The most precious gift I received for Christmas this year was the family shield. I knew that it existed, and had often thought of having it placed on a large placard I could hang on the front of the house. I had never done so, however, primarily because I could not reconcile my own ethical values with those that this shield expressed. My oldest son had the shield placed on a three by five foot banner, and sent it as a gift this year to me and his siblings. I am delighted to have it, and will place it in prominent display in my home, because now I understand.
The shield shows the head, neck and shoulder armor of a knight, with billowing trifurcated yellow and red sashes floating away from the helmet on both sides. The armor floats above a chevron shaped shield, which has a red background. On that background are two yellow strands of wheat, with a central gray flower in the middle. Down below, on a yellow unfurling ribbon with red backside, is the family motto: “Do well and fear nothing.”
Although there are many other interpretations possible, as to what message this family shield sends out to the world, mine is that it was formed by farmers who were industrious, worked hard, and believed that they would do well as long as they pushed ahead against whatever obstacles were in their way. They also made it clear they were willing to defend themselves militarily and violently, against those who challenged their way of life. They have to be admired for their diligence, persistence, and fierce defense of their families.
What fascinates me is that although we, as the American branch of this family, are still hard workers, who believe we should find a way to achieve our goals regardless of what obstructions lay in front of us, we have, in most other ways, turned out to have moral values which are the opposite of those expressed on the family shield. Our American branch of the family has had a much different expression of the family genes.
We come by those opposite expressions honestly. We have been, after all, descended from two German brothers, who were about to be conscripted into Kaiser Wilhelm’s army, to fight in the Balkan skirmishes which preceded World War I. Their mother believed that there were other solutions to those personal grievances than military violence. She also believed that her sons would be killed in those battles which led into World War I. So she made a courageous decision. She chose to have her sons alive, even though she would never see them again, rather than have them killed, and buried in German soil. She told them to run, which they did. They fled, leaving their mother, family, land, and European continent, taking her pacifist genes with them to Canada. From Canada, they migrated down into the United States, one of them settling in Wisconsin, the other traveling further south, to settle in the rich farmland of the Missouri river bottoms.
Now that we are five generations removed from those original settlers that carried our name, what have we become? We have become ministers, physicians, teachers, managers, computer experts, graphic designers. We have developed a different interpretation of the world around us. We are pacifists, who believe there are compromise solutions to most every human problem. We believe in military violence only when we have to defend ourselves against psychopaths. We believe that doing what is ethical and right is more important than just doing well. We believe that the more we cooperate with other humans, the greater chance we have of surviving as a species. And we believe that there is not a Divine Being who is personally directing our lives, guiding us toward a greater Good. We know that our survival is up to us, and that we have to make those choices which contain the greatest chances of long term survival. We know that our bodies and minds are one time precious gifts, to be protected against smoke, drugs, bacteria, viruses, human greed, and a host of natural disasters which threaten our- existence. We have to fear everything, and play the odds in all those choices we make.
Perhaps our American family motto should be “Do what is right, and fear the Lord,” and by Lord, we mean those laws of chance and probability upon which this universe runs. But the family shield should not be changed. As an historical document, it is a treasure. It serves as our reminder that we can always do better. We can always do our best to make our society a place where every human, and all of life, is treated with the deepest respect.