What experiences from being a child or early teen might each of us be capable of recalling and describing with candid feeling? Among these are there personal experiences that directly refer to the experiences, very valuable ones and very useful in terms of relationships of reciprocal responsibility and reciprocal opportunity, in a setting that was being provided in a manner that presented each young person with novel personal challenges (e.g., climb up and then down a rope) which, one an explicitly personal level were perceived very individually and differently?
Has any of us, as members of a group, been thus presented with 'opportunity', and have we suddenly realized that for some the opportunities appeared as 'learn to do' actions, for some others there appeared to be genuine hurdles to doing that would involve lots of personal resolve and practice [including partial successes, or at best partial successes], while for some others the whole environment was simply beyond capacity to work and learn within, whether because of natural capacity or sense of self?
I tend to agree that most young people look very positively at challenges and at the naturalness of mutualities (mutual rules, mutual responsibilities) being inherent or in effect.
It is crucial, and this is the relevant observation to what I sense in the current American political environment, that we acknowledge as matter of fact that not everyone will see the point of choosing (or going along with the activities and the rules and the responsibilities involved) to participate, and
these Americans may offer very surprising criticisms of the activities, their merits, their potential benefits as well as inherent risks or downsides.
What we are in the presence of politically in American society is a significant, long-standing, and practical and immediate set of personal risk-benefit perspectives on the very fundamental relationships any person may experience with constitutional governance and well-being and security.
Americans who identify (mostly or comfortably) with what are labeled right-extremism, along with the MAGA supporters are among the many Americans who look at the gymnasium and who look at the equipment and who read the list of rules and responsibilities and, collectively, read 'personal trouble, personal dispossession, personal de-legitimization. They do not share the 'wow' nor the 'how wonderful' perception of American constitutional democratic society that other Americans do. Now they have politically mobilized and are working toward electing public officials and toward enacting legislation (or making and imposing preferred rules by other means than legislative); they want to be represented and lead by people who see the current democratic institutions and general rules as impediments to well-being and security and sources of esteem and who see a very different kind of rules-based environment as not only preferable but necessary.
So, this is a challenge to any person, e.g., to me, who sees the current system as needing much improvement and needs involvement by the inclusively broad and plural citizenry in the institutional mechanics of constitutional governance in order for democratic governance to become for every person what it has the potential to be, i.e., an environment of mutual and inclusive opportunity to thrive, of mutual responsibility and innovation to continue and improve.
The challenge is wholesale change that is democratic and reasoned and cooperative in form and in intent. The late John Lewis, the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and contempories e.g., Prof Snyder to mention only one, see the way forward together as genuinely requiring a sincere and conscientious effort to learn to work together and to not let disagreements become fighting situations. The lessons of human experience (captured and rendered as 'history') need, as the late Edw W Said often wrote or spoke of in lectures, to be written large and studied sincerely and without ego by us all.
As a school administrator, I had Robert Fulghum’s poster framed and hung strategically in my office: ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN. The Queens man never matriculated from kindergarten. Can we send him back to KG?
So well said re: the dangerous preschooler as I don’t believe he was able to make it to kindergarten, a truly life changing event for most of us. I love that Robert Fulgrum book, which is one of the few remaining on my bookshelves, just as Dr Snyders book On Tyranny remains on our coffee table so that all who enter understand where we stand and who we are.
Just lent my copy , Debbie, of On Tyranny to a friend and neighbor yesterday; she knew about it but hadn't read it yet. I underlined almost every page, and made notes, but think she will find it easy to read. One of our retired elementary school principles gave it to me and thankfully has chosen to be a candidate for the School Board this election! He included a note to me that said, "Read it and Read it again and again and then give it to someone else!" Such excellent, short, clear warning signs of how tyranny comes to be and which would be perfectly fine with a significant number of our citizens.
Update: she just brought it back. She read it in one sitting. She was very impressed and it was very concerning to her re how much of the 20 Lessons are already apparent in the US, very much a Warning!
Thank you, Dr. Snyder for an insightful post about being one of many in a democratic community. When we demonstrate respect for our institutions and for ourselves and others in winning or in losing, we are honoring the continuity, integrity, dignity and time that holds the web of connection to things larger than ourselves which serve the greater good. It is such a blessing to have you share with us.
"But the equipment is only there because others assembled it for me. So it is my job to leave it in better shape than I found it." Amen! As a retired teacher, I know that kids' innate reaction to something broken is to try to fix it - albeit, with a little too much glue sometimes 😉 When they see someone deliberately break something, the first reaction is overwhelmingly oooooh I'm gonna tell. As they get older, though, they begin to discern whether to emulate or avoid bullies. Hopefully, we teach them how to stand up and confront the bully for the good of everyone.
What a simple and powerful analogy, Tim! Something the man from Queens never learned and always did the opposite of his entire life. But this was learned behavior as well from his father and prior ancestors from what we know. So it also needs to be passed down in families from in generation to the next!
Just now, l find myself relaxing at the conclusion of two hectic weeks abroad at an international writers conference. My colleagues and l have a renewed
appreciation for the rule of law, as well as the practice of respect for our many differences.
Because of accepted standards of behaviour and trust, we achieved a level of cooperation that brought us together from five different continents.
It’s true, l flew from Queens County without fear or dread, and entrusted my safety and care to many strangers along the way. When l was asked where l came from l inevitably replied: New York City!
Professor Snyder, your efforts to sound the alarm are well-recognized, and much appreciated, but bear in mind that “the man from Queens” is an anomaly who has been stoutly rejected by those who are aware of his descent to power from position of privilege in our town which boasts racial and religious diversity on a grand scale!
The power dynamic in the United States has brought us to a dreadful point in our history, with millions of being swept away morally and politically in a climate of violence and deception. And a political system that is being challenged for its viability! We will have to redouble our efforts to bring a restoration of conscience and confidence in ourselves, and work to restore our leadership position in the world. We have no other option. The whole world is watching and depending on our efforts! In a way, it’s reassuring to know that our words and actions really do matter that much.
Our journey continues when my dear friends and associates return to our respective communities throughout the world- from our journey to Katmandu, Nepal. We have been moved beyond words by our heartfelt reception.
Thank you Dr. Snyder, for your gently written, poignant post. Most voices have become too loud and shrill, reminding me of the oft witnessed scene abroad in which a monolingual person, typically an American or a Brit, repeats his statement at ever increasing loudness as though it will make the poor non-English speaking recipient understand.
And thank you, Dr Snyder for your presence at the congressional hearing a few months back. I found it so informative, especially the idea of political warfare, the subversion of ideas through disinformation that undermines our institutions which underlie and provide context for our interpersonal connection.
…and for showing us how to respond without being reactive, to be concerned without being confrontational, for seeking a solution rather than supremacy.
And we are where we are because a guy who was unable to succeed at anything without cheating refused to accept the fact of his electoral defeat, and rather than act like grownups and send him into retirement, his political party chose to indulge him. And continues to indulge him. Like his father who bailed him out of more than one financial crisis. Like Roy Cohn who bailed him out of more than one legal crisis. Republicans at all levels up to and including SCOTUS are determined to bail him out once again. His guilt is not in question, every one of the crimes he is charged with was in plain sight. Therefore his political allies, knowing that their tenuous grip on power is lost when he is sent to prison, will pull every stunt they can to prevent it. And that too will occur in plain sight. This makes it incumbent on we, the people, to defeat them in November, and defeat them resoundingly.
Bravo, Mr. Timothy Snyder! Your analogy is very apropos and especially poignant to this reader. It should be sent to your friends in the U.S. Congress! (I have shared your remarkable testimony to friends and family.) Thank you for your insight and courage.
Thank you for this brilliant essay! Yes... what we learn when we are children matters! I also grew up in NYC (in the 1960s) and became a big fan of The NY Yankees and baseball overall. I love the film "The Pride of the Yankees" starring Gary Cooper too. The big lesson I learned back then was "It's not whether you win or lose that matters. It's how you play the game." Sadly, today, we see the GOP ignoring the lesson I like to image they heard while playing sports growing up. Cheating in sports has never been tolerated. "Attacking the refs"? Never! Our systems of government (judicial as well as electoral) are the unbiased refs in the game of democracy. Speaker Mike Johnson is attacking the refs. He is a disgrace! I wish Joe Biden would let his Dark Brandon side out and call on Speaker Mike Johnson to resign.
With the noted exception of course, that I grew up in L.A. in the '70s, and am most definitely not a fan of the hated Pinstripers. "The Pride of the Yankees" is a wonderful old film. Teresa Wright could do no wrong!
Little Mikey, the sycophantic Speaker, can do no right!
Thanks for replying. Also, I’m just happy you’re a baseball fan who gets my point, even if you hate the Yankees. 😉
Lastly, Teresa Wright was amazing in that film! I had a crush on her when I was a young boy! And then I met her in 2000, because she was in the 1980 motion picture “Somewhere In Time” which was celebrating its 20th anniversary. That was a surreal moment … when I realized this now elderly woman had played Lou Gehrig’s wife many years earlier!
What?!? I was the best at kindergarten, because I went to the richest, most beautiful kindergarten in the world, here in Jamaica, Queens. That was before the vermin and immigrants and Soros funded types turned my beautiful borough into the cesspool it is now. Biden and the radical fascist left wants kids to skip kindergarten, to skip sandboxes (my sandbox was the most beautiful and biggest too!) and go straight to fake history lessons that don't even mention Robert E. Lee!! These Marxists don't even want kids to nap! Wait a second, I wasn't napping during my kangaroo court trial before the corrupt judge from Columbia!! I was resting my beautiful eyes! What, he's not from Columbia but Colombia?!?!?
What a beautiful and effective parable, Dr. Snyder! Thank you. The lesson is profound, yet clear and easily understood. It is so unfortunate that too many Americans either never learned the lessons they should have in kindergarten (perhaps some had elders that never conveyed these lessons either), or discarded them. And too many of our politicians have this non-caring attitude, which then further unleashes it in the general population.
Wow. Great post. Maybe we should have the children lead us. They have more sense than many running the goverment. Thank you, Dr. Tim.
Or their teachers? Unless the kids made the signs . . .
Interesting question, thanks Ms M.
What experiences from being a child or early teen might each of us be capable of recalling and describing with candid feeling? Among these are there personal experiences that directly refer to the experiences, very valuable ones and very useful in terms of relationships of reciprocal responsibility and reciprocal opportunity, in a setting that was being provided in a manner that presented each young person with novel personal challenges (e.g., climb up and then down a rope) which, one an explicitly personal level were perceived very individually and differently?
Has any of us, as members of a group, been thus presented with 'opportunity', and have we suddenly realized that for some the opportunities appeared as 'learn to do' actions, for some others there appeared to be genuine hurdles to doing that would involve lots of personal resolve and practice [including partial successes, or at best partial successes], while for some others the whole environment was simply beyond capacity to work and learn within, whether because of natural capacity or sense of self?
I tend to agree that most young people look very positively at challenges and at the naturalness of mutualities (mutual rules, mutual responsibilities) being inherent or in effect.
It is crucial, and this is the relevant observation to what I sense in the current American political environment, that we acknowledge as matter of fact that not everyone will see the point of choosing (or going along with the activities and the rules and the responsibilities involved) to participate, and
these Americans may offer very surprising criticisms of the activities, their merits, their potential benefits as well as inherent risks or downsides.
What we are in the presence of politically in American society is a significant, long-standing, and practical and immediate set of personal risk-benefit perspectives on the very fundamental relationships any person may experience with constitutional governance and well-being and security.
Americans who identify (mostly or comfortably) with what are labeled right-extremism, along with the MAGA supporters are among the many Americans who look at the gymnasium and who look at the equipment and who read the list of rules and responsibilities and, collectively, read 'personal trouble, personal dispossession, personal de-legitimization. They do not share the 'wow' nor the 'how wonderful' perception of American constitutional democratic society that other Americans do. Now they have politically mobilized and are working toward electing public officials and toward enacting legislation (or making and imposing preferred rules by other means than legislative); they want to be represented and lead by people who see the current democratic institutions and general rules as impediments to well-being and security and sources of esteem and who see a very different kind of rules-based environment as not only preferable but necessary.
So, this is a challenge to any person, e.g., to me, who sees the current system as needing much improvement and needs involvement by the inclusively broad and plural citizenry in the institutional mechanics of constitutional governance in order for democratic governance to become for every person what it has the potential to be, i.e., an environment of mutual and inclusive opportunity to thrive, of mutual responsibility and innovation to continue and improve.
The challenge is wholesale change that is democratic and reasoned and cooperative in form and in intent. The late John Lewis, the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and contempories e.g., Prof Snyder to mention only one, see the way forward together as genuinely requiring a sincere and conscientious effort to learn to work together and to not let disagreements become fighting situations. The lessons of human experience (captured and rendered as 'history') need, as the late Edw W Said often wrote or spoke of in lectures, to be written large and studied sincerely and without ego by us all.
As in, we cannot make our equipment, the Constitution great again, or even at all, by putting a felon in the White House.
…and he’s so much worse than just a felon.
As a school administrator, I had Robert Fulghum’s poster framed and hung strategically in my office: ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN. The Queens man never matriculated from kindergarten. Can we send him back to KG?
So well said re: the dangerous preschooler as I don’t believe he was able to make it to kindergarten, a truly life changing event for most of us. I love that Robert Fulgrum book, which is one of the few remaining on my bookshelves, just as Dr Snyders book On Tyranny remains on our coffee table so that all who enter understand where we stand and who we are.
Just lent my copy , Debbie, of On Tyranny to a friend and neighbor yesterday; she knew about it but hadn't read it yet. I underlined almost every page, and made notes, but think she will find it easy to read. One of our retired elementary school principles gave it to me and thankfully has chosen to be a candidate for the School Board this election! He included a note to me that said, "Read it and Read it again and again and then give it to someone else!" Such excellent, short, clear warning signs of how tyranny comes to be and which would be perfectly fine with a significant number of our citizens.
Update: she just brought it back. She read it in one sitting. She was very impressed and it was very concerning to her re how much of the 20 Lessons are already apparent in the US, very much a Warning!
Perhaps, back to TK
Thank you, Dr. Snyder for an insightful post about being one of many in a democratic community. When we demonstrate respect for our institutions and for ourselves and others in winning or in losing, we are honoring the continuity, integrity, dignity and time that holds the web of connection to things larger than ourselves which serve the greater good. It is such a blessing to have you share with us.
"But the equipment is only there because others assembled it for me. So it is my job to leave it in better shape than I found it." Amen! As a retired teacher, I know that kids' innate reaction to something broken is to try to fix it - albeit, with a little too much glue sometimes 😉 When they see someone deliberately break something, the first reaction is overwhelmingly oooooh I'm gonna tell. As they get older, though, they begin to discern whether to emulate or avoid bullies. Hopefully, we teach them how to stand up and confront the bully for the good of everyone.
What a simple and powerful analogy, Tim! Something the man from Queens never learned and always did the opposite of his entire life. But this was learned behavior as well from his father and prior ancestors from what we know. So it also needs to be passed down in families from in generation to the next!
Just now, l find myself relaxing at the conclusion of two hectic weeks abroad at an international writers conference. My colleagues and l have a renewed
appreciation for the rule of law, as well as the practice of respect for our many differences.
Because of accepted standards of behaviour and trust, we achieved a level of cooperation that brought us together from five different continents.
It’s true, l flew from Queens County without fear or dread, and entrusted my safety and care to many strangers along the way. When l was asked where l came from l inevitably replied: New York City!
Professor Snyder, your efforts to sound the alarm are well-recognized, and much appreciated, but bear in mind that “the man from Queens” is an anomaly who has been stoutly rejected by those who are aware of his descent to power from position of privilege in our town which boasts racial and religious diversity on a grand scale!
The power dynamic in the United States has brought us to a dreadful point in our history, with millions of being swept away morally and politically in a climate of violence and deception. And a political system that is being challenged for its viability! We will have to redouble our efforts to bring a restoration of conscience and confidence in ourselves, and work to restore our leadership position in the world. We have no other option. The whole world is watching and depending on our efforts! In a way, it’s reassuring to know that our words and actions really do matter that much.
Our journey continues when my dear friends and associates return to our respective communities throughout the world- from our journey to Katmandu, Nepal. We have been moved beyond words by our heartfelt reception.
Thank you Dr. Snyder, for your gently written, poignant post. Most voices have become too loud and shrill, reminding me of the oft witnessed scene abroad in which a monolingual person, typically an American or a Brit, repeats his statement at ever increasing loudness as though it will make the poor non-English speaking recipient understand.
And thank you, Dr Snyder for your presence at the congressional hearing a few months back. I found it so informative, especially the idea of political warfare, the subversion of ideas through disinformation that undermines our institutions which underlie and provide context for our interpersonal connection.
…and for showing us how to respond without being reactive, to be concerned without being confrontational, for seeking a solution rather than supremacy.
And we are where we are because a guy who was unable to succeed at anything without cheating refused to accept the fact of his electoral defeat, and rather than act like grownups and send him into retirement, his political party chose to indulge him. And continues to indulge him. Like his father who bailed him out of more than one financial crisis. Like Roy Cohn who bailed him out of more than one legal crisis. Republicans at all levels up to and including SCOTUS are determined to bail him out once again. His guilt is not in question, every one of the crimes he is charged with was in plain sight. Therefore his political allies, knowing that their tenuous grip on power is lost when he is sent to prison, will pull every stunt they can to prevent it. And that too will occur in plain sight. This makes it incumbent on we, the people, to defeat them in November, and defeat them resoundingly.
Indeed. Resounding defeat through the ballot is vital. Strategically this means: Maximize the vote.
Even a man is not above the law. ⚖️ - Stormy
Bravo, Mr. Timothy Snyder! Your analogy is very apropos and especially poignant to this reader. It should be sent to your friends in the U.S. Congress! (I have shared your remarkable testimony to friends and family.) Thank you for your insight and courage.
The Republican playbook is, "Heads we win, tails you lose." Who puts up with that?
Thank you for this brilliant essay! Yes... what we learn when we are children matters! I also grew up in NYC (in the 1960s) and became a big fan of The NY Yankees and baseball overall. I love the film "The Pride of the Yankees" starring Gary Cooper too. The big lesson I learned back then was "It's not whether you win or lose that matters. It's how you play the game." Sadly, today, we see the GOP ignoring the lesson I like to image they heard while playing sports growing up. Cheating in sports has never been tolerated. "Attacking the refs"? Never! Our systems of government (judicial as well as electoral) are the unbiased refs in the game of democracy. Speaker Mike Johnson is attacking the refs. He is a disgrace! I wish Joe Biden would let his Dark Brandon side out and call on Speaker Mike Johnson to resign.
Couldn't agree with you more, Steve!
With the noted exception of course, that I grew up in L.A. in the '70s, and am most definitely not a fan of the hated Pinstripers. "The Pride of the Yankees" is a wonderful old film. Teresa Wright could do no wrong!
Little Mikey, the sycophantic Speaker, can do no right!
Thanks for replying. Also, I’m just happy you’re a baseball fan who gets my point, even if you hate the Yankees. 😉
Lastly, Teresa Wright was amazing in that film! I had a crush on her when I was a young boy! And then I met her in 2000, because she was in the 1980 motion picture “Somewhere In Time” which was celebrating its 20th anniversary. That was a surreal moment … when I realized this now elderly woman had played Lou Gehrig’s wife many years earlier!
Thanks for your gracious reply, Steve. "Somewhere in Time" was one of the few Christopher Reeve movies I actually liked. Wonderful and sweet film.
To think of The Bloated Yam as attending kindergarten blows my elderly mind. Do you think he ever passed kindergarten? I have grave doubts.
What?!? I was the best at kindergarten, because I went to the richest, most beautiful kindergarten in the world, here in Jamaica, Queens. That was before the vermin and immigrants and Soros funded types turned my beautiful borough into the cesspool it is now. Biden and the radical fascist left wants kids to skip kindergarten, to skip sandboxes (my sandbox was the most beautiful and biggest too!) and go straight to fake history lessons that don't even mention Robert E. Lee!! These Marxists don't even want kids to nap! Wait a second, I wasn't napping during my kangaroo court trial before the corrupt judge from Columbia!! I was resting my beautiful eyes! What, he's not from Columbia but Colombia?!?!?
Good try but you haven’t quite got it. You used too many complete sentences and too many complete thoughts. No cofefe at all.
Given his track record in the upper grades, so do I.
Let’s put him back where he belongs: nursery school.
Reform school is more like it, but it probably wouldn't do any good.
What a beautiful and effective parable, Dr. Snyder! Thank you. The lesson is profound, yet clear and easily understood. It is so unfortunate that too many Americans either never learned the lessons they should have in kindergarten (perhaps some had elders that never conveyed these lessons either), or discarded them. And too many of our politicians have this non-caring attitude, which then further unleashes it in the general population.