Toby Ziegler and a Moral Moment
By W. F. Twyman, Jr.
How should one respond to a moral moment? If one doesn’t recognize a moral moment in real time, I cannot help you. If one misperceives the moment and pretends the challenge is not present, I regret the moral failure. The worst response possible is to see laid bare the moral moment and do nothing…because one is afraid or one must consult the political pulse of the campus yard.
The following is a master class in moral character; i.e., how one of moral character engages a moral moment in real time courtesy of White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toby_Ziegler :
Toby went there because the moment demanded moral courage.
Good evening and I will return to posting essays once a day. I so dislike the absence of moral courage in the world nowadays. It is a moral offense to caricature or stereotype anyone because of race or religion. My friend who is also Jewish graduated from Harvard like I did.
Where are her thoughts this evening? I don’t want to think about it.
Oh, yes. I remember that scene. I watched maybe three episodes of this because by this time in my life I was sickened by the entire political circus, but I remember that scene. It is the only West Wing scene I can summon from memory.
Moral clarity is of absolute necessity. It is the only way I have survived and grown these past two years. To be clear, I have always had moral suspicion, a nearness of hitting the target. But these past two years have been redemptive.