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Lent 2025 Day 24: Leadership, Integrity & the Country We Deserve

"Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it." – Thomas Jefferson

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Waking up every morning and reading whatever new disaster is happening with our federal government is disheartening and exhausting. It’s like watching a bad sequel to a movie no one liked the first time. Every day feels like another blow to what we thought democracy stood for. Didn’t we learn anything from the pandemic? About care, about empathy, about the impact of individual actions on the collective?


Apparently not.


What we learned instead is how many people are comfortable pretending that others' suffering isn’t their problem. That compassion is optional. That misinformation is more palatable than complexity.


What we need—desperately—is good leadership.


I used to teach leadership development for students and adults. One of the first things I’d tell people was this: The best leaders are the ones who lead by example.


Who show up. Who tell the truth. Who surround themselves with people smarter than them and actually listen.


At the end of the day, yes—leadership can be lonely. But no decision should be made in a vacuum. If you're leading with integrity, your decision isn’t just yours. It’s informed by people who hold you accountable, challenge you, and remind you that leadership is never about ego—it’s about responsibility.


The best leaders I’ve had were women. Period.


They had my back when I was accused—unjustly—by men in power. They trusted me. They believed in my work. They defended my name when others tried to tarnish it. And when I was in the wrong? They held me accountable with grace, and gave me the opportunity to do better. That’s real leadership.


We throw around the word “transparency” a lot, especially in politics, nonprofits, and public institutions. But transparency doesn’t come from clever PR campaigns—it comes from character. If you have leaders with integrity, transparency is a byproduct. It doesn’t need to be manufactured.


I’ve worked enough campaigns to know that messaging is everything. In eight words or less, you have to convince people why to vote for you or your cause. And most people don’t trust politicians, because too many of them will say anything to get elected.


When I got involved in political organizing, I always tried to choose campaigns I could stand behind honestly. During the Vote No campaign for marriage equality, I wasn’t personally invested in marriage—but I believed deeply in people’s right to love and choose their own path. That was enough for me to knock on doors and have hard conversations with strangers.


I’ve lost three campaigns myself. It’s humbling. It shakes your confidence. But what it taught me is that the system is deeply broken—and the average person doesn’t vote based on policy. They vote based on fear, soundbites, and the illusion of what they’re being promised. And then they wonder why they never get a slice of the pie. Spoiler: some of us never even get crumbs.


We live in a country that, for better or worse, voted for this moment. And now we’re watching the consequences unfold. My hope is that people are starting to re-evaluate what they really value. Was it the promise of healthcare? Of equity? Of safety nets that actually catch people? Or was it just white supremacy and capitalism dressed up in populist language?


The jury’s still out. But my hope hasn’t disappeared yet.

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Lenten Reflection: Leadership as Spiritual Practice

“When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.” – Proverbs 29:2 (NIV)


Lent is a time to reflect not only on our personal choices, but on the systems we uphold and participate in. We are invited to ask:

🔹 What kind of leaders are we choosing—and why?

🔹 Where are we complicit in injustice because it benefits us?

🔹 How can we model integrity, even when no one is watching?

We don’t need to be elected officials to lead. Leadership is how we show up in our relationships, how we use our platform—however small—and how we respond when injustice knocks at our neighbor’s door.


May we be the kind of people who don’t just hope for better leadership—but embody it.


Take care of yourselves. And take care of each other.


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