A Dream of Greatness

"No race nor creed can love exclude, if honored be God's name, our family embraces all, who's father is the same." Those lyrics are from the hymn "Where Charity and Love Prevail" which we sing frequently at my church. 

Last week we remembered a great Civil Rights leader and inaugurated a president who says he wants to make America great again. It was a day for reflecting on greatness and leadership, and I did. I just didn't get a chance to write it down until today. What makes a leader great? What makes a country great? 

Is a leader great because of his ability to intimidate or coerce? It is because of his popularity and ability to influence others? Hitler was able to influence his followers to kill eight million people. The cult leader, Jim Jones, in 1970's Guyana, was able to convince over nine hundred people to kill themselves. Is a leader great if he uses his power for evil purposes?

From the time that we are very small, we are taught that a good leader sets a good example for others. He doesn't ask others to do anything that he wouldn't be willing to do himself. At the very least, that means following the rules. He follows the rules at all times, whether he is interacting with the opposite sex, filing his taxes or participating in a public debate. From the time we are big enough to participate in competitive games, we are taught to be a good sport, not a "sore loser". Shouldn't a good leader do the same? A good leader is true to his word. He doesn't make promises just to get elected and then fail to keep them later. A good leader is humble and knows his limitations. He listens to the advice and opinions of those who have more knowledge about a topic than he does. A good leader understands the value of delayed gratification. He knows that temporary gains do not justify an action that will result in long-term harm.  

What makes a nation great? Is it power? Is it wealth? Is it the claim that it reveres God? What if it's actions don't speak as loud as it's words? 

What does it mean to be a great Christian nation? Jesus had some interesting things to say about greatness. He said that anyone who wants to be the greatest must serve the rest. Consistent with the spirit of democracy, a good leader focuses on the needs and desires of the people. He doesn't put his own personal ambitions ahead of theirs. Jesus said that we will all be judged on the basis of what we do for others. "When I was hungry, you gave me to eat, when I was thirsty, you gave me to drink...whatever you have done unto the least of my brothers and sisters, you've done it unto me." (Matthew 25:40). He told us to share our resources with others. Whoever has two coats is supposed to give one to someone who has none. (Luke 3:11) Jesus was not impressed with militancy. He stopped Peter from cutting off the ear of the man who was arresting him, saying that whoever lives by the sword shall die by it. Jesus showed what ultimate "greatness" required when the mother of Zebedee's sons asked him to put them at his right and left sides in heaven. To the sons aspiring to those elevated positions, he asked, "Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?" (Matthew 20:22) He commands us to love one another as He has loved us and states that greater love hath no man than he lay down his life for his friends.  

As a nation, we decided ourselves what greatness was in 1883 when we carved the poem "The New Clossus" on a stone at the bottom of the Statue of Liberty. It begins, "Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, with conquering limbs astride from land to land, here at our sea-washed sunset gates shall stand, a mighty woman whose flame is the imprisoned lightening and her name "Mother of Exiles". From her beacon hand glows world-wide welcome. "Keep ancient lands your storied pomp" cries she with silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refugees of your teeming shore, send those, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the Golden door," Recently some have tried to change that to "who can stand on their own two feet." What is so great about helping someone who can stand on their own two feet? 

It is ironic that our very right to be here at this time is based on having ancestors whose actions would have violated the same standards that are in place today. No one ever submitted an application to the Indians to apply for citizenship in this country. Our ancestors not only crossed the border uninvited into this country, but they judged themselves to be more worthy than the people already here, and they just took over. Any group who did that today would really be in trouble. Yet, I hear no one saying that what our ancestors did was wrong. Could we please just have some consistency in the way we think about things?

Should there be some type of boundaries between us and other countries? Should there be some type of rules about the process of immigration? Yes, there probably should be. In a practical sense, maybe there has to be.  However, shouldn't that process be set up in a way that is not de-humanizing or stereotyping? Shouldn't that process be set up in such a way that we avoid traumatizing innocent children and tearing families apart? Shouldn't that process be one that doesn't cause us to turn our backs on basic things about who we are and what we stand for? 

I grew up thinking that racial inequality was a thing of the past.  After all, there were laws against discrimination. The Cosby's and the Fresh Prince of Belair seemed to be doing pretty well. People who belong to different races tell a different story. One of my black clients, who I will refer to as Sonia, recently shared this experience. She was approaching an elevator when a woman inside was quickly trying to close the door before she could get in. Sonia had a white friend following close behind her, who I will call Sharon. As soon as the woman in the elevator saw Sharon, she held the door so Sharon could get in. It was clear to Sonia at that point that the woman had been trying to keep her from getting into the elevator just because she was black. I was shocked. "Who acts like that in 2025?" I asked. Sonia said that it is happening all the time. Blacks are not alone. My Asian clients say that there are people who hate them just because they are Asian. A Spanish client said that a Meals on Wheels delivery person called her a "Spic".  Prejudice can take more subtle forms such as talking only about the "illegals" who enter the country with evil intentions and wreak havoc while they are here. It can take the form of failing to acknowledge the many decent people who are not a threat to anyone and may be coming here to flee from legitimately disturbing situations. 

Standing up to prejudice can be a scary thing because by doing so, you run the risk of becoming the victim of the same kind of hatred that you are speaking out against. Two million of the people killed in Nazi Germany were not Jewish. They were German people who took a stand against what was happening at the time, those who tried to help and protect those being persecuted. They were people who could have avoided any problems or trouble by staying out of it and "minding their own business", but they didn't. "Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?" They did. Now that is true greatness!  

Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke about judging people only by the "content of their character". We need to apply that standard to all people, both inside and outside this country, regardless of their race, sex, ethnicity, religion, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic situation or immigration status. All people on Earth, regardless of how we might feel about them, are God's children and our Christian brothers and sisters who we are called to love as Christ loved us. The moment we forget that, we stop being a great nation. 

                                      "Think you own whatever land you land on, earth is just a dead thing you can claim,

                                        but I know every rock and tree and creature, has a life, has a spirit, has a name.

                                        Think the only people who are people, are the people who look and think like you, 

                                        but if you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn the things you never knew you 

                                        you never knew." 

                                                         From  "The Colors of the Wind" - theme song of the Movie

                                                                               POCAHONTAS in 1995.