Two things keep going through my head as I sporadically listen to the impeachment proceedings:
The first is a quote from Aaron Sorkin's The American President uttered by Michael Douglas: "I was so busy trying to keep my job that I forgot to do my job."
The second is something my father told me many years ago: "Don't just give your boss what they ask for, give them what they need."
As to the first, I know reality is infinitely more complicated than the purity the statement proposes. Of course in order to do your job you need to be in the "room where it happens," a room in which everyone else's motivation will rarely equal your own. Once in the room, staying in the room to accomplish what you came there to do often requires compromise, which, once practiced, can lead to habit. I do not believe compromise is a bad thing. It is sometimes the best thing. It is often the tactic that leads to progress and better collaboration. That leads me to another bit of family wisdom. When I was planning my wedding, my sister Susan said to me "Compromise on the things that aren't important to you, don't compromise on the things that are." Staying true to the core of what you know to be right, and just and good for the many, even if it costs you convenience and maybe even your job is not worth compromising. So I say to you Senators that voted against witnesses because you feared it might affect your future electability, my heart goes out to you, because to be ruled by fear is a hard way to live, and it is the best and easiest way to give control of your life over to others. You are not leading, you are not representing, you are acquiescing. Even if the worst is true, and you will not be elected, you still have eleven months in the room where it happens to make the best happen.
As to the second, giving your boss what they need. Your boss is not President Trump, no matter what he has on you, says he will do for or against you, or promises in return for self-serving loyalty. Your boss is the country, your state, your citizens. Your boss is us. What we need is to believe in integrity again. We need to believe that the purity of statement number one is possible in the real world. We need to believe that you care more about us than you do about your job security or your personal legacy. We need to see courage in order to reaffirm our own, in order to believe that our actions are not futile. That with patience and diligence and civility, we can be united in a way that celebrates and respects differences of opinion. That multiple truths can exist at once, and lead us to seek how that diversity illuminates a new collaborative truth. We need to see you love what this country aspires to be more than keeping your job. That is what your boss needs.
It's not going to happen overnight or with one vote. It will happen over time, as courage becomes habit. It will continue to be complicated and fraught, but at the heart of every tangle is the need for a few seconds of absolute bravery to care more about what is right rather than what is easy.
The first is a quote from Aaron Sorkin's The American President uttered by Michael Douglas: "I was so busy trying to keep my job that I forgot to do my job."
The second is something my father told me many years ago: "Don't just give your boss what they ask for, give them what they need."
As to the first, I know reality is infinitely more complicated than the purity the statement proposes. Of course in order to do your job you need to be in the "room where it happens," a room in which everyone else's motivation will rarely equal your own. Once in the room, staying in the room to accomplish what you came there to do often requires compromise, which, once practiced, can lead to habit. I do not believe compromise is a bad thing. It is sometimes the best thing. It is often the tactic that leads to progress and better collaboration. That leads me to another bit of family wisdom. When I was planning my wedding, my sister Susan said to me "Compromise on the things that aren't important to you, don't compromise on the things that are." Staying true to the core of what you know to be right, and just and good for the many, even if it costs you convenience and maybe even your job is not worth compromising. So I say to you Senators that voted against witnesses because you feared it might affect your future electability, my heart goes out to you, because to be ruled by fear is a hard way to live, and it is the best and easiest way to give control of your life over to others. You are not leading, you are not representing, you are acquiescing. Even if the worst is true, and you will not be elected, you still have eleven months in the room where it happens to make the best happen.
As to the second, giving your boss what they need. Your boss is not President Trump, no matter what he has on you, says he will do for or against you, or promises in return for self-serving loyalty. Your boss is the country, your state, your citizens. Your boss is us. What we need is to believe in integrity again. We need to believe that the purity of statement number one is possible in the real world. We need to believe that you care more about us than you do about your job security or your personal legacy. We need to see courage in order to reaffirm our own, in order to believe that our actions are not futile. That with patience and diligence and civility, we can be united in a way that celebrates and respects differences of opinion. That multiple truths can exist at once, and lead us to seek how that diversity illuminates a new collaborative truth. We need to see you love what this country aspires to be more than keeping your job. That is what your boss needs.
It's not going to happen overnight or with one vote. It will happen over time, as courage becomes habit. It will continue to be complicated and fraught, but at the heart of every tangle is the need for a few seconds of absolute bravery to care more about what is right rather than what is easy.
