Leadership Thought: The Truth I Learned in My Junior High “Presidential Election.”

Dear Friends,

I tried to going to sleep at 2:30 this morning, but when I couldn’t stand watching the election results any more, I got up, went to my computer, and in an effort to‘ ‘type out’ my political angst, I began writing my Leadership Thought for today.

As lay in bed reflecting on the closeness of the race, my mind flashed back to my first political venture. It took place in junior high school when in 9^th grade I ran for school president. No red states or blue states back then, just the Flats where most of the Italians in my school lived and the Washington Street high  ground where most of my potential 'constituents' lived.

Rocco Pangallo, whom I was running against, would capture most of the Italian vote, so I would have to count on a strong showing from my non-Italian South Washington Street  area supporters.  We waged an exciting campaign. Back then, we both knew the race would be decided by the side who came up with the catchiest slogans and who hung the  most creative posters. No campaign managers, no fancy speeches or campaign promises, just "mano y mano," Rocco versus me, and may the best man win.

I was later told that the race was decided by only one vote, although to this day I can't vouch for the credibility of my friend's account. In any event,  Rocco was crowned president and I was the heartbroken runner up.

I learned a lot about politics in that election. You see in my naivete, I thought the honorable thing to do was to vote for my opponent, and so I voted for my friend Rocco.  And today I still live with the regret of casting that one vote that may have been the difference between my winning and losing the election.

This morning’s presidential race, which at the moment is still undecided, is not unlike that school election that came down to the wire in the halls of South Junior High School. When the last ballot was recorded, and the votes tallied on that election day in 1955, I walked away as second best.

I tell this story knowing that my junior high school adversary Rocco, will probably read this and laugh, as he receives my daily “Leadership Thought.” The story will not be new to him as he has heard it repeated almost every summer when we get together. To this day Rocco remains one of my best friends, and each summer he and his wife rent my daughter’s next door cottage, where we spend time together reminiscing and reliving the good old days,  including the infamous 9^th grade presidential  election that he won by the narrowest of  margins. But despite my ‘bitter loss,’ our friendship has endured  these many years.

Now why do I share this story. It is certainly not because I think that Donald Trump and Joe Biden will become the best of buddies. That could happen, but realistically the chance of it are slim. For no matter who is declared the final winner, each will probably harbor  hard feelings and hold bitter contempt for one another.

Politics has a way of dividing friendships, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Just as Rocco  and I maintain a close personal friendship to this day, so you too can enjoy the same kind of friendship with those who wear the colors of a different political party. Our friendships can and must transcend our political partisanship. There will be far more at stake in the months ahead then were at stake in the South Junior High School election of  1955.

In the days ahead, each of us must strive  to insure that not one of our  friendships is destroyed by our  political differences or our partisan perspectives. 

My ‘political’ battle with my friend  Rocco  was nothing in comparison to the political battle between the late Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Anthony Scalia. They  were known as the odd couple because they were so different. One Jewish and the other an Italian Roman Catholic. They always seemed to take different sides on the issues that would come before them, but they never let their differences destroy their friendship. To sum up their unusual friendship, Ginsburg quoted Scalia who said, “I attack ideas, I don’t attack people. Some very good people have some very bad ideas.” Then later that year, in her memoir, “My own Words,” Ginsberg summed up her relationship with Justice Scalia saying, “How blessed I was to have a working colleague and dear friend of such captivating brilliance, high spirits and quick wit.”

Oh, how I wish  that all our friendships could be like that. If Ruth and Anthony could do it, so can you and I.  As Scalia said to a reporter who questioned how he was able to maintain such a strong relationship with someone who was so politically different, he responded, “ Some things are more important than votes.” And he was right, and one of those things is our lasting friendships.

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom