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March 2, 2009
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=========================== TODAY'S ARTICLE ==========================
Don't Trust a Shadow, by Rubel Shelly
There are companies devoted to creating and maintaining "image."
Actors, athletes, politicians, executives of major corporations -- it
is not unusual for them to have someone in charge of their public
persona, their image, their reputation.
At one level, I understand the task of such companies or persons. Given
the fact that celebrities are marketable in terms of their names, it is
not absurd to think that somebody needs to be monitoring what is being
said or put on the Internet. Just think, for example, of the image-name
value of Tiger Woods.
There is another sense, however, in which image and reputation are
quite secondary. One could even say they are unimportant. Since we are
just one week past Presidents' Day, I will let Abraham Lincoln make the
point here. "Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow,"
Lincoln is reported to have said. "The shadow is what we think of it;
the tree is the real thing."
The man who is almost always selected by both scholars and ordinary
folk as the best president in America's history knew whereof he spoke.
He might have spoken with a tinge of melancholy in his voice. It likely
came from deep thought about the turmoil his role in history forced him
to suffer.
Called a "buffoon" by people from his own political party, Lincoln was
hardly thought to be the man for the job as the Union was about to be
severed. Then, as the Civil War raged, politicians, newspapers, and
conversations in village squares indicted him for his ineffective
leadership and bumbling prosecution of a war. His tall, gangly frame
and big ears led to caricatures and comparisons to an ape. The early
signs were not favorable to the greatness we ascribe to him now.
Lincoln lived through the horrible time of the Civil War with personal
integrity intact. He wept for the fallen -- Rebels as well as Yankees.
He was determined to uphold the human dignity of all -- blacks as well
as whites. He planned to restore the Union with healing grace rather
than hateful revenge.
Lincoln believed it was the tree that was to be trusted, not the
shadow.
Some scholars cite his second inaugural address as his greatest speech:
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the
right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish
the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him
who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan
-- to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting
peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.
Lincoln believed it was the tree that was to be trusted, not the
shadow. That it was real character that mattered, not others' opinions.
He was right. Just ask anybody who has trusted image over character.
God's wisdom says it this way:
Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes
crooked paths will be found out. (Proverbs 10:9 NIV)
---------
(c) 2009 Used by permission. From Rubel Shelly <rshelly@rc.edu>'s
"FAX of Life" printed each Tuesday. See Faith Matters for
previous issues of the "FAX of Life."
RELATED LINKS:
* Revenge or Kindness
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200311/20031101_revenge.html
* Just Because You are Right
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200508/20050809_right.html
* Adversity and Power
http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/quotemeal.cgi?day=20090313&s=christian
* RubelShelly.com
http://www.rubelshelly.com/
This article can be found on the web at:
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200903/20090302_shadow.html
=========================== FEATURED PRODUCT =========================
REIMAGINING CHURCH, by Frank Viola
Should a house of worship be a home? Viola suggests a return to the
early Christian model of organic house churches.
http://shopping.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/link?258
Find more great books, CDs and videos at the Heartlight store! With
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