Changing Government from the Bottom up

Earlier this week, a friend of mine became a naturalized American citizen. At her swearing-in ceremony she received a packet of documents briefing her on different aspects of citizenship, including laws and responsibilities. Inside the packet was a letter on White House stationary, signed by President Bush. I read the document carefully, and while I am pretty certain the president did not write it, I hope he knows what it says because it is a powerful piece of work.
The second paragraph of four reads as follows:

“Americans are united across the generations by grand enduring ideals. The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, and that no insignificant person was ever born. Our country has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by principles that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests, and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every citizen must uphold these principles. And every new citizen, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.”

I like this letter a great deal, especially the part about ideals and principles. It reminds me of my great-uncle Herbert Lehman, four-term governor of New York, senator, and Director General of UNRRA, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. My great-uncle really believed in the precepts expressed in President Bush’s letter. As a child I was privileged to overhear conversations about the responsibilities of leadership and the strong and uncompromising principles required of public servants. That’s what this scion of the Democratic Party said about himself back then, that he was a public servant. There was no false humility, no working the angles, and no posturing either. His words weren’t rhetoric¬–they were spoken for the benefit of his family. A man of great compassion, I remember being with him the day JFK was assassinated, and I remember seeing a man in such anguish his heart might as well have been caught in a bear trap. He died a few days later, but my parents continued to repeat and emphasize his lessons for decades to follow.

I’ve been thinking of my great-uncle’s values in the context of my friend’s achievement, and of what it actually means to be a citizen. Our nation represents the sum total of what each of us does to become a better person, to subscribe to the ideals of the founding fathers, to participate together in perpetuating our grand experiment that in the not-so-distant past was the envy of the world. Seeing the whole as an expression of the sum of the parts, perhaps even more than the sum, fits perfectly with the ancient Eastern philosophy I teach and study professionally. That discipline emphasizes self-cultivation and learning the twin skills of going with the flow and keeping one’s equilibrium so as to produce harmony, and encourage peace.

Watching the conventions I couldn’t help but think that we would do better getting back to these core concepts rather than grandstanding and breast-beating and calling each other names. There’s great opportunity here to bring to fruition the magnificent ideals of the president's letter. How are we elevated by focusing on what we think is wrong with each other? Can we recognize that the sound byte and the clever quip are no substitute for thoughtful, substantive and respectful intercourse? Perhaps our culture has provided us too many weapons of "mass distraction." If immediate gratification, cynicism, consumption, celebrity worship, and politician-as-entertainer are not to be our cultural legacy, then let's be careful in our own lives to nurture better attributes such as kindness, compassion, and creativity. Turning our country around can really only happen from the bottom up, not the top down. It is a mind/body thing—to drive your actions with healthy, uplifting ideas. That’s what the ancient sages would recommend, and its what my great-uncle would do.