“You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other.”
– John Adams, in one of 158 letters he exchanged with Thomas Jefferson over a 14-year period
They were the closest of friends — except for one 20-year period where they essentially didn’t speak.
Coming off our nation’s Independence Day celebration and a couple of weeks of introspection – I am drawn to the state of affairs in which we live.
First, more context…
Peggy Noonan chronicled the Adams / Jefferson relationship in the holiday weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal. Referencing in particular Gordon Wood‘s book Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (2017), Noonan reminded me of what I’d read before. That while our founders were fiercely divided on some issues, they were resolute and unified behind the issue — independence. Wood (and Noonan) cite the role of Benjamin Rush in reuniting the two old friends.
Comments fly fast and frequent these days about how, as a nation, we’ve “never been more divided,” and that “it seems neither side has much in common with the other.”
Rush helped two friends-turned-adversaries realize that no divide is uncrossable and that there is only one side — when our focus is on the best possible outcome.
Left, Right. Christian, Muslim. Wealthy, poor.
There’s a place called “the middle.” It’s a place for which we ought to plot a course.
Who will our Benjamin Rush be? In Washington, the statehouse, or the boardroom? And, how many opportunities will we face today to be Benjamin Rush for others, and for the betterment of all?
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