A Hiro's Brain and Conscience

To many of you, Ben Carson's speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on February 15, 2013 is old news.  It is to me too actually.  I listened to it immediately after it was presented,  listened to it again just now, and heard it at least once in between.  My initial reaction and my current impression is exactly the same--sensible and non-partisan and inoffensive.  You can listen for yourself  here.  Lee N. quoted from it at the public meeting organized by the feasibility committee when he said that an eagle is capable of flight because it has a left wing and a right wing.  Saying that in Washington, of course, has connotations that it did not have at Cedar Crest, except as people there considered the original context.

I was taken aback several days after the speech to see Cal Thomas roundly criticize Carson for the content of the speech--not because Carson was wrong in his position, but because he should not have politicized a National Prayer Breakfast.  In the meantime,  many conservatives couldn't get over how heroic Carson's actions were for telling it like it is and embarrassing the president properly.  So which was it?  Was Carson acting with courage or indiscretion?

I thought it over for several days and concluded that Thomas needed to get over himself--as did those who saw it as a conservative coup de'etat and an Obama embarrassment.  Just because some are accustomed to politicizing "everything," it's not safe to assume that others act in the same way.  I believe it is actually possible to do what I see Carson as having done--rising above the straitjacket of political correctness to address compelling issues truthfully and fearlessly, with right motives, no matter the context or cost.  Certainly, if there were any political parties in Old Testament times and during the Reformation in Europe, the prophets and the Anabaptists' messages were not tailored to fit any particular partisan agenda.  They aimed to speak truth, and their words fell differently on people's ears, depending on how their hearts were prepared to receive truth.

I don't live inside Carson's conscience or brain, but from this great distance, they both appear to me to be in good shape.

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 If I had been a student in the junior college Hiromi attended, I believe he would have been my hero a long time before he became my Hiro.  This is the story I have heard bits and pieces of at various times.

The technical school Hiromi attended developed financial problems after he decided to attend there.  He had enrolled, based on the promise of receiving a certain kind of education.  Many other students had the same expectations.  When it became clear that the administration was failing to deliver as promised, students felt cheated.  Because Hiromi was student council president, others looked to him to help resolve these problems.

Complicating matters was the strong on-campus presence of the Communist Party--among students.  They were antagonistic toward the administration, which they viewed as right-wing, pro-government traditionalists.    Hiromi had to keep working closely with both sides.  If he alienated the administration, they would not treat students fairly.  If he alienated students, he could not help them get what they needed.

Hiromi was not particularly sympathetic to the Communist Party, but students saw that he was willing to take on the administration on their behalf, so they respected him enough not to take matters into their own hands and break out in frustration and anger.  Because he had attended a military prep school before he enrolled at the technical college, the administration could make themselves believe he was on their side--the traditionalist, government side.  But no one trusted him implicitly, except those who had not already taken sides.
 
Hiromi plodded along, writing article after article for student publications.  Keeping everyone informed, meeting with the people he needed to see--it was all very exhausting.

In the end, the effort was only partially successful.  The students and the administration both were a little displeased with him, but it turned out better for students than if Hiromi had not faithfully represented their interests.

Hiromi learned only after we were married and went back to Japan to visit how significant his work as student council president was in his employment prospects.  He learned this from an aging company president we went to visit.  Hiromi had worked for him straight out of college.  When Hiromi reconnected with him again in 1984--at least 15 years after he had left his employment, the president told him a story.

As the owner of an electronics store, he needed additional help and approached someone at the technical college and asked which graduate they would recommend.  They showed him a list of graduates, likely containing some information beyond their names.  Whoever showed him the list pointed to Hiromi's record and said "You don't want him.  He's a troublemaker."

Presumably without batting an eye, the store owner said, "He's the one I want."  When he told Hiromi the story later, he finished with "I was never sorry."  That's my Hiro.

In Japan, cheerleaders are always males.  My Hiro is my biggest cheerleader.