Not Perfect Quite Yet

 Not perfect yet

 

This past weekend we celebrated the 245^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.  A very upstart act that sometimes doesn’t seem as brave today as it was 200+ years ago.  When these men, yes they were all white men, (although not all old, Jefferson was only in his early 30’s and Adams only 41) signed the Declaration they ended with a pledge of their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.  And sacred honor may have meant a lot more then.  They were putting their lives at risk.  Had this upstart set of colonies lost this war against the most powerful nation on earth at the time, their lives would have been sacrificed.

Twelve years later, after an initial failed start, the Constitution of the United States was ratified “to establish a more perfect union”.   You will notice the goal even then was not to establish a perfect union, but a “more” perfect one.  Even the initial framers knew perfect is an ongoing process.

Today states are forbidding the teaching of Critical Race Theory because they believe it is critical of the United States and these legislators do not want children to learn that our Union is not perfect.  First of all, as the name suggests, this is a theory not a curriculum.  Secondly, what is obvious to any marketer, whoever thought of this name needs to rethink his/her career choice.  The name is terrible, but the idea behind this theory  is not.

Even the most loving parent would probably admit that his/her child is not perfect, but that does not stop us from loving.  The same can be said about adult spouses, significant others or best friends.  It is also true of our nation’s allies.  “Ain’t nobody perfect” but that has never stopped us from loving.

Has our nation made some mistakes during the course of that 245 year history?   You bet, and some mighty big ones too.  Does knowing about those mistakes stop us from loving our country, not likely, but it might help us to work to make fewer mistakes in the future.  Just as being aware of and confronting our own mistakes in our personal lives helps us to grow and be a better person.  So being aware of our nation’s mistakes helps us to teach our children how to make fewer of them when they are old enough to be in charge.  Just as many a parent has said to his/her children, “I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I made when I was growing up.”

Mistakes in our personal lives and in our nation’s life are part of growing and perfecting.  None of us is perfect yet, not we as individuals, nor we as a country.  We can’t fix a problem until we identify what it is.  That’s all critical race theory is saying, let’s look at where we have gone wrong so we can go right in the future. Not much to be afraid of.  We are all still looking for the “more perfect union”.