A meditation on power and reluctance
I sometimes think the rarest political talent is not brilliance, not popularity, not even courage—but the ability to say no when the whole world is already applauding your yes. In the United States, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman gave a sentence so clean it still sounds like it was carved out of stone: “If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve....
The narrative explores the dynamic between public expectation and internal capacity, establishing a pattern where visibility is often treated as a virtue, leading to institutional inertia. The pattern suggests that systems, whether political or religious, prioritize momentum and presence, which creates an environment where endurance is mistaken for service. The specific example of Fr. Saco’s decision to step back provides a critical interruption to this pattern, demonstrating that self-knowledge...
