Colin Powell’s passing last week triggered something in me. It went beyond that a great man passed.
I looked up to Colin Powell, respected him and his judgment. I trusted what he did for us as U.S. citizens.
That fact that he died wasn’t what hit me so hard. What bothered me deeply was reading various accounts of what others thought of him. You may find this trivial, but I believe it speaks more deeply to all U.S. citizens at this stage in our history.
As I filtered through what others wrote about Powell, a statesman, diplomat and four-star general, struck me over and over. People wrote in support of him, yes. There were accolades upon accolades cited. Yet, and yet…..
Far too many of these “positive” messages started with the phrase, “Though I disagreed with General Powell on a number of things, I …..” Or, “General Powell made his share of mistakes, but I still…..”
The point of these posts diminished the man and his accomplishments. Who are all these Average American Joe’s and Mary’s to judge the actions of a man who worked his way diligently up through the ranks of the military, developing a world view that was compassionate and advanced our interests around the world?
The posts upset me. The posts illuminate how people who do not have the knowledge or experience to make monumental international decisions for the United States think that they do. Someone watches news on TV and presumes he has information and background to criticize a four-star general.
This is not new in our country, nor is this type of judgmental thinking about to end any time soon. This “I know best” perspective has been around for a long time, and accelerated with the advent of social media and the fracturing of news media into camps projecting a perspective rather than doing their best to “report” thoroughly from all sides on an issue. We are diminished as a country because of this.
The advent of citizen “experts” is but one sign of this. People rush to tell others what they think, without the credentials to back their “opinion” up. They know because they know. Okay, sure thing, buddy.
We also lose the true value of what an expert brings to the table. That individual who has served in the trenches year after year, learning the intricacies of the issues, is devalued. The know-it-all citizen disrespects someone who has earned a position of power and authority.
This type of “so and so was great, even though I disagreed with him on many things” attitude infects us on many levels. We all disagree with others, let’s not kid ourselves. Over the year, I’ve done a number of presentations on conflict resolution. I use marriage as an example.
I have pointedly asked the audience, “Do you agree with your spouse on everything?” Of course not (though I have met people who fervently state they’ve never had a disagreement with their spouse in their 40 years of marriage; I’d like to be a fly on their walls).
The marriage metaphor works on multiple levels. Any honest person has disagreed with their spouse way more than once if the marriage has lasted for any number of years. But that never diminishes the other person. Nor would we say upon a spouse passing, “Though I disagreed with my wife/husband a lot, s/he was still a great person.” Nope, we wouldn’t do that.
We would support our spouse, talk about the good times, relate stories on what they did to make the world better, funnier, smarter, more connected. Our support for General Colin Powell should go way beyond that.
I looked up to Colin Powell, respected him and his judgment. I trusted what he did for us as U.S. citizens.
That fact that he died wasn’t what hit me so hard. What bothered me deeply was reading various accounts of what others thought of him. You may find this trivial, but I believe it speaks more deeply to all U.S. citizens at this stage in our history.
As I filtered through what others wrote about Powell, a statesman, diplomat and four-star general, struck me over and over. People wrote in support of him, yes. There were accolades upon accolades cited. Yet, and yet…..
Far too many of these “positive” messages started with the phrase, “Though I disagreed with General Powell on a number of things, I …..” Or, “General Powell made his share of mistakes, but I still…..”
The point of these posts diminished the man and his accomplishments. Who are all these Average American Joe’s and Mary’s to judge the actions of a man who worked his way diligently up through the ranks of the military, developing a world view that was compassionate and advanced our interests around the world?
The posts upset me. The posts illuminate how people who do not have the knowledge or experience to make monumental international decisions for the United States think that they do. Someone watches news on TV and presumes he has information and background to criticize a four-star general.
This is not new in our country, nor is this type of judgmental thinking about to end any time soon. This “I know best” perspective has been around for a long time, and accelerated with the advent of social media and the fracturing of news media into camps projecting a perspective rather than doing their best to “report” thoroughly from all sides on an issue. We are diminished as a country because of this.
The advent of citizen “experts” is but one sign of this. People rush to tell others what they think, without the credentials to back their “opinion” up. They know because they know. Okay, sure thing, buddy.
We also lose the true value of what an expert brings to the table. That individual who has served in the trenches year after year, learning the intricacies of the issues, is devalued. The know-it-all citizen disrespects someone who has earned a position of power and authority.
This type of “so and so was great, even though I disagreed with him on many things” attitude infects us on many levels. We all disagree with others, let’s not kid ourselves. Over the year, I’ve done a number of presentations on conflict resolution. I use marriage as an example.
I have pointedly asked the audience, “Do you agree with your spouse on everything?” Of course not (though I have met people who fervently state they’ve never had a disagreement with their spouse in their 40 years of marriage; I’d like to be a fly on their walls).
The marriage metaphor works on multiple levels. Any honest person has disagreed with their spouse way more than once if the marriage has lasted for any number of years. But that never diminishes the other person. Nor would we say upon a spouse passing, “Though I disagreed with my wife/husband a lot, s/he was still a great person.” Nope, we wouldn’t do that.
We would support our spouse, talk about the good times, relate stories on what they did to make the world better, funnier, smarter, more connected. Our support for General Colin Powell should go way beyond that.