I Am Not a Bad Man

I’ve been thinking about this.

I am strongly inclined to feel we are defined by what we do.

And, in fact, his actions are a mixed bag. He does have a long track record of charitable and generous gifts to others. And he corrupted politicians and defrauded clients. He was a central figure in further fouling our national political scene. He did very bad things, even if they were “white collar.”

And it turns out even in the midst of an eloquent plea about a changing heart, to which I’ll return momentarily, he helped out with a forthcoming book that attempts to show him as a victim of Washington inside politics. (With Senator McCain having a starring role…)

Okay. Back to we are what we do.

On balance, it would have to be said, if we are what we do, that Jack Abramoff is a bad person.

The magic of our lives, however, come out of intention.

Intention isn’t enough. And ingrained habit is very, very hard to change. But, what it is, is the opportunity to notice, to change our hearts, and to move in new directions.

While maudlin to the max, Dicken’s Christmas Carol provides a template of this turning heart. Good Unitarian that he was, sort of, Dicken’s showed the way of “salvation by character.” That is, how we can notice what we have been doing, and change our actions, our direction in life.

In Abramoff’s case, the words in his plea were right. He declared his brokenness clearly. He claimed to now be different than the arrogant and corrupt person. He asked for mercy.

What he got was four years. (I suspect in Club Fed. The white collar criminal is too rarely treated like the hoi polloi…) Still, I understand this was considered a harsher sentence than was expected.

If our actions reap consequences, frankly, it didn’t sound all that harsh considering the damage he did. But, I don’t know.

What I do know is that he has in the midst of all this presented a possibility for himself.

If he takes these next couple of years as opportunity, if he is willing to actually cultivate that generous part of his heart, well, who knows what man will emerge from prison.

For me at this moment, the invitation here is to look into my own heart, to look at what I am doing and not doing, and to reflect.

On this sad occasion for one man, perhaps, if for no other reason, out of respect for his humanity and our common suffering humanity, we all might undertake such an inventory…

Perhaps it could even make the world a tiny bit better place…