Friday, Miami, Florida

The assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has rocked the world and altered the chemistry of our own national priorities. For ordinary citizens like us, it further confuses matters. It raises the same questions we have been debating for six years. In a world where religious fanatics act out their depraved ideologies with the mass murder of innocents, we are tuned into our politics with a renewed urgency.

With the political primaries weeks away, how in the world do we come together and respond to these organized psychopaths? And which candidate has a vision that will steer us through?

Do you know what’s best?
Do you feel confident that you know?
Are you sure of the path that your candidate and party prescribe?
Do we go to war?
Do we use more aggressive diplomacy?
Do we act alone?
Are you certain?

I’m not.

In reality I’m in the same position as anyone else going to work, loving my family and trying to enjoy my daily life. And I am at the mercy of the men and women who get to decide the action to take. When it is said that we need to negotiate, I have a choice to support or object to the decision. If I’m told that war is necessary, I can voice my opinion but little more in the moment. We are each in the vulnerable position of trusting what we are told is necessary.

Voicing opinion in public is critical and an important shaper of our political life. But these voices are just that, voices. My greatest discomfort is with the bellicose voices of mouths that roar as if they really know. But in most instances they only know little more than what I know. I know what I am told. It seems to me that it is the posture of certainty which rejects thoughtful dissent that gives us the most trouble.

I pray that the decision makers find a similar balance between visceral action and thoughtful circumspection.