America Can Only Be As Exceptional As We Are
Calls for unity and reconciliation have gone unanswered in the aftermath of the most contentious presidential election in living memory. What olive branch was extended to supporters of the loser of the 2016 election, some ask. Others counter that the thinly-veiled disdain of the victors for the losers this time around give lie to the assertion that they are interested in finding common ground.
Both are right. The divisions are too deep, the wounds too painful, and the environment too acidic for any reunification of the electorate at a political level.
What ails the United States is more than a clash of philosophies of governance, more than the traditional battle between political parties in which power swings like a pendulum between the two. It is above all a consequence of the reality that basic human values no longer sufficiently inform our political discourse or social policies.
I am not speaking of the nation’s “founding principles” to which many claim we need to return nor concerned about reestablishing a commitment to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and property. None of these can be protected without unity on something even more fundamental: agreement on how people should treat one another.
The values at which we nod our heads in agreement at our churches, our synagogues, and our mosques seem to remain in the sanctuary as we head out to work Monday morning. Generosity. Empathy. Compassion. Mercy. Self-sacrifice. Forgiveness. All virtues we claim should govern our lives.
But in too many cases, we fall short in our thoughts, in our words, in what we have done, and what we have failed to do. Our examinations of conscience seem to be limited to our personal behavior and do not extend to the actions of our communities within society, concerned with the speck in our left eye while ignoring the log in the right.
The Talmud, the Bible, and the Koran are filled with instructions on proper social relationships, both within our own community and with outsiders. Not to oppress strangers. To care for the poor and hungry. To treat others as we wish to be treated.
American individualism has created a tension between the deeply-ingrained idea of self-sufficiency and the social responsibility we bear toward one another. Views that helping others creates a culture of dependency, that “God helps those who help themselves,” that the conditions in which we live are primarily due to our own effort and accomplishment — all illustrate the conflict that animates our political debate.
We rage against each other with words that lack charity and reflect a lack of openness to true dialogue. We begrudge the successful their wealth and vilify the poor for failing to drag themselves out from under the circumstances of their suffering. When times are easy, we too often clutch tightly to our purses. When they are difficult and we find ourselves in need of assistance, we conveniently forget we failed to extend a helping hand when we had the opportunity. We act as did the unforgiving servant Jesus spoke of in the book of Matthew, withholding the mercy and charity to others we have ourselves received without deserving it.
We must do what is right simply because it is right. We must divorce ourselves from the notion that we are the arbiters of others’ lives and dispense our love and aid only when we think they deserve it. Nothing in my moral instruction led me to conclude that the rules governing my behavior are limited to my interactions with those like me. What credit is it to you, Jesus said, when you love those who love you? Instead, love your enemies, he said, do good to them, and lend to them when asked without expecting anything in return.
The healing of America will occur when we resume the pursuit of doing what is right for its own sake, recognizing that the health of the entire nation is a product of millions of daily acts of righteousness. In this way, we will discover that the problems of a civilization that once seemed so impossible begin to resolve themselves.
When to the hungry man we routinely give something to eat; when we as a matter of habit provide water to the thirsty woman; when we clothe the naked; tend to the sick; visit the prisoner; when we work to empathize with those of different skin colors, religions, sexual orientations, and opinions; when we abandon the self-righteous idea that engaging with any of them equals tacit consent of something we may not agree with; when we at last remove ourselves from a throne we have no right to occupy and live strictly by the law of love and leave the moral interrogations and task of reward and punishment to the more qualified; then, and only then, will true unity reemerge.
