There are many people I find inspiring either by what they say, what they do, or both. Let’s talk about what some have done.
George Washington and Cincinnatus- Almost two thousand years separate these two men but are united commonly by humility and by an incredible strength; the strength to voluntarily give up power.
In the Roman Republic there was a usually vacant position whose rare user was known as dictator. Dictator were appointed in times of crisis and had almost unlimited power. Everyone who was appointed to its position overstayed their welcome and abused its power to the point of Civil War, save for one. Cincinnatus was on his farm just outside of the city when his fellow senators came to him with a crisis. The consuls, the joint rulers of the Republic, were encircled and outnumbered by Rome’s enemies and the senate has offered him the role of dictator to end this crisis. In 16 days, he rallied the army, stopped the enemy, saved the consuls, resigned from the job and went right back to his farm.
Some doubt the truth of that tale, but they cannot doubt the tale of the Cincinnatus of the west: George Washington. On multiple occasions, Washington was tempted with power. During the Revolution, Congress gave him complete control of the military and he didn’t use that power to overthrow them. At wars end, he resigned that power and between that day and the Constitutional Convention he denounced several attempts to overthrow an incompetent Congress and install him as a monarch. As our first president he set many standards of humility in the office including regarding him as Mr. President and only being in office for two terms.
