In The Art of Worldly Wisdom, Baltasar Gracian said, “He who has already drunk turns his back on the well, and the orange already squeezed turns from gold into mud.“
Gracian reminds us that it is human nature to turn on someone who is no longer needed.
Therefore, it would seem wise for us to keep this fact in mind, particularly as we assess the intents and purposes of the politicians acting within the social dynamics of recent events. It is not the first time that politicians holding power had the opportunity to extract vengeance.
Let us reflect on the story told by General William Tecumseh Sherman in his Memoirs. The story is set at a meeting with Abraham Lincoln, at a point when the North was assured victory in the bloody U.S. Civil War, with a divided country, and with the opportunity for the North, as victor, to extract symbolic vengeance from Jefferson Davis, the South’s leader:
“During this interview I inquired of the President if he was all ready for the end of the war. What was to be done with the rebel armies when defeated? And what should be done with the political leaders, such as Jeff. Davis, etc.? Should we allow them to escape, etc.?
“He said he was all ready; all he wanted of us was to defeat the opposing armies, and to get the men composing the Confederate armies back to their homes, at work on their farms and in their shops.
“As to Jeff. Davis, he was hardly at liberty to speak his mind fully, but intimated that he ought to clear out, ‘escape the country,’ only it would not do for him to say so openly. As usual, he illustrated his meaning by a story:
‘A man once had taken the total-abstinence pledge. When visiting a friend, he was invited to take a drink, but declined, on the score of his pledge; when his friend suggested lemonade, which was accepted. In preparing the lemonade, the friend pointed to the brandy-bottle, and said the lemonade would be more palatable if he were to pour in a little brandy; when his guest said, if he could do so “unbeknown” to him, he would “not object.”‘
“From which illustration I inferred that Mr. Lincoln wanted Davis to escape, ‘unbeknown’ to him.
“I know, when I left him, that I was more than ever impressed by his kindly nature, his deep and earnest sympathy with the afflictions of the whole people, resulting from the war, and by the march of hostile armies through the South; and that his earnest desire seemed to be to end the war speedily, without more bloodshed or devastation, and to restore all the men of both sections to their homes. In the language of his second inaugural address, he seemed to have ‘charity for all, malice toward none,’ and, above all, an absolute faith in the courage, manliness, and integrity of the armies in the field.
When at rest or listening, his legs and arms seemed to hang almost lifeless, and his face was care-worn and haggard; but, the moment he began to talk, his face lightened up, his tall form, as it were, unfolded, and he was the very impersonation of good-humor and fellowship.
“We parted at the gangway of the River Queen, about noon of March 28th, and I never saw him again. Of all the men I ever met, he seemed to possess more of the elements of greatness, combined with goodness, than any other.“
Lest we forget, the majesty of Abraham Lincoln was in his wisdom, strength, and mercy. A lesser person would want vengeance, even symbolic vengeance.
But, Lincoln understood human nature. Lincoln understood what his country needed of him during the War, and what his country needed of him after the War. Love. Real love. Not hate disguised as love.
The spectacle of a Jefferson Davis post-war trial, by the civil war victor, would only perpetuate hate and divisiveness in the now (re-)United States. Lincoln achieved his primary objective uniting a country by war. Now, Lincoln’s primary objective was uniting a people by peace. Lincoln knew what would and what would not further his new objective: mercy and forgiveness, not retribution. [1]
Lincoln knew when to stop; that is, Lincoln wisely knew when enough was enough. [2, 3]
Abraham Lincoln had wise clarity of intention and purpose, without which the blind will lead the blind, and both will slip in the mud and fall into the well. [4]
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With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on 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. Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address
[1] The Lincoln Leadership Dilemma; Or, The Primary Objective [#GRZ_176]
[3] The Republicans Need to Learn from the Democrats. [#GRZ_215]
[4] Justifiable Fury Is Not Wisdom; To Keep Our Wits About Us [#GRZ_214]
“Homo est dominus legis, lex non est domini hominis.” (“Man is master of law, the law is not master of man.”); “Lex homini servit, homo legi non servit.” (“The law serves man, man does not serve the law.”); “Sapientia non patitur hypocrisin legis.” (“Wisdom does not suffer the law’s hypocrisy.”)
© 2021 Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn. Arnold Zegarelli can be contacted through Facebook.
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