None of the impressive empires of the past survived. I’ve been reading about the Dutch empire, especially in the years 1600-1800 with the Dutch East India Trading Company. They learned a few lessons from earlier empires (e.g., Alexander and before him the Persians, the Romans – they knew little about the Aztecs and African empires) but could not last. The British empire (late 1600’s to mid-1900’s) midwifed the modern world we know…and did not last.
All these empires were transitional from sufficient historical perspective. For many decades, even centuries, they seemed immovable, certain, unchallengeable. And then they weren’t. I’m a patriotic American, yet fully expect there will be an end to the American empire, too, because this is the nature of empires. I will do my part to see it does not fail on my watch.
Reminder to self: Grip tightly only that which will last.
What lasts? Grass lasts.
Trees are remarkable; grass is amazing. Grass gets eaten, beaten down, pooped on, scorched, yet it humbly perseveres. Grass goes dormant in dry seasons and resurges after a rain. Many grasses sink their roots down 12 feet and more. Grains like corn, rice, and wheat are grasses, as is bamboo. Grass seeds recovered from the Egyptian pyramids germinated 5000 years later. Grass the main crop of Ireland, though only animals eat it directly. We know of grassy areas in Ireland which are thousands of years old. Many ruined castles are surrounded by far-older grass. Grass is practically immortal. Grass will outlive any empire.
But I don’t know how to be grass. Human beings are created differently than grass.
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I am always heartened by the story of D-Day, June 6, 1944. The creative partnership of allies, logistics, innovations, the tenacity, the courage, and thousands of stories of sacrifices. It was a high point in a decade of greatness. We do war differently now, but one wonders if we would have the toughness to do that again. If I’m forced to answer, I would say, No. We’re not the same people we were.
Last week I wrote this:
“A world is supported by four things: the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous, and the valor of the brave. But all these are as nothing without a ruler who know the art of ruling.” (from Dune by Frank Herbert) We’re short on wisdom, justice, prayers, valor, and leadership, too. These are intentional, formative outcomes.
How can we think about forming more (and better) wisdom, justice, prayers, valor, and leadership? These are the building blocks of what lasts.
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Wisdom is abundantly available. Wisdom is lacking where it is ignored. John Wayne reputedly said, “Life is hard, and it’s harder when you’re stupid.” I’m not worried about good people with average IQ. The biblical opposite of wisdom is foolishness. Foolishness is more treacherous to a healthy society than lower intelligence as measured on an IQ test. I have a very high IQ, based on some tests. Give me the same test in Swahili and I’ll be lucky to be guess enough to be labeled a moron. Ask my wife and kids if they think I’m always a genius :- ). Wisdom is about how to live well, and there’s no wisdom ‘bell curve’ scale.
The opportunity for us as individuals is to soak in wisdom, often, and allow it to transform our hearts and minds. The opportunity for us collectively is to create environments where wisdom is honored and communicated. A peculiar challenge of our tech-centric world is that younger people look less to older people for guidance on how to do things, because older people are less savvy with the latest tech capability.
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Many people today are rightly worried about justice. There is plenty of injustice in world history, and today. Corruption of systems of legal justice was a hallmark of the decline of the Roman Republic. For at least 60 years sincere (and some insincere) people have torqued the US justice system into a means to advance their agendas, punishing those who resist their preferred idea of progress. Using law as an expression of power has gone way beyond evaluating behavior against the standard of law. In recent years it’s been trendy to talk about economic justice, social justice, racial justice, and environmental justice. Justice is broad and deep, but I observe that putting adjectives in front of the word justice generally leads to amplifying our pride, immaturity, and insecurity, rather than giving people a sense of ‘rightness’ that leads to peace.
I confess that I don’t know how to alter the trajectory of our legal systems. Not every country has an effective legal structure. Maybe some of you can guide me and others in this. I am certain, however, that we need great people, deep people, for justice to flow, and to create/restore systems that people will trust.
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Some of my readers aren’t religious, and many aren’t Christian. Yet I find prayer is a common experience. I remember a man telling me years ago, “As long as there are math tests, there will be prayer in school.” I believe we’re designed for prayer, even though it is a mystery. There’s no formula, no incantation (though we’d love that) because it’s a conversation with the ultimate Free Agent. God answers because He wants to, not because He is compelled to. I say frequently, to remind myself as much as inform others, that God is more willing to converse with us than we are with Him.
Prayer is crucial for transformation because we’re powerless to truly fix ourselves, and so much is outside our direct control. Righteous people deliberately pursue peace and the good of others. I appreciate Bruce Waltke’s comments: “The righteous are willing to disadvantage themselves to advantage the community; the wicked are willing to disadvantage the community to advantage themselves.” Let us be grateful that there are some righteous people praying in this way. May their tribe increase!
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Valor is bravery executed. Military valor is one category in the broader need for valor in a troubled, confused world. There are other arenas where valor may be even more difficult because it’s unseen and unrewarded. Will we be courageous when we’re put to the test? Or will we shrink back? There are many tests coming so we will find out. I have not been in military combat, but I have been in physical confrontations. I can attest to the truth in the statement, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.” The key is to pre-decide to act despite fear, and continue.
The English word ‘decide’ comes from the Latin cidre, which means “to cut off.” We get suicide, herbicide, insecticide, regicide, and so on from cidre, too. When making a decision to act bravely, we need to cut off the alternatives.
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Paul of Tarsus described leadership in just 17 words in his first letter to the Corinthian church: “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.” I’ve been studying, practicing, and teaching leadership for many years. Those 17 words capture the whole breadth of the kind of leadership we need for the cascading crises to come. It’s a statement about self-leadership, too, which is always the place to begin.
(I wrote a short book on this verse.)
The best way you can foster leadership in others is to model it yourself. There is no substitute for good examples. Like all crafts, leadership is partly learned and partly caught. Take on apprentices in this craft to perpetuate leadership into the next generations.
Wisdom, justice, prayers, valor, and leadership. We can pursue these, and lasting strength can emerge again. Let’s encourage one another!
GREAT !!!