Courage and Failure

Senator John McCain, in a lengthy article published in 2004 - a year in which he was not a Presidential candidate, discusses courage, failure, and responsibility. What he wrote then is more applicable now than ever.

"Courage is like a muscle. The more we exercise it, the stronger it gets. I sometimes worry that our collective courage is growing weaker from disuse.

We don't demand it from our leaders, and our leaders don't demand it from us. The courage deficit is both our problem and our fault. As a result, too many leaders in the public and private sectors lack the courage necessary to honor their obligations to others and to uphold the essential values of leadership. Often, they display a startling lack of accountability for their mistakes and a desire to put their own self-interest above the common good.

That means trouble for us all, because courage is the enforcing virtue, the one that makes possible all the other virtues common to exceptional leaders: honesty, integrity, confidence, compassion, and humility. In short, leaders who lack courage aren't leaders."

Later, he touches succinctly on the fact that, now, there is little accountability for failure:

"When no one takes responsibility for failure, or when responsibility is so broadly shared that individual accountability is ignored, then failure in public office becomes acceptable. It's hard to see how that serves the country."

Of particular note is what drives him, as often as possible, to do the right thing:

"In the past, I've been able to overcome my own fears because of an acute sense of an even greater fear -- that of feeling remorse. You can live with pain. You can live with embarrassment. Remorse is an awful companion."

The President and Congress will need all of their courage - and sense of accountability - as they address the extreme financial problems of our nation. If we are lucky, Senator McCain (although, in his own words, no economic expert) will be in the forefront - leading by example. Even though his two presidential campaigns were unsuccessful, Senator McCain still has much to give his country.

A link to the entire article can be found here.