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• "What I Believe"

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"What I Believe"

by Robert A Heinlein

Robert A Heinlein (1907 - 1988) was one of the "grand masters" of science fiction, and a man of deeply held (and loudly preached) personal opinions.  The author of such classics as "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Starship Troopers", and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", his novels are filled with strong-willed heroes who fight heavy handed government bureaucracies and celebrate the triumph of the human spirit and the quest for freedom.

Heinlein's works almost always study the conflict between the evils of governmental/social regulation, and the innate goodness which is in all men.  Heinlein's heroes faced adversity, prejudice, ignorance, and stifling bureaucrats at every opportunity, yet somehow always emerged victorious because they tapped the wellhead of human ingenuity.

Heinlein's optimistic vision of his fellow man, captured in this short essay delivered in 1952 in a radio interview with Edward R Murrow, seems as relevant today as it was then.  We tend to think that we've sunk to new lows.  In truth, we're just fighting the same problems humanity has faced for 10,000 years, and will continue to face in the next 10,000 years.

Casey Bralla

2004-06-09

I am not going to talk about religious beliefs but about matters so obvious that it has gone out of style to mention them. I believe in my neighbors. I know their faults, and I know that their virtues far outweigh their faults. Take Father Michael down our road a piece. I'm not of his creed, but I know that goodness and charity and loving kindness shine in his daily actions. I believe in Father Mike. If I'm in trouble, I'll go to him.

My next-door neighbor is a veterinary doctor. Doc will get out of bed after a hard day to help a stray cat. No fee--no prospect of a fee--I believe in Doc.

I believe in my townspeople. You can knock on any door in our town saying, "I'm hungry," and you will be fed. Our town is no exception. I've found the same ready charity everywhere. But for the one who says, "To heck with you - I got mine," there are a hundred, a thousand who will say, "Sure, pal, sit down."

I know that despite all warnings against hitchhikers, I can step up to the highway, thumb for a ride and in a few minutes a car or a truck will stop and someone will say, "Climb in Mac - How far you going?"

I believe in my fellow citizens. Our headlines are splashed with crime yet for every criminal there are 10,000 honest, decent, kindly men. If it were not so, no child would live to grow up. Business could not go on from day to day. Decency is not news. It is buried in the obituaries, but is a force stronger than crime. I believe in the patient gallantry of nurses and the tedious sacrifices of teachers. I believe in the unseen and unending fight against desperate odds that goes on quietly in almost every home in the land.

I believe in the honest craft of workmen. Take a look around you. There never were enough bosses to check up on all that work. From Independence Hall to the Grand Coulee Dam, these things were built level and square by craftsmen who were honest in their bones.

I believe that almost all politicians are honest. . .there are hundreds of politicians, low paid or not paid at all, doing their level best without thanks or glory to make our system work. If this were not true we would never have gotten past the 13 colonies.

I believe in Rodger Young¹. You and I are free today because of endless unnamed heroes from Valley Forge to the Yalu River. I believe in -- I am proud to belong to -- the United States. Despite shortcomings from lynchings to bad faith in high places, our nation has had the most decent and kindly internal practices and foreign policies to be found anywhere in history.

And finally, I believe in my whole race. Yellow, white, black, red, brown. In the honesty, courage, intelligence, durability, and goodness of the overwhelming majority of my brothers and sisters everywhere on this planet. I am proud to be a human being. I believe that we have come this far by the skin of our teeth. That we always make it just by the skin of our teeth, but that we will always make it. Survive. Endure. I believe that this hairless embryo with the aching, oversize brain case and the opposable thumb, this animal barely up from the apes will endure. Will endure longer than his home planet -- will spread out to the stars and beyond, carrying with him his honesty and his insatiable curiosity, his unlimited courage and his noble essential decency.

This I believe with all my heart.
 

Footnote:  1.  Rodger Young was a WWII Medal of Honor winner who died attacking Japanese troops in the Soloman Islands.  The main transport ship in Heinlein's novel "Starship Troopers" (and the movie made from the book) is named in his honor.

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