"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us”
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
The first Black National Security Advisor to a President. First Black Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. First Black Secretary of State. Those are just a few of the many trailblazing roles that Colin Powell took in his long career as a public servant. Powell died at 84 of complications from COVID, on October 18th. He also served two combat tours in Vietnam, helped lead Operation Desert Storm in 1990, established a foundation to help at risk youth, and was honored with both the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Not bad for a kid from Harlem, the son of immigrants, who instead of going to West Point, the traditional path for success in the army, instead got his degree at the City College of New York. Powell wasn’t perfect and he’d be the first to admit it. In the run up to the second war with Iraq, he gave an infamous speech at the United Nations, warning that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, a claim later found to be false. In a 2005 interview, Powell confessed of this chapter in his career, “It will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now."
What most of us did not know about Powell was that he lived by a code, a self-created code of ethics, morality and wisdom that guided his life and shaped his call to leadership on the battlefield, in government and every day.
Powell’s code contained thirteen simple propositions and included these rules. 1. It ain’t as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning. 3. Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it. 8. Check small things. 9. Share credit. 10. Remain calm. Be kind. 12. Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers.
It got me to thinking: if I was asked by what code, what set of principles do I live by, could I answer that question? Do I try and follow certain rules for living? Could I name these or are they instead made up as I go along? I’d like to think the latter rather than the former.
For I believe that at our best, all of us aspire to possess and practice some kind of internal code, a moral compass if you will, that guides us along the way as we seek to live as citizens and humans and children of God. A code that keeps our worse impulses in check and tries to bring out the better angels in our nature.
What might be in your code? What ideals, hopes and life fundamentals show you how to live?
One of the gifts of claiming and practicing a faith tradition, is that principles for life are at the heart of almost every religion. When practiced well, faith is supposed to govern how we live: our ideas about right and wrong, our relationships with others, and our responsibilities as members of various communities, from families to teams to workplaces to our nation.
When Jesus was asked to name the most important law in the practice of ancient Judaism, his reply was simple and yet oh so clear. “Love God. Love neighbor. Love self.” That’ll preach. Modern Judaism offers the notion of tikkun olam, that Jews are obligated in life to “repair the world”, “mend the world”, and “heal the world.” Islam proclaims its “Five Pillars”, among which is zagat, the obligation of every Muslim to donate a portion of their earthly wealth to help others, especially the poor, refugees and the powerless.
Like all humans, folks of faith sometimes fall short of their professed codes and beliefs, and yet there is a power to in the least, try to live a good life, a life of honor and compassion and integrity each day. To not live by moral relativism, shaping morals to fit a given situation, but instead to try and live with moral commitments, ethical clarity, and simple human decency and goodness. I don’t think any of us would argue against these goals: to leave this world at the end of each day a little better than we found it. To help those in need. To share generously. To love abundantly. To forgive quickly. To not see ourselves as better than others.
Powell demonstrated by his one amazing life of public service, that there are still those leaders in our country, thank God, who try and practice what they preach and then reach back in line to help those who are behind them. He lived well, in the most profound sense. He lived by a code. He took seriously the obligations of the uniform he wore and the oath he took as an officer and a gentleman.
What is in your code?
No comments:
Post a Comment