Doug Pugh

No one likes to admit they were naive; it’s an embarrassing form of Should Have Known.

Should Have Knowns are a form of Lack of Awareness for which justifications are few. “I didn’t think,” “I thought I knew,”

“Why didn’t somebody tell me!” etc., etc., are all excuses that promote slippage in our efforts to be aware.

But when a “Should Have Known” arises from a Lack of Awareness due to naivety, embarrassment can result. Opportunities for such embarrassments are increasing.

Take the pronouncements of presidential advisor Stephen Miller. Steve harbors strong opinions about our nation’s approach to foreign affairs. He conveys them assuredly using strong language. But strongly stated assurances don’t always lead to awareness; the lack of which can lead to embarrassment.

For example, Steve maintains: “We live in a world, in the real world, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.” He refers to this triumvirate of attitudes as “the iron laws of the world.” Iron laws, Steve maintains, that justify, ” The strong doing what they can, the weak suffering what they must.”

Secretary of Defense (sic. War) Hegseth maintains we should “Negotiate with bombs.”

When you couple Hegseth’s bomb negotiation technique with Miller’s assurance that “The weak suffer what they must,” unfortunate results can occur, and embarrassment can result.

For example, we dropped a bomb on an Iranian elementary school. It caused the death of 170 people, most of whom were children.

That elementary school was targeted by mistake, but a mistake that was the product of Miller’s iron laws and Hegseth’s bombs. No power on earth will bring those children back.

For every action, there is a reaction.

Where does the greater power lie, with the force that dropped the bomb that killed those innocents, or with the generational vengeance of their families? Just as the vengeance engendered by our involvement in installing the Shah of Iran and his suppression contributed to the Iranian revolution of 1979. (Wikipedia, 1953 Iranian Coup)

You probably remember the story of David and Goliath – the David who slew the giant Goliath.

King Saul offered David a suit of armor to protect him in his confrontation with the giant, but David declined the offer. Instead, he faced this formidable foe wearing the clothes of a simple shepherd.

Before the battle, David selected 5 smooth stones, but he needed only one. Using his sling, he hurled that stone with such force and accuracy that it felled Goliath. Then, using the giant’s sword, David slew him.

Goliath’s army retreated in fear. Having been defeated by a kid with a sling, I suspect they were embarrassed.

Over and over, the story is told: that of the Oak and the Willow. The mighty Oak’s inflexible strength stands against the wind until it snaps; the weaker willow survives because it bends.

Rome, a global superpower in its day, fell to tribes it considered insignificant. Tribes that caused its “embarrassment.”

It was Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence, not an army, that drove the British from India, embarrassed.

Our nation was born through a ragtag army’s endurance, causing the embarrassment of a much stronger foe.

Once upon a time In the village of La Mancha, there lived a gentleman who kept a lance in his lance-rack, an old buckler (a shield for use in sword fights), and a lean hack (an old war horse). This knight-errant, Don Quixote, coursed about attacking windmills.

Sancho Panza was Quixote’s squire. Poor fellow, he endured the embarrassment of his master’s delusions.

Could a modern stone slinger, using non-delusional, smoothly composed computer code, shut down a hospital, a power grid, or a corporation? Have those stones already been slung? Could he slay a giant?

Could our defenses be compromised by thousand-dollar drones downing our million-dollar missiles? Are we being naive? Could we be embarrassed? Talk is cheap.

The world order of international standards and shared goals, the principles of peace, security, and cooperation – despite their lack of perfect execution – have provided us with an unprecedented period of prosperity and peace.

Unfortunately, these accomplishments are being threatened, with potentially disastrous results and substantial embarrassment.

How can we survive?

Not by a triumvirate of iron laws and bombs reigning hate and destruction. Rather, by a triumvirate of logic, cooperation, and respect.

You’ve likely heard this sentiment expressed in more persuasive terms: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” There is no limitation on ‘others,’ all of us are a part of the rainbow of diversity that is the human condition.

It’s a Golden Rule.

In this simple sermon, the ultimate power lies; naivety and embarrassment are forgone, and our ability to survive resides.