TRUE NORTH: Can our Nation Identify and Lead by Objective Values?

On the week of this, the 2020 presidential election, it appears my country has before it an opportunity to come out from under one of the most bitter and divisive periods in recent history. I can say this as one old enough to have some perspective of this time— of one who witnessed the first televised debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon in 1960, the Watts race riots of 1965 when thirty -four Americans were killed on the streets of Los Angeles, the 1968 political implosion that resulted in wide-scale riots in more than 100 cities, and the 1970 anti- Vietnam war demonstrations that led to a nationwide wave of public backlash against the government, resulting in civil violence and the shooting of dozens of our citizens.

So, when I talk to my children, who have not ever experienced our country tearing itself apart like it seems to be today, I try to convey some perspective from one who has seen it happen to our country before, and then to see it come back to heal itself and reclaim our national values.

To reclaim our national values—is that even a thing? We are doomed if it is not.

Values is word that has been bouncing around inside me for years. What are my personal values, and how do they guide my daily choices? What about our nation? Are there a set of national values that make us who we are as a nation? What are they? Where do my values come from?

There are words we use that are sometimes confused with values: Priorities, principles, goals, objectives, culture, norms… but none of those are values.

In my job as a protector of employee safety, I have often drawn a clear distinction between priorities and values in this way:

We all have morning habits. These habits are in place because we have put some importance to them. They have become our “morning priorities”. It may be having breakfast, feeding your pet, making coffee, packing your lunch for the day, catching a little news and weather, or maybe you have a habit of spiritual reading and prayer before your day begins.

But what happens if you oversleep and your are in danger of being late for work? Which of these priorities will you skip?

And, how many of you will skip putting your clothes on?

You see, our priorities, our opinions, our principles even, are continuing to shift and change and re-order with our changing lives. But our values, if they truly are values, will never shift or change.

In 1986, Stephen Covey published his groundbreaking book on personal effectiveness and fulfillment “7 Habits of Highly Successful People”. In this book, Covey explores the concept of “True North” as a guidance system—a guidance system  that each individual can develop to guide us through the wilderness of modern life, a life full of variations of shades of grey that have replaced the black and white choices of the past.

A compass uses an objective point of reference—the earths magnetic field. It does not change when you change. The compass always points north regardless of which direction you are headed. If True North is our desired direction, then anything that causes us to veer off this course is destined to get us lost in the woods. And it seems that is where our nation is today. Lost.

I once took a navigation course. One of the training exercises was called “HopScotch”. My navigation partner and I were given some final coordinates that we were to arrive at in a set time. The coordinates were somewhere on the other side of a dense wooded area. The coordinates were marked by two orange cones less than ten feet apart. So, we had to find ourselves between these cones in forty-five minutes.

We began by siting landmarks about every twenty to thirty feet—a unique tree or bush or boulder. If we couldn’t find a good one, one of us would walk ahead and serve as a landmark. From these landmarks, we would “Shoot” another course, correcting it as needed so that we stayed on track with our end coordinates. Using this method, the terrain did not matter, no matter what was in our way or what we had to navigate around, we could re-set our course. In less than forty -five minutes we found ourselves between our two orange cones.

That is how life values work. They are the final coordinates. We then spend our lives navigating the boulders and the creeks and the rivers and other obstacles, always with our compass in hand, always with our values in front of us. In this way, regardless of the difficult terrain we find ourselves in, we can reset our course, stay on track, and never loose site of our destination.

When faced with the events of this past year, I kept coming back to the question—what do I believe? What is the important issue here? Where do I stand on this or that issue? Why can’t a people agree on some very basic human issues? I am a believer of the individual and neighborhood first, then community, then county, state, region, and nation. So when I see our nation lost in the woods, I ask myself if I have gotten lost as well? Have I misplaced my compass? Do I know where true north is in my life, before I begin judging everyone else for losing their compass?

Values are not opinions. I have been in many rooms, many discussions, when the ultimate desired outcome is lost to lower opinions and preferences.

There are a lot of national issues that have divided us, I believe because we focus on lower level opinions, preferences, personal prejudices, ideologies, and bad blood,  instead of what really matters.  What value are we trying to protect, defend, or achieve?

Values such as:

• The Golden Rule– Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
• Speak the Truth
• The Sanctity of every human life
• In giving and in service is joy and fulfillment
• Love Your Neighbor /  Your neighbor is your fellow man / Love is a unifying force.
• Blessed Are the Peacemakers – Mutual respect and confidence between peoples and nations
• Law of Reciprocity: You Reap What You Sow –
• Do No Harm – Help when you can, how you can, where you can.
• Forgiveness
• Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged –
• God is Love: Whatever name man chooses, there is but one God. All people and all things are of one essence.
• The Dignity of every Human Being must be preserved.
• Community and the Common Good: The individual is both sacred and social
• Dignity of Work and the rights of Workers: The economy must serve the people. The right to productive, decent work, fair wages, and equal opportunity.
• Stewardship of Creation: We protect both our people and our planet
• Solidarity: We are our brothers and sister’s keeper. We are all walking each other home
• Protection for the poor and vulnerable and disenfranchised
• Participation: Equal opportunities exist for all our people to participate in and benefit from all aspects of our society.

Could one day these values be reclaimed as our national values? What would our democracy, both national and local, look like then?

If I am in a meeting or a discussion, or listening to an argument, I want my first thought to be “Is there a value at stake-what is it, and how can our decision impact that value.” If I am choosing a leader I want to follow, I will look at how they live and promote these values. And, if I expect to be a man you can trust and believe in, then I must be a values driven man, not an opinionated man.

I wish that every municipal building had a symbol of a compass hanging from the main entry or in the chambers of the decision makers. I wish every business had a compass in the board room. The ten commandments used to be that symbol in public places. All the world religions have the same basic value code—Love God and your neighbor, with concrete acts that protect and defend the well-being of all, especially the weak and oppressed.

My prayer today is in the coming months our country would once again be a country that is values driven, starting with a dusting off the constitution and bill of rights, and a re-affirmation of the basic values inherent in all world religions—The love of God and Man.

Kind Regards,

Bob