I think when a world leader dies we should recognize that this is a trying time for the families of his victims, and give those he gravely harmed nonjudgmental space to remember him as they choose.
There are real grieving human beings involved, is what I’m saying, whose lives were much harder or shorter than they might otherwise have been.
A world leader doesn’t belong to just themselves or their family.
They belong to all families. That’s what comes with the monumental responsibility of power and influence enough to chart the course of a nation.
They belong to all families. That’s what comes with the monumental responsibility of power and influence enough to chart the course of a nation.
I belong to my family. If I treat them terribly, that is how they will remember.
So too with leaders.
They belong to those who remember pain as much as to those who remember fondly.
So too with leaders.
They belong to those who remember pain as much as to those who remember fondly.
This question of how we will be remembered should give us all pause— especially our leaders.
And it would do so, too, if we were a society that gave space for all kinds of remembrance.
And it would do so, too, if we were a society that gave space for all kinds of remembrance.
Presently Donald Trump, for example, has no reason to think he can't commit any crime whatsoever—colluding with foreign powers, for example, or fraud for self-enrichment, or lying us into war—and pardon all involved, and still receive a loving sendoff when he dies.
And he will.
And he will.
