Executive function is a clinical term to describe one’s ability to manage his life, to deal with its stresses and strains and to manage them with wisdom. This function of the cerebral cortex offers us “working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control” which facilitates an ability to exercise this gift in fulfilling our basic needs and doing so in cooperation with others… most of which are usually busy trying to do the same. Impairment of this neurological gift will make it “hard to focus, follow directions, and handle emotions.”  Its diminishment will leave us with unconscious fears and anxieties, creating problems for our life and for those around us.

As this pandemic continues to beset us, like a hawk circling above looking for additional prey, our nation’s, “executive functioning” is woefully inadequate, specifically with our Federal government and its “executive.”  We are immersed in a spiritual crisis; and humankind is equipped with an ability to “manage” crises, but only if we can do so with direction and a spirit of harmony. If our collective “executive functioning” functions maturely it will demonstrate a capacity to learn from experience, recognize error, and adjust our strategy.  It will accept responsibility for the crisis, not fretting over “who’s at fault” but on “how can we address this crisis?” most effectively.

We live in a world of contingency; circumstances are always present. But we have been given human “agency”, the capacity to act meaningfully toward what lies before us, hoping that as we do so we are acting toward the betterment of all. With the empowerment of this efficacy, we can facilitate a “purge” of the “common weal.”  And this brings to my mind the illimitable wisdom of Shakespeare, alluding here to his play, Macbeth, when his allies were recognizing the peril of staying with their “executive.”

Well, march we on
To give obedience where ’tis truly owed.
Meet we the medicine of the sickly weal,
And with him pour we in our country’s purge
Each drop of us.

So, will we manage to pour “each drop of us” into the “purge” that we need?  And in present day, the “medicine of our sickly weal” needs to be a spirit of unity, not any “Macduff” and his boys.  Nevertheless, we could readily utilize a leader in whom we can put our faith, providing this caveat is considered—faith in a leader always carries the risk of finding a leader who is nothing but another version of Trump.