Lane von Herzen: The Prize Fighter

My Third Novel's Conclusion, My Heartbreak

My heart begins to break when I think about completing this particular book -- because this narrative has sustained me like no other story I've known. It's both more personal and more universal than my other works. But beyond memory and archetype, it's a cri-de-coeur about needing to become the person one is destined to be. And in the writing, I have met my own life's work, my own fated journey -- having the sense all the while that the pages are suffused with a resonance, an energy, an electrified field that defies explanation. Writers hope and pray to be overtaken by a work in this way -- to be conscripted into passionate service of a profound story. To experience it even once in a lifetime seems a great privilege. I still have several months before this novel is complete, and this constitutes my reprieve. Because I'm not ready for the beauty to end.

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

The Prize Fighter

The day before yesterday, while cleaning my house, I stepped on a slippery floor and launched myself onto the marble tiles below, face first.

This is a difficult stunt, bruising to the chin and the ego.

But, with the help of resilience and honesty, it is entirely survivable.

I have been thinking about our democracy in these terms.

What does it mean for the United States to publicly acknowledge an "insider threat" to our democracy?

It means that we have to be willing to accept the temporary "bruise" to our nation's face.

We have to be willing to acknowledge that we had an unexpected fall.

Without that honest disclosure, our democracy is forfeit.

So, the stakes are remarkably high.

I have always thought that an essential part of American exceptionalism lives within our willingness to engage in self-examination -- to acknowledge missteps -- and to accept responsibility for them.

Our nation draws its resilience from our imperfections, paradoxically enough.

It is our willingness to confess that we have put a foot wrong that allows us to reclaim our path.

So, I am not worried about the temporary bruise to the face of our nation.

I am focused on its strength, its honesty, its good faith, and its healing.

If I look like I've been in a prize fight right now, our democracy has, too.

Only with truth-telling, humility, and full disclosure can we reclaim our bearings.

I believe we're capable of this self-reflection for the simple reason that the preservation of our human rights requires us to be.

We are not called to be a perfect union. We are called to strive for a more perfect union. And that means that, as uncomfortable as it may be, we need to discuss our democracy's stumbles in a public context.

Our worth is bound to our candor. Our freedoms are tied to our truthfulness. Our future is married to our honesty.

If America's law enforcement agencies have faltered by engaging in knowingly falsified law enforcement reporting for anti-democratic objectives, we need to require the truth from them.

And then we need to ask them to stand up one more time.