{"id":5547,"date":"2026-07-01T08:53:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5547"},"modified":"2026-07-01T08:53:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:53:27","slug":"the-american-cincinnatus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/01\/the-american-cincinnatus\/","title":{"rendered":"The American Cincinnatus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast<\/em>,\u00a0click here<\/a>

When America\u2019s ragtag revolutionary army faced one of its darkest moments, George Washington brought out his secret weapon.

His eyeglasses.<\/em>

Things had gone unaccountably well for the colonists in their struggle against the British army, the world\u2019s most elite fighting force.\u00a0By the spring of 1783, treaty negotiations would soon guarantee America\u2019s independence.\u00a0

But the officers of the colonial army were, as one historian put it, \u201ctired, bloody, homesick, and unpaid.\u201d\u00a0The \u201cunpaid\u201d part was what really stuck in their collective craw.\u00a0There was talk of mutiny.\u00a0Unless the Continental Congress came up with the funds they had been promised, these disgruntled veterans would throw the fledgling country into chaos.\u00a0

Washington was horrified.\u00a0For seven years, he had somehow weathered crippling shortages of food, money, weapons, and public support.\u00a0Now it seemed everything might be thrown away.\u00a0

The 6 foot-4-inch general stood before his officers.\u00a0As he had done many times in the past, he appealed to the virtues of public duty and honor.\u00a0

Then he reached into his pocket and retrieved a piece of paper on which he had written some additional remarks.\u00a0He stared at it, then took out a pair of glasses and said, \u201cGentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country.\u201d

Tears appeared in the eyes of the officers.\u00a0Some wept openly.\u00a0Just like that, all the momentum for a mutiny vanished.\u00a0

What in the world had just happened?

In an era that valued carefully scripted public displays of strength and decorum, Washington had made himself vulnerable.\u00a0Few people wore eyeglasses in colonial America.\u00a0Those who did tended to hide the fact, since physical frailties were associated with weakness.\u00a0But this commander was saying to his men, \u201cI\u2019m tired and have suffered, too.\u201d\u00a0They immediately rallied to his side.

Washington went on to successfully lobby Congress for five years of full pay for his officers.\u00a0 \u00a0

On December 4, 1783, he once again huddled with his senior military colleagues, this time at Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan.\u00a0It was widely rumored that he was on the verge of declaring a military coup and establishing himself as the supreme leader\u00a0of a new world order.\u00a0

That’s what conquerors do.\u00a0They typically\u00a0promise\u00a0they are\u00a0fighting for “liberation” and for “the people,” but once they get\u00a0a taste of real power, they become\u00a0exceedingly reluctant to step down.\u00a0\u00a0

Think of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, and the dreary list of dictators who dominated the 20th century. Having vaulted to a place of absolute authority, they refuse to let go, thereby making a capital\u00a0mess of things.

Now Washington was being given the chance to become the first American emperor.\u00a0Many hoped he would do so.

Instead, he walked away.

Washington quietly and calmly told his officers that he was going home.\u00a0He later pointed out that they had just fought a war to be delivered from King George III.\u00a0He had no intention of subjecting them to another King George.\u00a0

No one was surprised when, five years later, he was elected (despite his reluctance) to serve as America\u2019s first president and then re-elected to a second term.\u00a0That’s when\u00a0Washington pulled a second stunner.\u00a0He retired altogether from public life, even though he almost certainly could have become, by public acclamation, Ruler for Life.\u00a0\u00a0

He was hailed around the world as the American Cincinnatus<\/em> \u2013 a high compliment.\u00a0

The Roman consul Cincinnatus was plowing his fields in 458 B.C. when members of the Senate rushed to his farm and begged him to save the city from invasion.\u00a0Cincinnatus became a dictator, defeated Rome\u2019s enemies, then\u00a0promptly returned to his farm. He did the same thing again in 439 B.C. \u2013 serving the common good, then hanging up his toga forever.

A group of Americans formed the Society of the Cincinnati in 1783 in order to promote selfless service and public virtue.\u00a0

They even lent their name to a hamlet on the north side of the Ohio River.\u00a0That village grew to become a metropolis where, in the spirit of Cincinnatus, the local NFL franchise every year gladly turns down the opportunity to win a Super Bowl so that another city might experience the joy of being champions.

Back in England, King George III was impressed.\u00a0When told that Washington intended to step down, he said, \u201cIf he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.\u201d

In point of fact, that\u2019s exactly what the real<\/em> greatest man in the world had done some eighteen centuries earlier.\u00a0

The apostle Paul writes, \u201cThink of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn\u2019t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became\u00a0human<\/em>! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn\u2019t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death\u2014and the worst kind of death at that\u2014a crucifixion\u201d (Philippians 2:5-8, The<\/em>Message<\/em>).\u00a0

Walking away from absolute power and all of its perks, for the sake of the common good, is the ultimate test of leadership.\u00a0

When we become convinced that we don’t have to be in control <\/em>of everything \u2013 whether at home, at work, or in the community \u2013 we have a real shot at experiencing the kind of servanthood that Jesus modeled for us.

And who knows?\u00a0We may even show up on the one-dollar bill.
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here When America\u2019s ragtag revolutionary army faced one of its darkest moments, George Washington brought out his secret weapon. His eyeglasses. Things had gone unaccountably well for the colonists in their struggle against the British army, the world\u2019s most elite fighting force.\u00a0By the spring of 1783, treaty negotiations would soon guarantee America\u2019s… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1142,1141,131],"class_list":["post-5547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-american-revolution","tag-george-washington","tag-humility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5547"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5549,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5547\/revisions\/5549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}