August 29, 2008
Difference
Conventions tend to be conventional. Certainly our own, the generally conventional big fat Anglican wedding we churchers throw every three years. And, as well, the national political ones that come our way every four.
Watching the one ending just now and hearing how exceptionally “historic” it is, one can certainly agree that it is certainly unprecedented. MLK and LBJ who especially had so much to do with making this day possible are surely smiling along with thousands, even millions of others. On the other hand and anticipating the next one due up shortly, one might not expect anything quite so historic, but if the past is any indication, one can easily expect some notable change in direction.
Shifting into my intuitive gear, all this boils down for me as to be whether we seek for our presidents someone who has the good judgment to be a servant leader or, as we so often hear and as if it were all that mattered, someone who has the “experience” to be a Commander-in-Chief.
I suppose it’s only natural to equate that C-in-C facet of the presidency with bellicosity. But this is to risk missing the point our founders made by including it as only one part of the president’s job description and whether or not the office holder had any or no military experience, but primarily to assure that the armed forces remain under civilian control and to dampen their inherent and understandably more aggressive leanings. Whatever the undertaking, judgment always trumps experience, especially the kind of judgment arising out of a servant power that is never a subjugating trigger-happy dominance, but an authority that not only influences others, but is also open to influence. That kind of servanthood acknowledges and respects the freedom of another and seeks to enhance the other’s capacity to make a difference.
I rather think that to be the kind of difference in leadership this nation is seeking that it might be brought around after so many years of the opposite kind.
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Note: Thoughts about servanthood are influenced by Bennett Sims’s brilliant monologue, “Servanthood: Leadership for the Third Millennium,” Cowley, 1997. This book is a refreshing resource for enhancing an intelligent franchise in these perilous times.
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