What one person does matters. What more evidence do you need?
I’m always amazed at how much an individual’s whole being plays out in his or her interaction with the world. Look at how much Facebook, for example, manifests Mark Zuckerberg’s personality. It’s part of why I consider integrity so important everywhere in life, but especially among leaders. You might try to hide parts of yourself, but the parts you want to hide the most reveal themselves most under times of stress.
Whatever your thoughts on January 6th’s activities, I think you have to agree one person played a huge role in creating a historic situation. The past five years, even going back to when Donald Trump called for the death penalty for the five innocent boys called the Central Park Five, have foretold such a situation could happen under his instigation.
I mentioned integrity because anyone could see coming something like what did. Many looked the other way, probably figuring if things went their way in other areas—taxes or business interests, for example—they could neglect caring about the parts they didn’t like.
I know it may seem off-topic, but anyone who says one person can’t make a difference, but imagine something on the scale of this situation happening in a direction you like. Needless to say, each adult is responsible for his or her action. You might say it’s easier to influence when your father gave you a fortune. Still, you can influence far more than you think.
If you think otherwise, what would have happened if your heroes felt limited. I think of Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, and Dwight Eisenhower, among many others. They could have said they couldn’t have made a difference. They could have held themselves back and said, “See, I told you I couldn’t make a difference.” I’m glad they didn’t hold back.
What would you rather come from an incident like Wednesday’s than to learn from history and create outcomes you prefer? I think of Ali refusing to accept being drafted or Parks refusing to move to the back of the bus.
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