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Arnold’s Corner
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Arnold’s Corner
In Dark Times, Find The Light
Like all of you, I was horrified by the attempted assassination of former President Trump this weekend. I am incredibly happy that he is safe, and my thoughts are with the other victims of this cowardly attack on our democracy and our country.
I know that right now it feels like our country is tearing apart.
There is anxiety and fear. There is outrage and anger. But worst of all, there is hate.
Some people think that these historic moments are pre-ordained. You’ve heard the expression, “The die is cast.”
I don’t believe in that.
I believe that these moments in history are opportunities. They give us a time for choosing. We have the power to write the next chapter.
And I hope that all of us can commit to stepping away from the hate that has consumed our politics.
We must learn to disagree about policy without malice or resentment. We must begin to debate without fighting.
I won’t put on rose-colored glasses and pretend this type of violence is new to America.
Our deadliest war was against ourselves. Four of our 46 presidents have been assassinated.
I arrived in America in 1968. That year, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in April.
When he received news of King’s death on the campaign trail, Robert F. Kennedy said:
“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black. ... let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.”
Almost exactly two months later, after celebrating his victory in the California primary, Kennedy was assassinated.
If the die was cast, 1968 would have been the year the United States tore itself apart.
Despite this chaos, when I arrived in America, I still knew that it was the greatest country in the world.
There was no question in my mind.
That’s the beauty of the America I know. Even in our darkest times, we find a way to see the light, no matter how distant it may be.
We believe that the United States will find a way to be better because for nearly 250 years, even with horrible injustices, wars, tragedies, and scandals, the arc of this country has moved upward. Don’t get me wrong: we have gone backwards, over and over again, but we’ve always found a way to get moving forward again. We are never perfect, but we always have a reason to be optimistic. We always find a way to move toward the light.
Today, too many of our fellow Americans have given in to darkness. I see people choosing pessimism and hate every day.
We can blame the social media companies that created algorithms to amplify negativity. We can blame the foreign governments who make every effort to divide us.
But that’s the easy way out. I always tell you that the path to progress requires discomfort.
We need to look in the mirror.
This search needs to happen in our own hearts and minds.
The big social media companies and our adversaries can only drive wedges between us because we’ve chosen to see each other as enemies, instead of as fellow Americans who have different ideas about the best policies to move the country forward.
This is our choice. We hold the power. We will be the ones who cast the die.
Today, I want all of you to reflect on the Bobby Kennedy quote I shared.
Sit with it. Think about whether you’ve lived up to it. If you haven’t, commit to rejecting that savageness that is inside every single one of us and choosing the path of love, wisdom, and compassion for your fellow men and women.
That is the choice each of us has to make. We can choose to turn toward the light once again.
As you make your choice, I want you to remember President Lincoln’s first inaugural address:
“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
This is up to all of us. This is our choice. We have the power to choose the better angels of our nature. Don’t wait for anyone else to make the first move. Be better, today.
And please, pray for our country.
—
Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell
