Theyve reminded us that you can believe things with greater and lesser intensity, faintly, with words, or deeply and fervently, with a conviction in your bones. Theyve reminded us how much the events of the past few years have conspired to weaken our faith in ourselves. Theyve reminded us how the setbacks and humiliations (Donald Trump, Afghanistan, racial injustice, political dysfunction) have caused us to doubt and be passive about the gospel of democracy. But despite all our failings the gospel is still glowingly true.
This has been a week of restored faith. In what exactly? Well, in the first place, in leadership. Weve seen so many leadership failures of late, but over the past week Volodymyr Zelensky emerged as the everyman leader the guy in the T-shirt, the Jewish comedian, the guy who didnt flee but knew what to say: I need ammunition, not a ride.
It wasnt only Zelensky. Joe Biden masterly and humbly helped organize a global coalition. Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany understood the moment. So did Emmanuel Macron of France and Fumio Kishida of Japan. Across governments, businesses and the arts, we were well led this week.
Theres been restored faith in true patriotism. Over the past few years, weve seen so much sour ethnonationalism from the right, an angry and xenophobic form of patriotism. From the left weve seen a disdain of patriotism, from people who vaguely support abstract national ideals while showing limited gratitude toward ones own inheritance; people who rightly focus on national crimes but while slighting national achievements. Some elites, meanwhile, have drifted into a soulless globalism, an effort to rise above nations into an ethereal multilateral stratosphere.
But the Ukrainians have shown us how the right kind of patriotism is ennobling, a source of meaning and a reason to risk life. Theyve shown us that the love of a particular place, their own land and people, warts and all, can be part and parcel of a love for universal ideals, like democracy, liberalism and freedom.
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Opinion | The Week That Awoke the World - The New York Times
