Photo by Diogo Nunes
The recent conclusion of the January 6 Commission contained a picture of Josh Hawley with fist raised in solidarity with the insurrectionists when surrounded by the safety of the police followed by a a video of him running away as he sought safety as the insurrectionists made their way into the capitol. It was an iconic moment that defines many in the Republican party who are about photo ops rather than a consideration of policy that would benefit the American people. It is a defining moment for Hawley himself who is the very embodiment of inauthenticity.
Ms. Maloney, a democrat, posted the two moments side by side on line, fist raised and running away. The caption she chose was from a biblical passage. Next to fist raised, she posted, sow, and next to the picture of him running away she posted the word, reap. The biblical passage states that we shall reap what we sow.
Let’s not lose the moment. Like many people of my generation, I have read again and again John F. Kennedy’s book, Profiles in Courage. He used the power of people who stepped up such as Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney when they knew that there was a price to pay for doing the right thing. Kennedy’s book is on my bookshelf along with John McCain’s book, Character is Destiny.
Sometimes when teaching ethics, I found it helpful to demonstrate unethical behavior to show the students what ethical behavior looks like. The negative becomes a positive vehicle to teach students and now Americans what a positive ethical life can be.
If there is one thing that young people can spot quicker than anyone else is a phony. They can tell immediately if you know your stuff or not. I have often said that their ability to read people is incredible. They would make the best therapists in the world.
I used at least three vehicles to drive home a character point by presenting an example of the opposite to students. One was a movie, Before and After, which describes the negative consequences of lying. Another was a retelling of Sartre’s play, No Exit, where the characters create a hell for one another giving us the famous existentialist line, “Hell is the others!” Most of our pain in life is not physical. It is emotional caused by others. The movie version of Lord of the Flies (the original one from PBS), helped them see what a failure to govern in a political ethics unit can create a time of chaos and death.
It was not unusual for me for them to email with comments such as “I was going to lie about ___, but I remembered that movie, and I didn’t. “I remembered No Exit when I could see that my friends and I were creating a hellish situation for each other.”
Negative examples can provide a gateway to what is the right way to do things and to live the ethical life.
Hawley’s nightmare is just beginning. To continue his arrogant character, he has decided that he is an expert on manhood. He has written a book that implies that the democrat party has undercut manhood in America. He quotes Theodore Roosevelt that “I am for business. But I am for manhood first.” Hawley goes on with this theme that “no republic ever survived without men of character to defend it.” He wants a return, such as Make America Great Again, by calling for more “responsibility, bravery, fidelity, and leadership by men.” What hypocrisy and a failure to see that women are leading more with those attributes than anyone.” Look no further than Liz Cheney and the women on the January 6 Commission. Hawley has sacrificed nothing. The core of both Kennedy and McCain’s books is that their examples required sacrifice as an integral part of character. That was the theme as well that was authentically stated by Khizr Khan who lost his son during the Iraq War in his words at the Democratic Convention directed at Trump. “You have sacrificed nothing.”
Courage almost always requires a price to be paid. I am reminded of something that I have said to my ethics classes. “There comes a moment in everyone’s life that your core value will be shown so clearly that you have to recognize it. It says that this is who you are, what you have always been in that moment, and if it is an ethical value, what you will always be.” Maybe you know that already! Perhaps it is waiting to be discovered. Look for that value so that you will know it when it knocks at your door. It is found in a moment where your truth will be on display.
We have seen Hawley’s and for that matter, many in the Republican Party. He can run, but he can’t hide. His is a cautionary tale. If you keep the words of Galatians 6:7 in your heart and soul, you will know when your moment arrives for “Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, this will he also reap.”
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