For 45 years, I have studied and taught an array of students about the world’s great religions. While the differences in beliefs and practices are many, there is one ethical affirmation that they all share: The true character of a people is revealed in its treatment of its most vulnerable members.

This lofty notion became more than an abstraction when the time came to find a nursing facility for my father. Alzheimer’s had relentlessly hollowed him out. We, his family, had turned into strangers who he could barely recognize, and we reached the dreaded conclusion that we could no longer provide the level of care and attention he desperately needed. He required another kind of home.

We visited a number of nursing homes, some of them little better than warehouses where the the mentally and physically disabled were deposited and forgotten. One elder-care facility stood out as exceptional. This center was operated by the Mennonites. Instead of the usual rows of inmates confined to wheelchairs and left to glare at a loud television set, the patients were actively engaged in art and music classes. There was interactive movement in a simple setting filled with light, the buzz of conversation, the steady flow of visitors and even good food.

When we inquired about the high quality of caregiving, one of the attending nurses answered: “The individuals entrusted to our guardianship have lived full lives, raised families, worked all sorts of jobs and helped their own parents age. We owe them the best we can offer. They give us the opportunity to express our gratitude for the blessings they bestowed on the world and so fulfill the biblical command to honor our elders. Our turn will come, and we will eventually be taking their place – dependent on the next generation.”

The experience of caring for an aging parent poses inescapable challenges and forces us to ponder our own journeys into old age. Yet there is a deeper question that surges beneath the surface, demanding our unwavering attention about the quality of our common life. What does it take not just to establish a humane retirement home, but to uphold a decent and just civic order? What must we do to build and maintain the moral foundations of a political culture worthy of our trust and support, one that we will pass along to future generations?

Our country is contending with a range of issues that have left us polarized and distrustful. Debates about guns and the border, inflation and economic inequalities, abortion and the Supreme Court, international conflicts and global warming are driving our nation into warring camps and an unsettled future. The only certainty coming out of the melee is this: peaceful resolution will require far-reaching cooperation and political leadership.

What then are qualities of political leadership on which we all depend? Who do we believe in our heart of hearts is best equipped to uphold the dignity of the individual and affirm the standards of communal decency? I long for a political leader who will uphold the dignity of people like my father. I yearn for a president who stands up for the weak as well as the strong, a leader who honors and safeguards the most vulnerable among us.

Our democracy depends on leaders who refuse to divide and dehumanize any of us. If the great religions of the world have anything to teach us, it boils down to loving one another, especially the most vulnerable. We cannot afford to give up on one another because our destinies are interwoven.

What is the appeal of a strongman who dreams of retribution and who elevates himself on the backs of fellow citizens whom he has mocked and stigmatized as “losers,” “suckers” and “radical communist thugs”? The wisdom of our ancestors calls for more compassionate solidarity: A house, a city, a nation divided against itself will not stand. Our nation fell into the pit of fratricidal struggle in the past, and we cannot afford to repeat the blunder. A future president owes us nothing less than to bolster the foundations of a democracy that affirms the dignity of all, not least the most overlooked and marginal among us.