Macron spoke. The contrast is stunning.

French president Emmanuel Macron gave a speech — in English —  and what a speech it was. Among the things he said: 

“Some people think that securing current industries and their jobs is more urgent than transforming our economies to meet the challenge of global change. I hear … but we must find a transition to a low-carbon economy.

“What is the meaning of our life, really, if we work and live destroying the planet, while sacrificing the future of our children? . . . in the long run, we will have to face the same realities. We’re just citizens of the same planet.”

“I believe we can build the right answers … by negotiating through the WTO and building cooperative solutions. “We wrote these rules. We should follow them.”

“Our objective is clear. Iran shall never possess any nuclear weapons. Not now. Not in five years. Not in 10 years. Never. But this policy should never lead us to war in the Middle East, . . . respect for sovereignty must include Iran, which represents a great civilization. Let us not replicate past mistakes. Let us not be naive on one side … let us not create new wars on the other side.”

“There is an existing framework, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) to control the activity of Iran. We signed it, at the initiative of the United States. We signed it, both the United States and France. That is why we cannot say we should get rid of it like that.”

“ . . . commercial war is not the proper answer” to resolve economic tensions. 

Western countries should “not create new walls.”

Macron is a statesman, an educated man, a compassionate man, an inspirational man, so unlike the ignorant, hateful, sneering buffoons who through history, have led their nations to shame, horror, and ultimate destruction.

Read Macron’s speech and make the obvious comparison. Realize how far astray we have gone. Imagine how other nations now view us — we who once were the world’s moral leaders.

Sometimes, in the political heat, we can forget who we are. We can forget what really made America proud.

We are not a nation of walls, but rather, a nation of people — many kinds of people, young and old, rich and hoping to be rich,  black, brown, all religions. We are farmers, city dwellers, laborers, teachers, builders, and thinkers.

And we all came together, deferring our separate interests for the common good. 

That was our greatness. But, lately, we have forgotten. We have been possessed by a selfish, cruel “me-first, me-only” siren song, seducing us to sell our souls to the devil.

How ironic that it took a Frenchman to remind us of our heritage, of what we were and what we still can be. 

We are not the nation of insults and bullying. We are not the nation of hatred and ignorance and anger and enmity.

We are the merciful leader who offers other peoples our helping hand of friendship, not a steel fist of exclusion.

That is our tradition. That is the source of our greatness. We are America, a nation built on caring and the common good.

We now, must turn away from ignorance. We must turn away from the immediate temptations offered by evil.

Remember what kind of people have made America great. Remember, for ourselves, for our children, for all of us.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell