Reflections on life’s arc: From the beauty of rainbows to voting one’s conscience

Reflections on life’s arc: From the beauty of rainbows to voting one’s conscience

Commentary By Pete Haug | FāVS News

As I’ve aged, I’ve become more aware of my diminishing capacities. That’s to be expected. Barring premature death, we all experience life’s natural decline arcing through time. My metaphor of choice is the rainbow, arcing across shared skies. A rainbow’s beauty is important. Whether only a colorful trace, or whether sweeping gracefully from horizon to horizon, a rainbow inspires. If conditions are right, we may see two, one above the other.

A symbol of God’s Covenant

Millennia ago, before science explained their physics, rainbows were identified as spiritual phenomena. Biblical passages, beginning with Genesis, mention rainbows. Following the flood, God covenants with Noah and his descendants, promising that he will never again destroy the earth by water. He seals that covenant with the rainbow.

Rainbows often follow storms, themselves symbols of humankind’s turmoil. By reminding us of God’s covenant, rainbows provide an allegory for spiritual protection. Perhaps that’s why social causes often adopt the rainbow to represent hope for overcoming adversities and conflicts. In this context, discussions of rainbows often lead to politics.

Vote your conscience.

Since reaching 21, I’ve voted at every opportunity. (I missed the Eisenhower-Stevenson election by a few months.) But I’ve never joined a political party. Baha’is are prohibited from partisan politics, although we’re encouraged to inform ourselves and vote our consciences. Even discussing candidates can be disunifying because discussions often lead to backbiting. Baha’u’llah wrote, “The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established…” Creating unity among all humankind is a foundational principle of the Baha’i Faith.

Our founding fathers

I’ve recently been learning about our country’s origins. Incipient blindness stopped my driving three years ago, burdening my wife Jolie with that task. To reach Pullman from our suburban Colfax home, we choose circuitous routes and enjoy audiobooks. Less-traveled country roads allow us about 45 minutes of listening and opportunities to pause and discuss the thoughts and ideas of authors. We’ve covered the Crusades (25+ hours), as well as in-depth biographies of Alexander Hamilton (36 hours) and George Washington (42 hours). We even discuss books when we’re not driving!

We’ve learned many things about our nation and beyond. Neither political party is flawless. Idiocy abounds in politics because egos assert themselves above all else. This includes individuals of all persuasions and at all levels of governance.

For example, founding father and President Thomas Jefferson was once one of my heroes. As principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson encapsulated ideals that have permeated our country for two and a half centuries. I taught that document in China to students of American literature.

Despite his “all men are created equal,” however, Jefferson owned hundreds of slaves, one of whom he kept as a concubine. She bore him at least six children. Contemporaneous accounts from biographies of Washington and Hamilton reveal that Jefferson’s partisan behavior, too, was often hypocritical and self-serving. This is only one of many examples where founding fathers displayed egregious faults.

Modern examples

But integrity also spans the political spectrum. Conscientious, selfless individuals, elected and in civil service positions, are dedicated to serving their constituencies. We don’t often hear about them above the din of attacks and counterattacks. Yet despite claims to the contrary, millions of good people, decent citizens, serve our country at all levels of governance. They care about America and how it interacts with other countries around the world.

I’ve worked for federal, state, and Native American governmental agencies; I speak from experience. My peers mostly included conscientious colleagues along with occasional bad apples. I like to think I was one of the conscientious ones.

Despite the flaws in our founding documents, and the people who wrote them, these United States of America have survived and thrived. They’ve inspired other nations to send ambassadors to assess “how we did it” and to emulate our efforts.

How did we do it?

That’s a hard question to answer,but there have been a lot of guesses. Perhaps that’s because there’s no simple answer. One of our political system’s strengths is our diversity, not unlike the diversity that strengthens natural ecosystems. Each organism has a task; working together, individuals stabilize the system.

Many who built our infrastructures — cities, railroads and other engines of industrial development — were foreigners, refugees seeking new opportunities, new lives. It was a woman, Emma Lazarus, who, in 1883, spoke for another woman, our welcoming Statue of Liberty, writing: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” Like the rainbow, generations of multicultural immigrants have created a nation still struggling to live up to its name.

Vote!

In three months, we’ll choose how this multifaceted, multihued nation will proceed. When I was 20, I couldn’t vote. Today, if you’re 18, you can. Please do.

The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. FāVS News values diverse perspectives and thoughtful analysis on matters of faith and spirituality.