Hopeful Leadership

Our president would have you believe that this country is falling apart; “American carnage” he calls it. And indeed, there is work to do: millions were left behind by the economic recovery, millions remain without health insurance, and millions more feel like nobody in Washington is looking out for them.

But this country has seen far worse, and in his focus on what’s broken Trump risks breaking what’s whole. This country’s greatest leaders, all of whom lead during far more difficult times than today, maintained a hopeful disposition despite the real uncertainty they faced.

Hopefulness does not mean naivete. When Lincoln spoke of “the better angels of our nature” during his first inauguration, he knew that the threat of war was real, seven states having already seceded from the Union. Yet he offered his hope and confidence that the Union would endure: “The mystic chords of memory…will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” Lincoln was reaching out to the best instincts of his countrymen rather than their fears.

Of course, Lincoln’s hope didn’t prevent the war. In the four years to follow his inauguration, the Civil War would tear the country apart. Being hopeful doesn’t mean that everything will go right, nor that all risk can be avoided, but it does provide the best starting point for making it through.

Should a real leader emerge today, they will understand the reality of where we are and speak to the promise of where we could be. They will find a language that nurtures a common aspiration among us, grounded in a sense of reality but moving towards hope.

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