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Thoughts on Inauguration Day
Why the world didn’t suddenly change
I’m not excessively old yet, but I’m not as young as I used to be. Over the course of my life, thirteen men have now been president of the U.S., and although I remember nothing of Eisenhower and very little of Kennedy, that’s long enough to have learned not to expect too much of the changing of the guard.
Yes, different leaders have different agendas, different ideas, and different styles. Some prove more effective and others less. But at the end of the day, their administrations are, in the grand scheme of things, as fleeting as a heartbeat. Four years, even eight, is almost nothing in the sweep of history, and what is done by one leader can usually be undone by a successor.
“Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.” (Psalms 146:3–4, NSRV)
Baha’u’llah recounted how, as a child, He witnessed a puppet show in which a king was portrayed holding audience and dealing with various matters of state. Afterward, a man emerged from the tent in which the show was staged, carrying a box. Baha’u’llah asked what the box contained. The man explained that the king, his ministers, and all their “pomp and glory” were contained within. “Ever since that…
