March 20 meeting: Who would you invite to your State of the Union address?

Often the “human race” seems like a race to the bottom, with crimes, scams, scandals, greed, and just plain snarkiness ever more prevalent. Are virtues like honesty, kindness, and decency disappearing from the scene while our values, goals, ideals are in a terminal decline? Or, with a little well-directed effort, can we extricate ourselves from this bad patch and raise our standards to a more positive level?

In his State of the Union address last night, Joe Biden gave a hint of optimism. Several times, as a way of emphasizing points he wanted to make, he drew attention to guests in the balcony: The prime minister of Sweden, the president of the UAW, two young activists against gun violence. All of them were people who had done what they could make the world a better place.

Let’s build on his example by thinking about people who, through their actions and values, can inspire us in a constructive direction. With that in mind, we invite you to come to the Cracker Barrel on March 20 and tell us about some good role model you would like to invite to your own State of the Union. Don’t worry too much about the realities. If you want, invite someone who might be too busy to come, or a prisoner of some far-off dictator, or even a historical figure. The main thing is to explain how and why that person inspires you.

The plan will be to go around the table with everyone explaining their choice of role model (max 3 minutes strictly enforced!) After that we can have a more general conversation about what makes a someone a positive role model.

See you then!