“Boom and Bust” (Editorial, Tuesday) describes the response of many elected officials to the financial and political crises of our times. My reading of the biographies of people considered to be great leaders suggests that they exhibited similar qualities during periods of crisis, and they all experienced personal and societal crises.
George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa faced troubling times and events by rejecting the urge to put their heads in the sand, rejecting the expedient path, rejecting the temptation to put self-interest ahead of the common welfare and rejecting passion and emotion in favor of reason. They all made mistakes. They experienced failure, and some struggled with despondency, but to paraphrase Mr. Churchill, they “never, never gave up” striving for the common good.
These are the qualities we need in these times.
THOMAS M. DORAN
Plymouth, Mich.
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