Cory Booker--Leaps Burning Buildings in a Single Bound

At a time when we are being bombarded with politician's negative messages about each other, and are saddled with a Congress that cannot put aside personal gain to do the work they were elected to do and are amply compensated for, it is nice to have someone in public office who seems laudable. Mayor Booker has a commitment to social justice that is remarkable. Mayor Booker is in the news because of personal bravery, but in looking a little closer at his life, he is really remarkable beyond having run into a burning building to save the life of a neighbor. He grew up in an educated upper middle class home in a part of northern New Jersey that I lived in briefly. He parlayed his strong academics and athletics into an education at some well known institutions of higher learning--which is laudable, but not for bravery. The thing he has done that astounds me is that he lived in Brick Towers in Newark. Brick Towers is one of dozens of low income housing projects that were built between 1940 and 1970 that have been a spectacular failure. And very dangerous. Most third world countries are far safer on a day to day basis than inner city American housing projects of that era--and they will hopefully be a thing of the past. Brick Towers was torn down, but not before Mayor Booker put in major time living there. He is a star to watch. In terms of the burning building news, he is doing a good job there as well. He is acknowledging the danger and putting it into a framework in which to deal with it. When you deliver psychological first aid, the first step is help people plucked from the jaws of death to be thankful that they made it out of the situation alive. Glory in that for a awhile. The second step is trickier, and the timing is different for everyone. That is to start dealing with the terror, so that it doesn't take over your life. Mayor Booker has surely been in situations where he feared for his life before, but maybe not one that didn't involve human-controlled risks. A fire is not something you can talk your way out of. Mayor Booker played football at Stanford and was an All-Pacific Ten Academic athlete--he thinks fast and has good instincts as well as the gift of charm, but still, a fire that is engulfing a building has to be a scary opponent. In any case, he is publicly acknowledging his fear and in that process, starting to deal with it, put it in the place that it belongs in his mind. That process is different for everyone, but the people who do best with it not only talk about it, but try to find some good in it. The experience made them stronger rather than weaker, more resilient rather than less so. Even in fear he is an excellent role model.