers, many of whom had divergent views as to the best possible form of government for the new Republic that was to be. Let us wonder in awe at what was set to pen during that time and times following, documents whose phrases were hotly debated and hard won - the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States. These founding documents came from people, from real people, people who gave their heart's blood to the living principles upon which this nation was founded.
Nobility and respect, manifested in the founding of this country, have been carried as ideals through the decades and years that followed. Espoused by patriots of every persuasion and belief, they have been based on the heart's love for the shining ideals that were part of this country's founding and that have remained part of its core in every epoch and time.
This is the level that we must aspire to today and that we are in jeopardy of losing. For we have come to believe, today, in our own disillusionment, rather than in the possibility of realizing our ideals. We have become disillusioned with government and with political life. We have come to judge leaders by their personalities rather than by the ideals they hold and their commitment to these. We have come to lose heart and faith in what we witness before us as public debate and to distrust the words we hear that claim to be deep conviction but rather come across to us as political convention whose goal is persuasion rather than truth . We have therefore come to believe in our own disillusionment as the inner and outer reality of our time.
Yet disillusionment leads to a dead end. It does not allow us to choose rightly. It does not empower our wisdom and our intuition to seek truth and to hold fast to it - to hold fast even amonst all the words that swim around us. We are barraged by words and by promises and we despair of knowing what is true. Yet each of us has a heart that can discern truth and falseness. We can seek to know and to perceive the goodness that lives among all the words we hear that are less than that. In other words, we can relinquish disillusionment and seek a path to the ideals that we hold.
In this time, as in all times, we are each responsible for what we believe and for how we act. We are responsible for what we pay attention to and what we act indifferently toward. No one can take this responsibility from us for it is an essential part of being human, and we are here to become fully human in the deepest possible way.
Let us therefore reinstate our desire to realize what is noble and true within us and within our governments and leaders. Let us strive to believe in the possible rather than in the lowest common denominator of what appears to be possible. For it is each of us caring about the virtue and nobility that the ideals of this country represent that can ultimately influence leadership and government to become that which we ask for. It is our letting go of detachment and reengaging our hearts with our belief in the possible that can activate a stream of energy that can raise the level of public discourse. It can bring the stream of America's political life back into the light and grace that was part of its very beginnings.
All help shall be given if we do this. All help shall be given if we choose to relinquish cynicsm and to reengage our hearts with their deepest hopes for what has been and can be again. This is the path to the future of this Republic of America, and it is a choice that each of us can make. As we make this choice, we join once more with the bright light that was and is the promise of this nation - the light that the Founding Fathers brought forth for all of us to embody - one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
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