Monday, February 4, 2019

It's Time to Step Up - and Step Down

I’ve not written in a long time. It’s certainly not for the lack of ideas. The ways in which events swirl around us these days have given me more than a few kernels with which to work. And while life has been busy, I can’t honestly say it’s been for a lack of time. Somehow these past few days have shaken me out of – well, whatever – and I need to write. It also helped that a dear friend and colleague pushed me last week to get writing!

In recent days we have been barraged by the news pouring out of Virginia following the discovery that Medical School Yearbook page for the recently elected Governor, Ralph Northam, contains a deeply disturbing image of two people, one in “blackface, and the other in the garb of a Ku Klux Klan member. While we do not really know whether one of the individuals in that image is a younger Ralph Northam (he has alternatively owned it and denied it), the revelation and the subsequent furor over it is unsettling.

There have been widespread condemnations and calls for the Governor to resign his office. As I write it still unclear whether he will do so. My reaction to the news, aside from disgust, is filtered through the prism of my study and practices of the middot (soul-traits) of the Mussar tradition. I believe Northam should in fact resign. And I believe he should do it as quickly as possible.

In an early response, Governor Northam seemed to own the picture and expressed that it may have reflected him at an earlier time in his life, in which he may (or may not) have held and found humor in the disturbing image. He claimed that he no longer holds those views and that he is a changed man. As troubling as I find someone believing it was a humorous expression, I do believe in our tradition’s concept of Teshuvah – repentance.  Indeed, the concept is so central in our tradition that it is not merely related to our annual Days of Repentance which take us from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur. There is a prayer for teshuvah, that is, the ability to reflect on and engage in teshuvah in the daily liturgy. It is recited on most days (exclusive of Shabbat, holidays, and other special times designated in Jewish tradition.) Had Northam stuck with his ownership of the image on his Medical School Yearbook page, and with the statement that it does not represent who he is and what he believes today, perhaps I could allow him some time and room to prove himself.

I leave aside the Governor’s shifting responses and could attribute them to “politics as usual.” Too many in the public sphere play the game of navigating amongst responses when they have been outed for some misdeed.  They cast about until an explanation seems to settle. We who listen find ourselves like sailboats facing ever-shifting winds. To be sure, this is not exclusive to public figures. Even as I could hear and respect the confession of a misdeed or an inappropriate expression from an earlier point in time, on which an individual has had a change of heart and mind, it’s not that simple for me in this case.

I am focused on a different concept from the Mussar tradition, that of Achrayut – responsibility. In a post on the subject, Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz writes, “Achrayut comes from the root “acher” (other). To take responsibility means to cultivate the “ability” for response to an “other.” This responsibility to another is born in the moment where no one else is present to assist. As Hillel said (Pirke Avot 2:6) ‘In a place where there aren’t people of moral courage taking responsibility, one needs to step up.’”  These days we often hear the language of being “upstanders” rather than “bystanders” when we see injustice, bigotry, hatred, or any of the other ills with which people harm one another. Being an upstander is the act of taking Achrayut- responsibility. It is true that over time and through the experiences of our lives, we learn through trial and error. We can and should change. Indeed, that is a part of the essence of the study and practice of Mussar. And striving to become a better person is hardly the sole province of Jewish tradition.

The shift between the Governor’s initial response owning the picture and his subsequent disavowal is, for me, beside the point.  Governor, whether you are in fact in it or not, the picture is on your yearbook page. I believe it is a reasonable assumption that at some point you had to approve your page. For me, whether you are one of the two figures in “costume” in the picture is immaterial. It is your page and you must, therefore, accept responsibility for what is on that page – irrespective of whether you are, in fact, one of the two people in that distasteful picture. And I believe your responsibility does not hang on whether you purchased a yearbook those many years ago. You cannot possibly expect us to believe you’ve never seen your page until now. That is too disingenuous a notion for any public official to expect his or her constituents to accept.

Governor, the honorable thing for you to do at this moment is for you to show some character and values. Step up – and step down! That is the responsible thing to do.

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