May
16, 1999
Thank
God for heroism, that demonstration of service and commitment that moves us to
find and hold to our own highest character.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of witnessing
the Reverend Jesse Jackson speak about character at the Mitchell College
commencement. He reminds me of the late Hiram Bingham, III, of Salem.
Hiram Bingham was a State Department officer in Marseilles at the beginning of World War II
who, by issuing American papers, saved some two thousand five hundred people
from the Holocaust. The New London
County Bar Association recently honored Hiram Bingham, posthumously, for his
heroism in answering the call to his highest character. The irony that we were honoring a man who had
to violate American laws and State Department policies to save lives was not
lost on the assembled lawyers and judges.
As Hiram Bingham saved many lives, I have
wished for the opportunity to save even one.
It is either my good fortune or my blindness that I have not seen that
opportunity. But I have come to see that
little things matter. I can help
here. I can avoid hurt or give comfort
there. In each moment, I can be guided
by the ways, however small, to save lives.
