the resilience of common institutions and sustaining values
A letter written by John W. Boyer, the Dean of the College at The University of Chicago to the class of 2020 came into my email inbox this morning. It was a rich and beautiful letter about resilience and hope. I won't include it all, but want to share an excerpt.
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Many years ago, I remember Leonard Krieger, who was my teacher in graduate school at Chicago, describing his experiences as a young OSS researcher with the rank of second lieutenant during World War II. In the aftermath of the disaster of Pearl Harbor and the early Nazi victories in the Eastern front in Europe in 1941 and 1942, the staff of the Research and Analysis Branch in the Pentagon, of which Krieger was a member, was despairing of what lay ahead, so much so that they asked Professor William Langer, their then boss, what he thought. Was it inevitable that America would lose World War II?
Langer’s response, given in a subdued and cautionary tone, was to recall to them the intellectual habits and tools of an historian. He did so by reminding them that they had all read Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War, and that as students of Thucydides they should know that wars rarely, indeed very rarely, end the way they seem to begin.
I have no idea of the specific personal or emotional circumstances in which Langer made this comment, but Krieger’s point in telling the story was his conviction that history affords essential insights into the fragility and uncertainty faced by leaders in times of radical crisis and change. He also meant that history provides insights into the powerful impact of institutional structures, traditions, and deep cultural patterns, beyond the quirks of individual human choices, in determining historical outcomes. That is, there is a powerful lesson, which I believe offers hope for us today, embedded in the arguments of one of the greatest of ancient historians and his magnificent work about the dire struggle between the Athenians and the Spartans in the Fifth Century before the Common Era. Thucydides reminds us of the resilience of common institutions and sustaining values, and above all of the importance of holding together in support of the human communities that undergird and constitute those institutions. Even dark moments are transitory, and crises can end with bright spots from everyday heroism.
In a word, Krieger’s story was about the intellectual resources of intellect and character that we as scholars and students, and as observers of the fate of institutions, may summon in times of crisis, but it was also about the importance of protecting the people who inhabit those institutions against undue and harmful fears, about the dilemmas of those who are called upon to fight against hopelessness, and about the need to acknowledge the deep emotional and cultural assets that each person brings in sustaining the values and ideals of our institutions and their historical legacy and social impact.
In times of crisis it is important to resist the temptation to live simply in the fears of the moment. There is enormous benefit in reflecting upon the courage and resilience that empowered preceding generations at this university in facing a myriad of crises involving war and peace, social and political turmoil, and the defense of fundamental civil liberties – demonstrating exceptional capacity to shape our personal and collective futures. These lessons serve as inspiration and protect us from immobilizing fear, enabling us to embrace and intelligently shape the still newer possibilities that the present community will most certainly create.
* * * *
Many years ago, I remember Leonard Krieger, who was my teacher in graduate school at Chicago, describing his experiences as a young OSS researcher with the rank of second lieutenant during World War II. In the aftermath of the disaster of Pearl Harbor and the early Nazi victories in the Eastern front in Europe in 1941 and 1942, the staff of the Research and Analysis Branch in the Pentagon, of which Krieger was a member, was despairing of what lay ahead, so much so that they asked Professor William Langer, their then boss, what he thought. Was it inevitable that America would lose World War II?
Langer’s response, given in a subdued and cautionary tone, was to recall to them the intellectual habits and tools of an historian. He did so by reminding them that they had all read Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War, and that as students of Thucydides they should know that wars rarely, indeed very rarely, end the way they seem to begin.
I have no idea of the specific personal or emotional circumstances in which Langer made this comment, but Krieger’s point in telling the story was his conviction that history affords essential insights into the fragility and uncertainty faced by leaders in times of radical crisis and change. He also meant that history provides insights into the powerful impact of institutional structures, traditions, and deep cultural patterns, beyond the quirks of individual human choices, in determining historical outcomes. That is, there is a powerful lesson, which I believe offers hope for us today, embedded in the arguments of one of the greatest of ancient historians and his magnificent work about the dire struggle between the Athenians and the Spartans in the Fifth Century before the Common Era. Thucydides reminds us of the resilience of common institutions and sustaining values, and above all of the importance of holding together in support of the human communities that undergird and constitute those institutions. Even dark moments are transitory, and crises can end with bright spots from everyday heroism.
In a word, Krieger’s story was about the intellectual resources of intellect and character that we as scholars and students, and as observers of the fate of institutions, may summon in times of crisis, but it was also about the importance of protecting the people who inhabit those institutions against undue and harmful fears, about the dilemmas of those who are called upon to fight against hopelessness, and about the need to acknowledge the deep emotional and cultural assets that each person brings in sustaining the values and ideals of our institutions and their historical legacy and social impact.
In times of crisis it is important to resist the temptation to live simply in the fears of the moment. There is enormous benefit in reflecting upon the courage and resilience that empowered preceding generations at this university in facing a myriad of crises involving war and peace, social and political turmoil, and the defense of fundamental civil liberties – demonstrating exceptional capacity to shape our personal and collective futures. These lessons serve as inspiration and protect us from immobilizing fear, enabling us to embrace and intelligently shape the still newer possibilities that the present community will most certainly create.
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