A Couple of Thoughts on Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson’s significance in our country’s history is incalculable. It is hard to picture a document more important to the development of modern democracy than the Declaration of Independence.

While the facts of it speak to the cancer present at the birth of this nation, our relatively recent collective knowledge of Jefferson’s conflicted complicity with the whole of the slavery system, also contains much we need to hold in our hearts.

There is no pure person. There is no one man or woman who is without sin.

We may wish to make our heroes such, but to do so is to tell lies.

And I feel there’s an important lesson here. What we need to do is listen to those who seem to be wise, and then always, always make our own best judgment.

I rather suspect the twenty-first century world is going to continue to feature a conversation (to put it in its most mild form) between philosophies of the individual and philosophies of the communal. Each has points we probably must embrace if we hope to survive as a species. And each casts long shadows.

Jefferson, for me, is one of the great exponents of the way of the individual. And as one of the prophets of the two great ways, how he could be compromised, from this distance how easily he could be compromised, is a lesson we all need to learn. And then re-learn, I’m sure.

Anyway, today seems a good time to say thank you for all the good Jefferson brought to us. He and his motley gang of friends, collaborators, sometimes allies and sometimes enemies.

They put an interesting experiment together.

And I hope it works out.

So, happy birthday, Tom!

And thank you…