What Means the Most to Our Nation and to Our Lives -Reflections on Ben Rhodes' "After the Fall"

 I finished reading Ben Rhodes’ After the Fall, with increased respect for the author and for the insights he offers.  Let me capture these overall perspectives:

 

1.      Rhodes is extraordinarily honest in assessing his own perceptions of the role of the faults and some of the strengths of America.  He is deeply introspective and transparent. 

 

However, I believe that he looks at the failures to live up to the founding principles of the country (freedom, liberty, opportunity for all) without adequatley recognizing that the outages he cites have been common to our history and, indeed, to every nation’s history.  He says it well when he writes, “There was nothing inherent in America that made us immune to the viruses that had consumed all manners of societies in the past, and that we were capable of spreading those viruses to other countries.”  He refers here to the seeking of unbridled wealth, a grandiose sense of superiority and exceptionalism, taking strength from comparison to some inferior “other.” 

 

I believe he’s right, though it’s risky territory in saying that, “You have to look squarely at the darkest aspects of what America is in order to fully, truly love what America is supposed to be.”  The challenge here is to make sure that we not lose sight of the many times and in many ways we have achieved new dimensions of “what America is supposed to be.”

 

2.      I believe this:  “Even if flawed, America still offers the world a unique opportunity, an example of citizens of now a multi-ethnic, multi-racial democracy can change things for the better.”  At our best, we have done that many times, often drifting, but more often than not—and may this be one of those times—reorienting our course and doubling down on doing our best.

 

3.      What is it in the end that makes “America special,” even if not uniquely privileged?

 

Personally, I believe it is our diversity.  Our openness to innovation, our curiosity, our founding principles which, even if not achieved, provide a constant compass as to where we should head and where we need to improve. 

 

Our central challenge lies in giving everyone a greater chance for the opportunity to participate in the dynamics and life of the country, through the foundations of good health, education and the eradication of prejudice, including, but not solely, racism.  These are what can stand in the way of an individual being all they can be. 

 

4.      We face a constant challenge of assessing how much weight should be given to addressing our failure to provide equal opportunity in the past to African-Americans and Native Americans, as a rationale for taking action to provide equal opportunity today. I believe that weight is a large one.

 

5.      Rhodes identifies a central challenge we face today and that is the denial of what are true facts.  People have always lived in separate realities but today, due to social media in particular I believe, and to fragmented media, it is greater than ever.  Rhodes says it well:  “Once people choose to exist in an entirely separate reality, it is no easy task to bring them back, especially when every turn of national events can be framed as a validation of their grievances.  We will be living with the residue of the radicalization for a long time.” 

 

Still, we must be sober about this.  It’s not the first time we’ve faced this.  The country lived for decades with very different understandings of what the Civil War was all about, states’ rights or the protection of slavery.  We lived for a long time with different beliefs in the extent to which Communists had penetrated our government.  Senator Joe McCarthy carried that flag. 

 

What’s the answer here:  Stay at it, recognize that progress takes time and overcome reversals along the way.  Be as sure as we can that the education which young people receive reflects the truth as we can best define it.  We have a challenge on that front right now in the battle going on over how we teach the history of this country.

 

6.      Rhodes recounts a conversation with Obama.  Obama observes that he has recently been asking his close friends a simple question:  “What gives you a sense of joy and meaning in life and at what moments do you feel that?”  Here is a truly and profoundly important question.  The answer is one which I believe will have a great deal in common between the men and women in every country on earth.

 

When I think of that question, here is what comes to my mind:

 

·         Being with my wife Francie or one or more of our children and their children in some quiet and beautiful place.  On the deck of the cottage at Pointe au Baril, Canada. Or in a forest in North Carolina with my daaughter, Susan.   Or talking to my son,. David at his farm.  Or walking with my son, Douglas at Fort Funston or with him and his family at Half Moon Bay, California. 

·         Walking the beach in the early morning at Vero Beach, Florida with my son, John. Sitting on a chair at home, looking at the expanse of our backyard, trees in full bloom, leaves rustling in the breeze.

·         Sitting together with Francie, just the two of us, at our favorite table on the patio at Murphin Ridge Inn outside Cincinnati, with the breeze blowing, and birds chirping, surrounded by members of the staff who have become like family.

Yes, the simple things with our family are the most meaningful just as they are the most memorable.