This week’s “Daily Journal” guest columnist is Donna Martinez, co-host of Carolina Journal Radio.
Most of us can trace our values to special people who’ve touched our lives. For some it’s a parent or sibling who inspired us to pursue a dream. For others it’s a pastor, professor, or elected official who opened our minds and hearts to new ideas.
Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II helped form my values. These unique men shared a belief in neighbor helping neighbor, stranger helping stranger, as a fundamental building block of a civil and prosperous society. Both shaped my view of the appropriate and complementary roles of the individual and government in society. Each challenged me to make sure my words and deeds make a difference, no matter the policy and politics of the day.
The personal virtues they championed were on display eight years ago today in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Penn., as countless acts of charity, sacrifice and kindness were juxtaposed against destruction, despair, and death.
Imagine what it meant to desperate family members who searched for missing loved ones near the collapsed twin towers to have a stranger help distribute photos or provide a hot meal. Think of the relief that washed over a father stranded in the nation’s capital upon being offered the last seat in a car headed toward home. Put yourself in the shoes of a Flight 93 widow when she learned Pennsylvanians were praying near her husband’s final resting place. Imagine the comfort that accompanied their tears.
My faith in Americans was renewed that September day. We’re at our best and strongest when we rely on personal strength and ingenuity and offer our resources and talents to those in need. Yes, government was critical to our security and emergency response that day. Thank goodness for the courage of first responders. Still, to a large degree it was individuals — not agencies and official pronouncements — that solidified the American spirit and resilience. Imagine the additional horror of that day had Americans left the job of concern, comfort, and recovery solely to the government.
In the wake of 9/11 there was talk about sustaining the high level of personal commitment and involvement Americans had shown. Financially, we’ve come through. Americans are generous contributors to nonprofit organizations, even in tough times. But what about being generous contributors of our time and hearts? That, I’m afraid, has evaporated. We’ve slipped into a comfortable detachment from those around us. The recession has, for some, rekindled character and commitment that was ubiquitous in the fall of 2001, but the unsettling fact is, society’s belief has waned in the power of one person to affect the life of another directly. And when we jettisoned that belief, personal responsibility, virtue, and sacrifice also faded in importance.
Conservatives bear a special responsibility for turning this around. We must support with action our philosophy that government should play only a limited role in daily life. That means doing things that push us out of our comfort zone and that others leave to government. We need to listen to that cranky, lonely neighbor even when we’d rather wave and retreat into the house. We should volunteer to take on the task everyone dreads before the pastor or community leader asks for help. Rather than hoping someone else will aid a family we know is struggling, let’s step up and leave an anonymous gift on their doorstep.
Most importantly, we must explain to our kids and grandkids what we’re doing and why. We need to tell them about the legacies of men like Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II and the importance of virtue. Then the next time tragedy or disaster strikes, we won’t have to ask what we can do to help. We’ll already be doing it.