Pearls: Demonstrate the important traits

EDITORIAL MUG: Matt Pearl

You will occasionally hear a comment along these lines form John Q. Public: ‘The mark of a good journalist is whether that individual is asking the hard questions.’ I won’t disagree.

But I have a reciprocal request of my own for ol’ John Q: Don’t forget to ask your self the hard questions, too.

We want to expose our leaders to the highest levels of scrutiny, to make them wholly accountable for their every action – and we are justified in doing so. But morally, can we hold any leader to a higher standard than the one to which we hold ourselves?

Can we scrutinize a president for being out-of-shape when as a nation we are collectively, well, overfed and under-walked? My folks were not Bill Clinton fans, but I remember when the camera crews followed the president to McDonald’s and made a circus of his eating a fast-food lunch, my father saying something like, ‘So what? The man had a Big Mac. Criticize his service, not his lunch.’

I don’t like hypocritical double-standards, the kind we as a people too frequently display in judging our leaders.

If you expect it from your president, then live it.

If you want it from your congressperson, then demonstrate it.

If your standards are high for those who serve this great country, then set those same high standards for your self and serve that same great country in your own way. You can wait for Washington D.C., or you can start something positive. If your hopes all lie in the character of what we’re sending to the capitol – state or national – then you have taken your first steps down the road to disappointment.

But we just insist on viewing government from the flawed perspective of ‘What has Uncle Sam done for me lately?’ So when we elect a president, we’re waiting for that individual to serve us best (or to fail completely, depending on whether we’re pleased or disappointed with the election results), as if the sole reason for government is to give us our way.

How about this: Instead of expecting government to make our dreams come true, how about we make our own dreams come true and dare the government to stop us?

I mean, really: What are we waiting for? What do we think these leaders – the same ones whose morals and ethics we question almost daily – are going to suddenly do for us to improve our lives?

Our forebears in the story of America weren’t just thinkers but doers for great things. You don’t have to agree with George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or anybody who lived in the times of the Founding Fathers. I’m a fan, but everyone isn’t, and that’s fine.

What we all can share is the passion to get working on improving our position, to leave the world better than we found it. Are you frustrated that people don’t recycle? Quit being annoyed and come up with a system that helps them want to do it.

Do you want to see better unity and strength in our American families? Then start with our own nearest and dearest, and instill values as a parent (or as a sibling, or as a friend).

Is the picture hanging in the church basement crooked? Straightened it, for crying out loud. You’ll be waiting on that deacon to fix it for another 10 years if you twiddle those thumbs and wait on him to notice.

Get someone’s permission and mow that overgrown yard. Clean something. Restore something. Go see those folks in the nursing home – you’ll feel better doing that than sitting in your easy chair and criticizing their families for not visiting them often enough.

Or do what we’re doing, I guess. Vote for people who don’t see the problems you see, who learned a long time ago that there’s no money or prestige in keeping folks like you and me happy with the content of their personal character. How’s that going? Are you happy with what you’re getting out of Washington compared with what you’re paying?

Me neither. So go buy coffee for four or five of your friends, make a plan together to start a project and just leave Uncle Sam out of it. Don’t waste your high standards on him; you and I are the difference makers in this land, when we hold ourselves accountable for getting things done.

Matt Pearl owns and operates The Tri-County Ledger.