The Better Letter: Of Mistakes and Monsters
An Easter edition of TBL.
My three children, their spouses, and their children live within a mile of each other in suburban Washington, DC. When I visit – and I visit often – I love to go to the area’s various memorials. There are the war memorials, of course, commemorating America’s war dead, plus memorials to various American patriots, including the memorial to the great martyr, Abraham Lincoln.
Etched on the north wall of the Lincoln Memorial is, for my money, the best piece of American writing: Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. I read it every single time I’m there.
The speech recognized what was at issue and what was at stake. It is dark and foreboding, yet not without hope, despite the difficulty. As my friend Jason Zweig reminded me this week, Lincoln was despairing in existential darkness, yet found the strength to come “out the other side of it bearing a torch” to light the world.
“With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
As I have gotten older, it is no longer so easy for me to avoid thinking about my inevitable demise. Because of that, I appreciate the sacrifices the Washington memorials commemorate all the more. I see much more clearly – because I have lived it now – what those who gave “the last full measure of devotion” lost.
Lincoln’s story tracks another famous story, the Easter story, remarkably well.
The reality of Good Friday, which we commemorate today, is that the sting and loss of death are real. The promise of Easter is that death has been defeated and will be destroyed.
The world will be made right. Love will triumph.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends,” as the Scripture says.
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Of Mistakes and Monsters
When we err, we make mistakes. When looking at our loved ones and teammates (of varying sorts), we describe things similarly. Sometimes, it’s even less than that and in the passive voice: Mistakes were made.
But when our opponents are involved, we aren’t dealing with mere mistakes, we’re looking at monsters.
We evaluate our own behavior, and the behavior of those aligned with us, based upon a generous take on our intentions. We look at our opponents’ actions alone and with stark realism.
When I cut someone off in traffic, I think a slight wave is more apology than is necessary. After all, I didn’t mean to cut them off, or didn’t think they were that close, or I was late for work, or I’m a basically nice guy.
When I get cut off in traffic, you’d think I was dealing with an axe murderer on a bad day. Or Vladimir Putin.
On the latest episode of the “Tug of War” podcast, senior international correspondent Matthew Chance – who was based in Moscow for years – explained why Kremlin propaganda is so embraced by so many people in Russia today. It's because “they want to believe that their country is good,” not an evil regime that “kills people for no reason.” As Chance said, “who would want to acknowledge that there's something fundamentally wrong with your country?”
This phenomenon helps to explain why bias blindness is so prevalent and such a problem. It also explains why organizations tend to emphasize purity over unity and conflict over cooperation.
We give ourselves, and those we align with, every benefit of the doubt (and then some) for our mistakes.
The other guys? They’re monsters.
Totally Worth It
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My daughter and I put the seeds in the dirt | And every day now we've been watching the earth | For a sign that this death will give way to a birth | And the rain keeps falling
Down on the soil where the sorrow is laid | And the secret of life is igniting the grave | And I'm dying to live but I'm learning to wait | And the rain is falling
Benediction
Shows depicting the solving of crimes are a staple of television and kill-it (pardon the pun) in terms of ratings. One reason for that is, I think, theological. We all recognize that the world isn’t right and that none of us is right. Crime (sin) is a constant and extracts a great cost. We want the world to be made right and we want to be made right, too. But a price must be paid.
We want crimes solved and the guilty punished. We long for universal justice yet personal mercy, making “a wretch His treasure.” Grace says that seeming contradiction isn’t just possible – it was intended from before the foundation of the world.
We’re all broken in one way or another. The entire world is obviously and badly broken. It’s Good Friday and we’re waiting, hoping — longing — for Easter Sunday.
When what we’re longing for doesn’t happen as quickly as we want or in the way we want, it can be easy to lose faith, to lose hope.
God grants what we need rather than what we deserve. That’s the Easter message.
“My sins they are many. His mercy is more.”
To those of us prone to wander, to those who are broken, to those who flee and fight in fear – which is every last lost one of us – there is a faith that offers grace and hope. And may love have the last word. Now and forever. Amen.
Thanks for reading. May you have a blessed Easter.
Issue 109 (April 15, 2022)
Bob, I share many of your beliefs, but since we only have an imperfect approximation of what might be God’s plan I think there is room for skepticism in judging our actions regarding what we perceive is God’s justice on earth (we surely cannot know what it would be in eternity). While I understand the anger about inequality (and the myriad of situations and reasons about/for it) I can no longer support the so-called liberal agenda regarding the reaction to the crimes that have unreasonably morphed since the unrest in Minnesota. Ultimately we are responsible for our own sins, correct? And we hope that God has mercy for all sinners as we belong to that group, don’t we? Being raised Catholic “sins” were pretty much lumped together. But having lived 75+ years I feel that it is the serious duty of what we consider to be our civilization to protect the majority from those whose sins overtly harm others. God can forgive in eternity; but we have no such power, wisdom, or foresight. Any “justice” on earth must include the overall good for the innocent. I live in the Chicago area and the elected officials here (and elsewhere, unfortunately) seem to be acting like the merciful God, and not like the protector of the innocent (also a “Godly” responsibility I would think). Even if one is led towards sin through difficult circumstances, it should not exempt one from the consequences of their own chosen actions. If we eliminate bail and a person commits another crime against another innocent, “we” have sacrificed that innocent person while pridefully acting like we know what God wants (which we surely don’t). I’ve been wordy here, but the idea of “forgiveness without consequences on earth” seems foolish and a great sin of pride that others pay the price for. God’s universe is in order. We should try and attain the same.