In the last few days, I was struck by a contrast. There was Donald Trump at his Trump-apalooza in Dallas this week, pledging on Wednesday to bribe voters with $5,000 if the Republicans hold onto the House and Senate, then desperately pleading on Thursday for his voters to “cheat like hell” in order to ensure victory and save him.
Meanwhile, there was New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani at yesterday’s 9/11 commemoration near Ground Zero shaking hands with the Islamophobic former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who just days earlier had said he was “offended” by the fact that Mamdani would be attending the ceremonies. The honorable Mamdani was calm, cool and dignified, acting with restraint and grace. That had to be no easy thing to pull off, what with the abuse Giuliani had thrown his way.
These incidents happened several days after I saw a video from Minnesota governor and former vice presidential candidate Tim Walz. He was talking to school children while serving them lunch. In fact, he was focused on trying to convince these young Minnesotans to eat broccoli…without a great deal of success. But, with great humor and purpose, he kept trying.
“You want the broccoli? Any broccoli”? he asked. It wasn’t working. He tried harder. “Come on, man, do the broccoli.” One young lunch-goer refused to tell a lie: “I hate broccoli.” It made Walz laugh.
A thought experiment: Can you imagine Mamdani doing the same thing as Walz? Easy to do. Now imagine Trump trying to convince little kids to eat broccoli. That’s nearly impossible, except with him quickly becoming angry and abusive when they refused to do what he demanded. (Recall also Walz’s thought experiment during the campaign: Try to imagine Trump tossing a frisbee to a dog like a normal human. Impossible.)
If Walz’s power of persuasion did not extend to broccoli eating, he was really there to promote a school lunch program that he was duly proud of: “We have served over 450 million meals over the last three years.” And he explained that the key was making sure that no one would go hungry, even if they didn’t have enough money to pay for it, because a fed child is going to learn better than a hungry one.
I hope there are other examples you might share of actual humans using their positions of power to act with decency. Suffice to say, we always need more of this. That’s especially true while our world seems over-run by self-serving, cruel and corrupt leaders who not don’t care if kids go hungry, never mind eat their broccoli.
Why aren’t more real humans elected to office? Why are so many of our fellow citizens drawn to sociopaths rather than good and decent people? I do hope you can share examples of genuine kindness, whether it’s from an elected official or someone else in a position of power.
As always, I look forward to reading your observations and the opportunity for the America, America community to hear from each other. Please do be respectful. Trolling will not be tolerated.
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As an abandoned Afghan ally this question touches something very deep in me what does it mean when a government stops seeing the human beings behind its promises?
I stood with America as an ally. I believed the promises. I believed that those who worked with America and stood beside Americans would not simply be forgotten when the situation became difficult. There were many promises, many words about partnership, safety, and a future. But today, I am still one of those left behind.
to the current U.S. government I want to ask respectfully how can you speak about democracy human dignity and protecting people from cruelty while so many Afghan allies who trusted your promises are still living with fear and uncertainty? We were not just names on documents or numbers in reports. We were human beings. We had families hopes and dreams for a safer life.
This is why your words about real humans in public office mean so much to me. Leadership is not only about power. It is about remembering the people who trusted you when keeping a promise becomes difficult.
I do not ask anyone to feel sorry for me. I ask the current U.S. government to remember us. Please remember the Afghan allies who stood beside America and now feel abandoned by the very government whose promises gave us hope.
Sometimes the deepest pain is not being defeated. It is being forgotten after you believed someone would never leave you behind.
Meaningful Sweet and fun.
And true
Broccoli and Frisbees ☺️
…
Obama bending down to let a young child touch his hair.
…
Saying something like, “…see we have the same hair..
💙🇺🇸💙