From remarks delivered by 2022 Bradley Prize winner
Wilfred M. McClay
in Washington on May 17:
Would a severe nation so utterly lose perspective by itself previous that it will entertain the concept that the nation was based on slavery, slightly than on the beliefs which have made it a beacon to the remainder of the world? And would a severe nation assume it acceptable to show its kids that the nation’s previous is finest understood as a parade of horrors, to which essentially the most acceptable response just isn’t satisfaction however lacerating disgrace? . . .
Nobody needs an account of the American previous that’s sanitized. We are all too conscious of our many faults, and most of us perceive the significance of proudly owning as much as them.
But what we now have needed and wanted as an alternative is an account that locations these faults in correct perspective—that understands them in a lot the identical method that we perceive each flawed however admirable individual we now have ever recognized and cherished. . . .
We must turn out to be a severe nation once more. And to do this, we have to consider in ourselves once more, consider within the purpose we now have been positioned right here, as a land of hope for a world that wants hope greater than ever. We want to grasp {that a} world with out America shall be immeasurably diminished, each in materials and non secular phrases, and that we now have no selection however to stay as much as the duties that include our many blessings. Our historical past might be an infinite useful resource in that endeavor.
The work is not going to be simple. . . . But it is going to be a lot tougher to stay with ourselves, and with the rebuke of the longer term, ought to we shrink from the problem. And as soon as we perceive what’s at stake, we might really feel a sure exhilaration that comes of understanding what’s being demanded of us.
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Appeared within the June 3, 2022, print version.
Source: www.wsj.com”