Why real greatness is going to feel bad

The Obama presidency is getting off the ground now, fueled by the rhetoric and promise of ethics reform and a return to diplomacy and the decency imposed by the Geneva Convention. This kind of conscientiousness is part of the plan to restore the luster to the American Dream. It's part of our mythology of American greatness and we want to feel good about ourselves again, regain some of the moral high ground that has been lost. But as I have said before, this will require more than wiping the slate clean, putting a new, best foot forward, and hoping that everyone who has been, and continues to be, hurt by our actions at home and abroad will let bygones be bygones.

The idea that we can just move on, coupled with an emphasis on being optimistic about ourselves and the future, is constantly reinforced by popular self-help books and DVDs like The Secret or The Power of Intention, that assure us that all we have to do to live in a harmonious, satisfying world is to connect with the unlimited abundance of the universe and feel good. Feel good about wanting a lot, feel good about getting it, feel good about ourselves in the process, and let the universe take care of the devilish details. According to this philosophy, regret and guilt and shame are harmful emotions which have no value and should be overcome, expunged from one's emotional repertoire along with every other feeling that is unpleasant. Because if you feel good, you make good things happen. More importantly, you are good.

You probably recognize this idea, even if you don't actively subscribe to it.

Yes, public policy and self-help philosophies generally operate in different spheres. But they reflect our collective narratives and they speak to our shared mythology of "the American." The boundary between the personal and the public, the individual and the collective, is very permeable. And honestly, we could use a lot more regret and guilt and shame because these emotions, unpleasant though they may be, connect us to other people and community obligations. They are humbling, the antithesis of the Titanic energy that leads us to imagine that we can be and do and have anything without consequences or payback.

It's not something that I personally long to do, and the gulf between individual decisions and the huge political and economic machinery that drives our lives seems huge. But I think it was Gandhi who said, what you do may not be important, but it is important that you do it.