« The Morning After |
Main
| Election Results »
November 3, 2004
Not in Anger
Wednesday, November 3, 2004. Not in Anger.
I read a number of blogs today and many of them were filled with anger. We all have different ways of dealing with loss. Some do it with anger or rage, other with sadness and depression, others with new resolve, and others with rationalization (�You really didn�t want Kerry to win because the mess is so big he�d get blamed for not cleaning up an impossible mess and not be re-elected").
The way I dealt with my loss was to shed a tear when I got up this morning to give vent to my grief, not for me but for America and its global reputation, then to read some blogs, and then to go for a walk so I could think about what I might do to see that such a disaster didn�t happen again. I said to myself, �Don�t get mad, get even.� I counseled myself not to become angry, not to take it personally, and not to let my emotions or my ego blur my vision. This was my response, more because of age probably, than because of reasonableness.
I wrote down a list of things I had to do, starting today, to see that my team won in 2008. I thought, �Put me on the team, coach. Tell me how to prepare, what to do, who to block, and who to tackle. We have to show the world that we can play fair, play by the rules, and win. If we try to beat the other side by using their negativity, scare tactics, and dirty tricks, we debase the honor of the game, we lose our pride, and, ultimately, we lose our souls.�
I remembered a story about a renowned samurai warrior who protected a great lord. The lord was assassinated one day and the loyal samurai, enraged, sped after the assassin and finally cornered him. The samurai raised his shining sword and prepared to behead the terrified assassin, but at the moment that he was going to swing his sword toward the head of the assassin, the samurai instead let his arm and sword drop limply to the ground and he turned and walk away, letting the assassin live. When an onlooker asked the samurai why he had not killed the assassin, the samurai replied, �I was angry and if I killed him it would have been because I was angry, which is not the right reason he should die. He must die not because of my anger but because he killed my lord."
Democrats must defeat the Republicans in 2008 not because of anger but for the right reasons.
The biggest problem now is to find a coach, or as Bush called Karl Rove in his victory speech, an �architect� for a victory in 2008. We have a talented legion of willing, motivated, bright players who are on the humane, caring side of the issues, but we need a much better coaching staff and head coach who can unify us as a team so that we have one inspiring, positive mission, one simple, positive message, and one overriding, positive goal�to win in 2008�and not to have a goal of the Republican candidate losing, that�s a negative goal (�Anyone but Bush� didn�t work). We need a party organization that doesn�t focus on how to make the other side lose, but that focuses on how to win with honor. Winning with honor is key, because that is what will restore our honor in the world and in the history books in the twenty-second century and beyond.
Winning with honor is much harder than winning by breaking the rules (as we found out yesterday), so that's why we have to start now, plan better, and work harder, but not in anger.
Posted by Charles Warner at November 3, 2004 11:18 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in,
.
Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
Printer-Friendly