Today, I’m thankful for those who do the right thing, even if it’s not the natural thing to do.
In our lives, we are constantly challenged with dilemmas. Sometimes, the path that is most expedient or will bring us the greatest personal gain comes at the expense of a greater mission for our community, our Company, or our nation. One doesn’t need to look beyond the current political storm in Washington to appreciate my sentiment. At other times, we might feel compelled to follow a path that does not necessarily align with our own personal value system, simply because thousands before us have blazed the trail in a certain way. In other words, we might choose to sacrifice our ‘true north star’ simply to maintain the social norms. In our lives, it’s often difficult for us to marry up these competing forces and still maintain a sense of individuality.
Thankfully, today (Dec 23) is a day we can be different – it’s a Festivus miracle!
In 1997, the Seinfeld viewership was introduced to a quirky holiday created by George’s eccentric father, Frank Costanza. Frustrated by the commercial consumerism of the Holiday season, Frank decided to embark on his own path by conceiving a different year-end celebration known as Festivus. Instead of a lush Christmas tree adorned with lights, ornaments, and tinsel (which incidentally can be very distracting), Frank would parade out an unadorned aluminum pole – one with a ‘very high strength-to-weight ratio’. Instead of singing Christmas carols around the dinner table, the family participated in the ‘Airing of the Grievances’, wherein Frank would lash out and criticize his invited guests for how they disappointed him in the past year. And, instead of the peaceful exchange of gifts after a satiating meal at the hands of Estelle, the guests would partake in the ‘Feats of Strength’; such a dastardly act afforded Frank, as the Head of the Household, the opportunity to challenge someone to a wrestling match. The holiday was not over until Frank was effectively pinned to the floor. Since that time, thousands around the world have taken to celebrating this secular holiday. Indeed, Festivus has truly turned into a holiday for ‘the rest of us.’
Now here’s the irony and absurdity of this holiday. Festivus is actually a true phenomenon. When the TV writer Dan O’Keefe wrote the Seinfeld episode that contained Festivus, he was really just parodying what his own father, Daniel O’Keefe, had introduced into their family years before. Sometime around 1966, the O’Keefe family started celebrating Festivus as a celebration of their parents’ first date. As his father would tell the younger O’Keefe, the holiday just popped into his head, and it just seemed like the right thing to do – even if it was somewhat out of the ordinary. Sometimes being a trendsetter is not such a bad idea.
All this reminds me of another famous trendsetting event that took place on this day (Dec 23) back in 1783. After the Continental Army defeated General Cornwallis and the British Empire at the Battle of Yorktown in early October of 1781, nearly two years would pass before a formal truce was signed by the warring parties, ultimately granting the American colonies their independence from the monarchial rule of George III. In fact, the Treaty of Paris was not officially signed until early September 1783. All that time, the Continental Army would continue to remain intact, under the lead of its Commander-in-Chief George Washington, mainly because the British troops had not fully evacuated the colonies. In fact, it was not until November 25, 1783, that the last remaining Redcoats packed their bags and departed New York City for good. As the last ship of militia exited Hudson Bay, many in the colonies waited anxiously to see what General Washington would do. By that time, his stature and popularity with his troops had grown so immensely that he could have easily overrun the defenseless Congress of the Confederation, which incidentally had failed to garner significant support from the American public and seemed incapable of achieving any of its predefined goals.
In fact, Washington, among other leaders in the young nation, had little confidence in the inefficient Congress. With his army at his immediate command, he could have easily stormed the Maryland State House in Annapolis, where the Congress was housed, and declared absolute power via a military coup. Many waited with bated breath to see what General Washington would choose to do, as he arrived in Annapolis on December 19, 1783. Would he hold on to the military power he had accrued & use it to his advantage? Or would he do what was right for the burgeoning nation?
Washington was a man of his word, and, naturally, did the right thing. He wrote a letter to the Congress requesting the method by which Congress would prefer for him to resign his post. After a public ball on Monday, December 22, where Washington marveled the stationed French officers with his ability to dance the minuet, he arrived the next morning, on a cold, blustery Tuesday, into the Senate Chamber at the Maryland State House. There, in front of the entire Confederation assembly, instead of ‘airing his grievances’ or demonstrating ‘his feats of strength’, he chose to read a short speech he had written:
“I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my Official life, by commending the Interests of our dearest Country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them, to his holy keeping. Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of action; and bidding an affectionate farewell to this august body under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my Commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life.”
A famous painting by John Trumbull hangs in the United States Capitol to remind us of this true act of statesmanship.
The next day, the tall, solemn public citizen hopped on his horse and headed off to see his wife, Martha, at their austere home in Mount Vernon. He would stay at his plantation for close to 5 years before he would be called to duty to serve as the first Chief Executive following the ratification of the US Constitution. In 1796, Washington would repeat this act of ‘stepping down’, when he chose to resign from the US Presidency after only two terms in office.
I guess you could say, it was a Festivus miracle. Wouldn’t it be nice if the ‘rest of us’ could follow Washington’s lead?
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