JEFFERSONIAN PARADOX...Hmmm?

 It's been decades since my folks took us to Washington, D.C. As a seven or eight-year old kid, (think Martin Richard), the impressive statues and monuments of those who were memorialized there remained in mind, but their words were of little concern to me then.

Just hours prior to the Boston bomb blasts, on Monday, April 15, 2013, we climbed the marble stairs to the Jefferson Memorial's rotunda. The first thought that occurred to me is that we (mankind) have always had a penchant for building significant edifices to one another. Nothing peculiar about that, it is just what it is.

A small wooden brown sign admonished visitors to maintain a quiet dignity while visiting in order to allow others to reflect on whatever they came to consider.

The first view of the interior walls led me to these words on the Southwest Portico;

"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and constitutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as a civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."

-Excerpted from a letter to Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816.

This fascinated me. I had to read and re-read to make sure of its' meaning.

Given the times in which we live and the significant societal shifts taking place, the words "institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times," presented a challenge for me. It raised more questions than answers. One has to wonder, and perhaps serious historians and academics believe they know, but do you suppose Jefferson and his colleagues envisioned a "more enlightened" society in which citizens who benefitted from the freedoms a constitution sought to preserve would lead to a point in time wherein the unborn would prove to be unprotected, the institution of marriage itself would be pressed to a new definition, mad men and women would take up arms in senseless acts of wanton violence and slaughter one another in the streets?

You decide.

Turning 180 degrees to momentarily think this through, the words immortalized on the Northwest Portico, presented what seemed like a paradox to me:

"Almighty God hath created the mind free. All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens...are a departure from the plan of the holy Author of our religion...No man shall be compelled to frequent or support religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively."

-Excerpted from A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, drafted in 1777. First introduced in the Virginia General Assembly in 1779, after he had become Governor. Passed by the Virginia Assembly in 1786, while Jefferson was serving as Minister to France. The last sentence is excerpted from a letter to James Madison, August 28, 1789, as he was returning to America to assume his position as Secretary of State.

My concerns faded after turning to the Southwest and Northeast Porticos.

Southwest Portico

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men. We...solemnly publish and declare, that these colonies are and of a right ought to be free and independent states...and for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour."

-Excerpted from the Declaration of Independence, 1776.

Northeast Portico

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Establish the law for educating the common people. This it is the business of the state to effect and on a general plan."

-Excerpted from multiple sources: "A Summary View of the Rights of British America," "Notes on the State of Virginia," "The Autobiography," letter to George Wythe (1790), letter to George Washington (1786).

Go back and re-read the first and second sentence of the above, "...these liberties are the gift of God."  Let's just take the position that the words of Thomas Jefferson cast in stone here on the interior Porticoes of the Jefferson Monument are indeed his words and based upon his beliefs. If so, there is no paradox after all.

While on one hand Jefferson acknowledged that life is fluid and society is apt to experience certain change, it also is clear that he believed in God Almighty, attributed the creation of man and earth to Him and at the same time wasn't inclined to force those convictions upon anyone else. Having said that, Jefferson evidently concluded that the laws of reason and freedom that he espoused came from the same source, this Creator, this God Almighty.

Leaders like Jefferson are very special, of course. Relatively few achieve or are credited with such great things. This man set one of many important examples that all of us should aspire to. The greatest of these is the fact that he knew what he believed. He put his beliefs in writing and shared them appropriately with others now with long-lasting benefit for many. Business leaders do well to take this example into consideration, that is, to make their beliefs known, hold them dear and clearly communicate them to those they expect to be followers.

[As an aside; I'd love to have the opportunity to ask him if he thought the Almighty God, the Creator he spoke of would be the one that would need to adapt to a society of 'enlightened' mores over time or vice versa. Wouldn't you?]

Jim Naleid is a Life-long Entrepreneur, Change-Agent and Thought Leader, Managing Director of Naleid & Associates and Regional TEC (“The Executive Committee”) Chair leading a group of executives to become Better Leaders, Making Better Decisions with Better Results. http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimnaleid