No One Deserves That

 (This editorial was written 2 weeks before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.)

Anyone who has experienced an unpleasant neighbor has likely faced the problem of what to do about their children.

Yes, parents may do obnoxious and offensive things, but generally we don’t blame the children. Often we feel sorry for them.

It’s somewhat similar with nations. We can be puzzled, angry, dismayed about the actions of a country’s government, yet we tend to forgive their citizens, the more so if the country is led by an authoritarian regime.

It is hard to hold a grudge against the powerless.

But is this always the right course? At what point do we hold citizens responsible, if not to blame, for the regimes that rule over them?

“Every country has the government it deserves,” wrote Joseph de Maistre, in 1811. If any measure of that is true, then aren’t citizens, as a body, ultimately to blame for what their government does in their name? (Indeed, Americans of all political persuasions have reasons to explore this thought, insofar as they may dislike what our government(s) have done in our name over the years.)

Interestingly, de Maistre was a staunch monarchist and leading anti-Enlightenment figure who also happened to be Sardinia’s ambassador to Russia from 1803-1817 (coinciding with John Adams’ time there). It is said his memoirs served as an important source for Tolstoy in the writing of War and Peace.

But I digress.

The essence of a culture, argues Seth Godin, is a people unified by a sense that “people like us do things like this.” So, if a country’s leaders are doing certain things others don’t like, should we not dig deeper and explore whether the culture of that country enables, or even rewards such behavior among its leaders?

An interesting question – easy to pose, hard to answer.

Yet it is difficult to overestimate the impact culture can have in shaping human lives.

Consider the individuals at the center of three of our features in this issue: a street musician, an ob/gyn, and a hermit. In each case, the difficult situation these people find themselves in is the result of a long string of culturally-shaped events and decisions, in some cases stretching back hundreds of years. Yet all three of them show an immense reserve of resilience and tenacity.

That too, we well know, is a core feature of Russian culture.

And now for the elephant in the room.

Here’s hoping that by the time you read this, the US and Russia have found a path into the future that avoids conflict. Because, governments aside, of all the things one can “deserve” in a life, exactly none of them is war.

Enjoy the issue.