There are giants in every field of endeavor. They transcend the limits of their areas of expertise and exert their influence over others who know absolutely nothing about the intricacies of the science or the art or the insights into the natural or spiritual worlds where the great man or woman worked, experimented and innovated. In every generation several of these unique people rise to the top and inform us that we can be better than we think we can be. I think people like Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Ravik Ramaswamy are examples of such practitioners of genius and influence. In the end they are creators in both the economic sense (created utility) and in the intellectual sense.
I have found such people to be incredibly compassionate and part of what allows them to be so influential is the respect they show other human beings as they inspire us to do better. In my life I have been able to rub shoulders with great men who were unable to inspire—Admiral Heiman Rickover—the Father of our Nuclear Navy for example who because of his own idiosyncrasies used coercion, fear, and hate as a form of motivation, when other methods would have had a bigger impact. I spent six months in the lab and on the service of Dr. Robert Zollinger as q senior medical student. Arguably one of the great surgeons of the twentieth century, he also ruled by fear and coercion. He would have had a bigger impact in my opinion had he been more compassionate to both his patients and house staff, but as it was his accomplishments are irrefutable and spectacular—but could have been more universal had he exhibited more compassion.
Egos often times get in the way of greatness. This was less of a problem than we can imagine in retrospect amongst our Founding Fathers. Jealousies and covertness were always present at the Continental and Constitutional Conventions. John Adams and John Hancock despised each other, but because of their mutual respect at the critical moment of the passing of our Great Declaration they came together. A moment of respect and compassion for one’s fellow man, and putting egos aside at least for a moment, had ramifications that are being felt even today in our country.
Politicians have egos—boy do they ever have egos. I mention the above instances in light of the controversies surrounding the Hunter Biden “Pardon” by his own father. We learned from years of inuendo, calumnies, false witness, leaks, and “lawfare”—Russia collusion, impeachment, cases in local and Federal Courts that were baseless and without precedent, that hate and retribution without mercy can be self-destructive. We all have in our lives personal and professional grudges that have been left untreated like an open wound. The burden on the person wronged and holding a grudge can be self-destructive. Forgiveness can lift the yolk of sin on all parties. “The quality of mercy is not strained”—WS.
We need to move forward in our country and trying to “even things up” will only get in the way. I agree with President Trump that his revenge will be in his success. Hate destroys the hater as well as the hated—as we are seeing on the left by the people on The View and late night TV and Rachell Maddow, Liz Cheney, and Adam Schiff’s of the world.
A case study in forgiveness for me is the story of the two famous heart Doctors in Texas Dr. Michael DeBakey and Dr. Denton Cooley. Former partners at Texas Heart in Houston, Dr. Cooley clandestinely moved his lab and practice 200 feet across a parking lot to another hospital St. Lukes. He also stole some technology and intellectual property—engineering plans for an artificial heart, from Dr. DeBakey. For over 40 years they would park their cars 2 feet from each other—separated by a high chain link fence and not speak to each other in the parking lot or when in the same room. For 40 years they bad mouthed each other as only professional competitors can—remember Adam Smith’s adage that the “butcher seldom supps with other butchers”?
Then things changed when Dr. DeBakey was asked to testify against Dr. Cooley in a trial. As much as he hated his competitor, he could not bring himself to testify against him because he realized that his personal disdain for his former friend colored his own professional judgement about the case and the issue at hand—self-awareness is another rare quality amongst great people. The trial ended the day Dr. DeBakey refused to testify. About a year before Dr. DeBakey died at the age of 99 yrs, the two great men had a reconciliation. Dr. DeBakey opined that that many times in our society personal jealousies and retributions are attempted to be rectified in a court of law, where that is precisely not the place to have such issues adjudicated. In our own personal and professional lives, we have many issues that come before us that we feel are unfair and we often times reflex Ly say “I’ll sue”. The issues involved in most of these cases are not matters of law, but issues of the heart, and they should be reconciled man to man. In such instances the justice system becomes a barrier to justice itself.
How about instead of seeking retribution, we attempt to give forgiveness. Seeking and then receiving forgiveness for wrongs of the past can be refreshing and invigorating—to the individuals involved and to all of society. We have so many people seeking “justice” without understanding the predicate for justice is “mercy”. I hope Mr. Trump continues to look forward. I hope that the pardons for the Jan. 6th trespassers, be issued the first day of Mr. Trump’s Presidency. I hope his justice department proceeds with the job of prosecuting drug runners and criminals. Going backwards after the Biden family , Hilliary, or lawyers in the justice department is counterproductive at this point in time.
Forgive and remember and let’s get back to the business of making America Great Again.
