American honor must come before personal considerations.

One of the saddest stories in the Prophets revolves around the first king of Israel, King Saul. He had enormous potential, was a great warrior, and had most of the requisite qualities of a great leader. But he did not do what God told him, and God said that He would give his throne to someone else. From that point forward, Saul became consumed with killing David before the latter could become king. Saul and his son were killed in battle, and after some time, David became King David, who ruled 40 years over Israel.

At one point, the prophet Samuel tells Saul that he may be small in his own estimation, but he was the king of all the tribes of Israel — and should behave accordingly. We have all seen great statesmen or leaders in sports and industry. While they were just regular Joes in their previous lives, they rose to the occasion to show the qualities of leadership required at the time. Dwight Eisenhower was never a battlefield commander, but he was chosen to be the Supreme Commander of Allied forces in Europe. He is most associated with the successful Normandy landings, which were ultimately his responsibility.

On the other side of the ledger, there are those who never reached the level of performance or leadership that their positions demanded of them. President Obama landed in China, and the petulant Chinese did not bother to send stairs for his descent from Air Force One. If the then-president had given me a call, I would have suggested he ask his pilots whether they had enough fuel to make it to Japan. If the answer was positive, then the president and his iconic plane should have left China until the Chinese apologized and rolled out a red carpet for his return. The Chinese did just that for President Trump’s recent visit, as they respect a strong president, even if he can be adversarial with them. Act like a leader; be treated like........

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