Geo-Political Hopes Dashed--Family Relationships Keep Hope Alive

  

Geo-Political Hopes Dashed – Family Relationships Keep Hope Alive

 

As I reflect here today, Monday, November 20, with the world aflame around me in so many places, I lament the crushing of two of my greatest geo-political hopes of the last 30+ years:  the recovery and rise of Russia integrated and at peace with the West and the continued growth and rise of China as a member of the world community with underlying positive, if sometimes competitive, relations with the U.S. and West.

 

I hardly need say that those visions have been dashed.  I’m not going to take the time to rehearse the underlying irresistible historical and cultural elements that have led to this, nor the errors of human agency on all sides which contributed to it.  All I can say is that if we have been surprised by these turn of events, we can be surprised again and probably will be as a result of changing circumstances and changed leadership, hopefully for the better, closer to my original vision, which I believe is essential for the peace and safety of China and Russia and the entire world.

 

If my hopes have been dashed on the geo-political front, they have been lifted and nurtured by the growth and wonder of my family:  my children, their spouses and ten grandchildren.  And I’ve been lifted, too, by the courage and aspiration of countless other individuals whom I’ve known, most recently nursing aides who have helped me through the night as I recovered from my knee surgery.

 

There is so much kindness in this world. My wife, Francie and I experienced it recently in the airport as people helped us trundle along in our two wheelchairs, looking after us personally, always with a caring smile.

 

There is much good in this world.  It was manifested in a beautiful sermon I heard yesterday from Christ Church’s Owen Thompson.  All any of us can do, what I can do, is make the most of every situation by trying to do  something helpful for those around us. In short, to be kind.

 

I return to what I hope my grandchildren will say of Francie and me:  they tried to do their best. They tried to make the most of what they had and do good for others.