General Washington's Eyeglasses

The world seems to be more than a little agitated these past days, mostly because of Wikileaks and the ongoing saga of internet disclosures about American diplomacy.

Long from these serious and often disconcerting revelations, there looms also the very real danger of harm coming to individual and military operatives, as well as innocent people who will be caught in the middle of this internet storm.

Today, we have learned that the founder of Wikileaks has made himself available to British police, after Great Britain was served with a Swedish warrant for his arrest on “morals” charges.

Far from these macro-political events, my sister is facing an election battle for the presidency of her retiree community this evening. She has waged an honorable campaign, faced with what could be described as an authoritarian clique that has for many years seized control of the community by ignoring parliamentary rules, including holding elections by show of hand voting.

In the throes of this, last evening on the phone with her, I reminded my sister of General Washington’s remarks to the troops who had served with him during the Revolutionary War, and who, after winning, were threatening revolt unless they were paid all their wages-in-arrears. Many of the soldiers and officers had served without pay for years, and they were in need of money to re-start their civilian lives. Finally, having exhausted all hope of winning their demands through dialogue, some of the officers issued an ultimatum: If they were not paid, they would march on Congress and seize control of the government.

Washington, great man that he was, tried to reason with them. He noted that he, too, had served without pay. He reminded them that if they carried out their threat, they would sully all the glory they had won in their heroic effort to free the American colonies from English rule.

Finally, after failing in informal debate to convince them, Washington then began reading a letter from a congressman. But as he read, he stumbled over the words and finally had to stop. He reached into his pocket and pulled out something his men had never before seen: a pair of spectacles. He begged their indulgence saying, "Gentlemen, you must pardon me. I have grown gray in your service and now find myself going blind."

These words of humility made the soldiers begin to weep. After Washington left, they agreed to give Congress more time. Thomas Jefferson later remarked that "the moderation and virtue of a single [man] probably prevented this Revolution from being closed, as most others have been, by a subversion of that liberty it was intended to establish."

In these demanding times, when the roots of democracy are being threatened not only by terrorists and rogue states, but by the venality of some of our elected leaders, it may be wise to reflect on Washington’s words.

No matter what country we live in, no matter in what form our human rights are organized by the government that represents us and does our business as free peoples, somewhere in each national history there has been suffering, sacrifice and hardship endured in order to gain our present state of liberty.  

In every case, there has been a leader whose character, more than all the education and technology available, has marked the path and led the way.  

It was Washington’s character that earned the admiration and trust of his soldiers and officers. His humility, coupled with a reminder of the price he himself had paid for freedom, led his men to reason.

This is a lesson we need to relearn. Now rather than later.  A nation, a world, needs leaders who, by their own example of virtue and character, inspire sacrifice for the common good.