Dear Mr. Trump,
There’s a weight to anger, pride, and hate that is spiritually discernible, even though it is physically weightless. It weighs our soul, fills our hearts, and occupies our minds. Though it does give us a form of power. But anger, pride, and hate are the lesser power which I addressed in an earlier letter.
The lesser powers of anger, pride, and hate rule Washington. It rules so many of us. We are embarrassed to think that loving our opponents might be a greater power than hate. So, on our way to any conflict, be it in Washington, next door, or in the next room, we leave our love out of the fray and unwittingly dumb ourselves down to conquer our foe. When some people encounter the force of anger, pride, or hate we deliver, they employ a greater amount of the same to prevail.
The result is an escalating arms race of lesser power, which only scorches the earth that much more.
Ironically, the greater power, that we leave at home, uplifts us rather than weighs us down, opens our mind to solutions that a hateful mind cannot grasp, and enlarges our souls in a way that gives us the desire to find answers that were hidden in hate but are visible through love.
Why must we fight fire with fire? Why not use something that actually extinguishes a fire?
Why not fight hate, pride, and anger with love and humility?
Because we’re more concerned with winning than loving and we believe that hate, pride, and anger are the ingredients we need to win. And we all love winning, including you.
Let me tell you about a winner that you ought to meet; and that we all ought to emulate.
Cael Sanderson: He’s arguably the greatest wrestler in the history of American wrestling. He never lost a match in high school, winning four state championships. He never lost a match in college, winning four national championships. His record was 159 wins, zero losses. No one, either in high school or college, ever beat him.
Oh, and he won a gold medal as well.
And now he’s the head coach for Penn State University, where his teams have won five national championships in the last six years.
I don’t know him well. But, along with Viktor Yushchenko and Rafim, he’s another of my heroes. He’s not a hero because he won four-time national championships or a gold medal, nor because he went 159-0.
He’s a hero because he has figured out that higher power prevails over lesser power–even in wrestling. The only time the higher power doesn’t win is when we don’t bring it to the match.
I have spoken to him several times and also heard him speak a few times. In one of these settings, someone asked his secret to be such good wrestler. His response? “I just tried to implement everything my coaches ever taught me; that’s all I did.” Humility.
Another encounter occurred late one Saturday night in the State College, PA airport. I had just arrived on the late night flight from Detroit. As I entered the waiting area, there stood Cael, alone in old jeans and a baseball cap. Still fresh in the news was his team’s fifth national championship. He was there to personally meet and shepherd a young high schooler who was a potential recruit. He didn’t send an assistant, or a player, or staff. He sent himself, at nearly midnight on a Saturday night. Humility. I congratulated him on his fifth national title, and he simply said. “Thank you. It’s just time to start working for next year.” Humility.
I’m paraphrasing this last encounter with Cael, but still, use quotation marks for emphasis. Said Cael: “Wrestling culture teaches that us to hate, destroy, or kill our enemies—the guy or team on the other side. But Jesus commanded that we should pray for and love our enemies. I became a much better wrestler and coach when I stopped hating and trying to destroy my enemies and started praying for them, loving them, and learning from them.”
Wow.
If such invisible forces—humility and love—access higher power in wrestling, why would we doubt its power in politics, in the workplace, and our homes? We could learn from our enemies.
It just takes someone strong enough to eschew hate and anger in favor of love humbly.
Who will do that? We all must.
Sincerely,
David O. Leavitt
