‘Keep your spirit strong, your mind nimble, and your principles consistent.’

Five-year old boy looks for books at the library.

I was reading a Buzzfeed list recently. They can be addictive. This particular one, I re-read to Becca and our Olders. It had to do with the responses of those who had been tagged as ‘gifted’ early on in school, and one of the recurring refrains was how difficult it could be, when that’s the identity thrust upon you early on, that you have to always excel. You have to be perfect. One person wrote about how if they got a 99/100 on a test, her parents would never focus on the 99…it was always the 1. What did you get wrong? Why did you get it wrong? What’s wrong?

So you study for the test and you always aim for perfection. Which is unrealistic. I’m a strong proponent of setting goals - and often set ones just out of reach - but I’m an even bigger proponent of learning how to handle life when things don’t go the way you want. I think it’s called…

…Resilience.

Resilience has to do with bouncing back when something doesn’t go right, or working harder when you’re trying to understand or learn something and it’s not coming easy.

Resilience is fortitude, hope and discipline in the face of adversity and mishap.

keep your mind nimble.

I love academics. I love ongoing learning in general. Formal, informal, indoor, outdoor, book, academic, hands-on…I like the idea of learning new ideas and skills and how different skillsets can cross-pollinate each other, including the ones you really care about. I think there’s all kinds of ways to keep your mind nimble, but the first has to do with choosing to not reject something or someone because it’s new or different.

Repeat: …there’s all kinds of ways to keep your mind nimble, but the first step has to do with choosing to not reject something or someone because it’s new or different.

Valuing and prioritizing the ongoing pursuit of knowledge and wisdom ties in with the first: choosing to keep going when things don’t go the way you want or plan, or don’t come with the ease you’re used to.

And here’s the third:

Keep your principles consistent.

Mitt Romney. Utah Senator, Republican, one-time Presidential candidate. Did I vote for him? No. Do I agree with him on many issues? No. Do I respect him? Yes.

I respect him for several reasons. One would be that he possesses a basic sense of decency, decorum, and respect for others, including those he disagrees with.

The big thing for me, with him, is that he’s been consistent with his values and his positions. Not unchangeable or inflexible or unwilling to listen. He has shown a willingness to grow, while also often remaining stubbornly, infuriatingly firm on his core positions. But here’s the thing: he’s been consistent.

The person who ran for President and lost in 2012, the same person who was once the future of the Republican Party, is the same person who is now excoriated, excommunicated, and mocked by the Republican Party. The party of which he is still a member. So what’s changed?

Somebody tried telling me, when I asked why (as a Republican) they ridiculed him now, and the response was that ‘…well, there’s things that have come out about him. Things that we didn’t know before.’

No. No, there’s really not. What has changed is many people’s willingness to believe in fear-based paranoia, to conveniently scapegoat and shift blame when that’s easier than facing the truth of of blindly following neo-fascist authoritarianism masquerading as patriotism, and an entire party’s willingness to embrace hypocrisy over…

Consistency.

Mitt Romney has been consistent. And he has paid the price in a big way. He has lost influence, respect (of some), and his future career in politics.

He has been consistent in a way that his foes and rivals and those who didn’t vote for him - including myself - can respect. That is an admirable trait and one we should care about children emulating: that of consistency in supporting basic levels of truth-seeking and decency toward others.

Thank you, Mitt, for that example. The long eyes of history will see that level of consistency. I thank you, on behalf of children everywhere, for setting that example. Even though it has cost you dearly.