Dear All,
Former Assistant
Secretary of State Robert “Bobby” Charles has offered up his article below as a
peace-pipe offering for all of us.
America has come very
far in healing the wounds of her past and yes there is still work to be
done. Lots of it, it seems.
But, as we Americans have
made great progress to right past wrongs, we have a few actors that are hard at
work trying to undo all the good work of the past.
We can’t let that
happen, and in the long run it won’t….the march of progress “will” continue no
matter what…….after all, this is America.
Please read “Bobby’s”
words below and I hope you will consider sharing them with everyone within your
sphere of influence.
Best regards,
Ronald L. Kirkish
Recalling what is right
about America
The Washington Times,
December 22, 2014
• Robert
B. Charles is a former assistant secretary of state [for former Secretary of State General Colin Powell in the Bush 41 administration] and also served as the former staff director
and counsel to U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
A nation is
defined by its aspirations and accomplishments
Everywhere, we suddenly
hear words of division, difference, recrimination.
Suddenly, America is
Ferguson, Missouri writ large.
But are we?
Are we not still
Americans, first?
We harbor 316 million
different dreams, each born of one spirit.
Peace and love,
freedom, respect and being “one people” are all hard stuff.
What’s new?
It has always been so.
Isn’t that what
America is really about?
Isn’t that what
makes us Americans, that belief in the possible?
Is trust hard to build
and maintain?
Sure, but it always has
been.
Still, we are the
exceptional people who have shown it can be done, adversity notwithstanding.
We have learned over
two centuries that progress requires patience.
Ask Booker T.
Washington, Satchel Page, Frank Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, Louie Armstrong or
Michael Jackson.
But let’s get deeper
than that.
Ask Mae Jemisim,
Stephanie Wilson, Joan Higginbotham or Yvonne Cagle.
Now there are some real
Americans, the sort we can all pause and admire.
You haven’t heard of
them?
Well, you should have.
·
Mae was a
Stanford graduate, majoring in chemical engineering, fluent in Russian, French
and Swahili, and a doctor of medicine from Cornell University. What else?
She served in the Peace Corps and was an avid aviator. Oh yes,
something else. A black American, she was a Space Shuttle astronaut.
·
So was Stephanie
— three missions on the Space Shuttle Endeavor.
·
Joan?
Another astronaut, on the Shuttle Discovery, an expert in electrical
engineering with 308 hours in space.
·
And Yvonne?
Also an astronaut, a biochemist and a doctor of medicine at the
Johnson Space Flight Center.
They are all women and
all black Americans.
They are also
incredible Americans.
What’s the point?
It’s worth taking time
to think about the hope, achievement, promise and exceptionalism they each
represent.
Because they are women
and black by heritage?
Yes, and because they
are American.
Did they overcome
incredible obstacles?
You bet.
Did they face more
obstacles than others?
Almost certainly.
But more to the point,
they believed in the possible — for America and for themselves.
They are heroes who
risked all for their country — no excuses, no half-measures.
They wanted and found
windows of opportunity, then flew through them.
They must have had
beacons in their lives — mentors, teachers and parents who cared, communities
around them and people who reminded them on more than one occasion to keep
believing in America and in themselves.
And that is
America.
They realized their
dreams, and made us all proud as they did.
What do their stories,
and millions of others like them, tell us?
One thing clearly:
Look up and forward, not back and down.
They looked at
insecurity, defeatism and difference, and stepped beyond them all.
Against impossible odds
— since becoming an astronaut is a 15 in 2,000 proposition — they said bring it
on.
They saw the sun behind
the clouds, locked on and showed can-do spirit.
Who are we at our best,
if not them?
While we have our
differences, we remain one people with a common belief in the possible.
We live in an
exceptional place, founded on an exceptional document, built on courage, spirit
and heart.
So let us stop being
defined by others, or letting others redefine us as smaller than we are.
False leaders divide
for their own purposes, some by geography and others by religion, skin color,
attractions, distractions and disaffections.
Some want us to divide
from each other on the basis of where we are from or where our parents hailed
from on this blue globe.
But that is a misunderstanding
of America.
We are defined by the
desire to aspire, reinforced by the inspiration of others and by how we inspire
them.
That is the stuff of
which Americans are really made.
That is how we have all
defied odds, reached toward the heavens in our own ways, leaped higher and
bridged gaps thought unbridgeable.
That is what we must do
again.
Only by daring to
trust, risk and believe can we live up to our legacy — that “anything really is
possible.”
The media tell us it is
easier to be against than for, deconstruct than construct, blame than assume
responsibility, grow frustrated than grow patient, attack than forgive, deflect
than to lead.
Yet we know that is not
who we really are.
We are forward
movement, which only comes with believing.
As the call to divide
echoes, just let it fade.
Instead, let’s remember
Mae, Stephanie, Joan and Yvonne, four great Americans.
We cannot all become
astronauts, but we can see beyond our differences and lift each other up.
If not now, as we count
our own blessings in the Christmas season and resolve to do better, then
when?
If we can lead from the
heart, leaders will follow.
That is how it works in America.
• Robert
B. Charles is a former assistant secretary of state and former staff director
and counsel to U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
No comments:
Post a Comment