A decent human being

Ruby, a decent dog

We live in dangerous times. We spend so much time dealing with the ugliness brought on by certain actors in American political life, and with the danger to ourselves and others, we sometimes forget why we are here.

We are here to lead by example. There is a lot wrapped up in that sentence – Why us? What is it to lead? But most of all, what example should we set for others?

Above all else, we should endeavor to be decent human beings.

It’s a simple thing, when you come down to it, one of those you-know-it-when-you-see-it things in life. If you look for it, decency is all around us. I saw it today walking Ruby, our dog, not once, but twice! A guy on a bicycle passing by on the street waved and said, “Good morning!” With an exclamation point on it! A car full of young people stopped at the stop sign just down the block at the corner of Third Street. I always wonder what young people see when they pass me and Ruby walking slowly down the street. These young people waved and called through the car’s open back window, complimenting Ruby and wishing us a nice day.

This is what you might call lived decency. Given a moment to act or not to act, they chose to lift my spirits, and their own, by calling out a cheery “hello.” It wasn’t a big thing, but it was a thing. It happened. The day brightened. A ray of hope showed through the gloom of a news cycle that had proved, once again, how much trouble we are in, and not only that grim bit of news, but that one of our key institutions, a leg of the tripartite system of government under which we live, is not trustworthy.

But what is not working in the life of our nation is not as important as what is working. I now have thousands of subscribers to this newsletter, and while I have gotten to “know” some of you from your comments and well-wishes as I endured a rather long winter of discontent earlier this year, I cannot become acquainted with more than a small percentage of my readers.

And yet, I know that most if not all of you went to sleep last night and awoke this morning and had a cup of coffee or some other restorative and probably something to eat. I assume that some of you worked today, a Saturday, and probably more of you enjoyed, or tried to enjoy, a day off. I believe in my heart that certain of your relationships with others were enhanced by a look, or a word, or a small act of kindness, but I realize as well that the day held heartbreak for some, and you suffered pain.

A day like any in our lives. All is not well, and yet some of it is.

So, what does “leading” consist of? It means being aware of the world around you and caring about that world and the people in it. It means acting as if you are the one who is being acted upon, because you are. Interaction of being alive among others is inescapable. If you pay a bill, someone, or some thing such as a business, benefits from your payment. If you answer a phone call, the person who called you experiences a little thrill, in this day and age of contactless connection. If you link yourself to others electronically on your phone or computer through a system such as Facebook or Instagram or even X – cough, cough – the world inhabited by others out there at the other end of the electrons benefits because of who you are and what you have done.

These are decisions. Leaders make decisions and act on them. Deciding to attend a No Kings demonstration was an act of leadership, because leaders add rather than subtract, and your body, yourself, was an addition to that demonstration, to that movement. We learned over the next couple of days that millions of us made a decision to attend demonstrations in thousands of towns and cities. That is leadership. It was an example to the country and to ourselves of who we are and what we stand for.

The example we set was one of commitment to ideals larger than ourselves. We stood up for something, and we did it peacefully. We are too often mistaken about what we think of as “peace.” It is not over there, waiting for bullets to stop flying. It is not with “them,” with others who must be convinced to stop conflict and division and too often, hate. Peace is within us. It belongs to us. It is ours to use, to live by, to love as we love life itself.

Just as bad ideas have consequences – look at what the Congress is about to do, for an example – so do good ideas. Did you hear the great sucking noise of a vacuum after we showed our numbers and ourselves on the streets in No Kings demonstrations? The other side had no replies to our urging that the sick should be healed and the hungry should be fed. We asked for decency. Since the Congress continues its march to harm Medicaid and Medicare and Social Security and funding for SNAP and WIC, the supplemental nutrition program for pregnant women and infant children, polls have shown that the counter argument for indecency is unpopular even among those on the other side politically.

Politics is a popularity contest of people and ideas. We should be proud of who we are and what we stand for. To be a decent human being is to lead by example. It gives our lives meaning. Hope is our strength. Decency is how we get there. To live decent lives is what we can do for others and ourselves with our bodies and our ideas and our votes. Everybody hates it when the lights go out. Decency brings light into darkness. It is how we win.