I found this article in the Christian Science Monitor on Nixon’s legacy quite interesting.  The Schlesinger poll on rating the greatness of presidents has a few surprises (FDR and Washington rated similarly great?  What’s-his-first-name Polk and Teddy Roosevelt rated the same?) but unsurprisingly puts Lincoln alone at the summit.

That reminds me of a "chapel" session from my daughter’s school (non-religious ethical education shared by parents at a monthly get-together).  One week the subject was "moral courage" and of course Lincoln was the primary example of doing something bold and "right" and putting everything on the line for his conviction - the lives of many thousands of citizens, the unity of the nation, and even, as it tragically turned out, his own life.  The definition of moral courage as standing firmly by your convictions in the face of unpleasant consequences leaves it open to an interesting twist.  Jefferson Davis probably put as much on the line for his convictions as Lincoln, but we don’t regularly hail him as a paragon of moral courage.  Lincoln ended up with one big advantage in the history books - his side won.  If the Civil War had gone the other way, it’s unclear that Lincoln would still be topping the presidential top ten.  History is written by the victors.

This also has relevance to our times.  I was excited when I first read Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069 a decade ago with its predictions of momentous crises on the scale of World War II facing my children’s generation.  Not to say that there aren’t continual crises happening, just that once in a while the generational factors align to actually do something significant about those crises.  I was excited thinking of all the looming problems that are worthy of being recognized as crises (degradation of our planet, globalization of adequate living standards and human rights, etc.) and anticipated the consequent resolve to solve them.  Instead it appears that the crises of our time might turn out to be the clash of Western (I can’t bring myself to say Christian) and Islamic cultures, the "war on terror", and the globalization of extremism and exploitation by multinational corporations.

Until 9/11 I hadn’t considered that the momentous work predicted during our lifetime might be something less than inspiring to me.  But now I realize I’ve looked at the historical crises through the lens of history written by the victors, a lens that doesn’t apply to the present.  I hope I’m wrong and we unite to solve problems more worthy of history.