Call it the Kamala Harris two-step: Acknowledge President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, and then assert that he can recover. Full stop.

That’s been Vice President Harris’ message ever since the president stumbled badly June 27 in his first debate of the cycle against former President Donald Trump – a stunning turn that has left the Biden campaign reeling and raised questions among Democrats about whether Ms. Harris should be the one at the top of the ticket. 

If the vice president has a personal stake – including the possibility that she could become the nominee – in President Biden’s failure, she and her team are not letting on. By all appearances, including an apparent lack of leaks, they have remained steadfastly loyal to the man who brought Ms. Harris to this moment.

That’s smart politics, analysts say. And with the klieg lights suddenly on her every move, Ms. Harris has an opportunity to reintroduce herself to the American public after a rough start as vice president. Her stumbles involved tough policy assignments that didn’t play to her strengths, high-profile verbal miscues, and at-times awkward laughter that has turned into a damaging meme. 

Ms. Harris’ troubles have not all been of her own making. Early on, Mr. Biden seemed to distance himself from her as she struggled. He called her “a work in progress,” according to a book chronicling his first two years in office. 

All vice presidents are captive, to some degree, to what the boss and his team want of them, including talking points and staff hires. For Ms. Harris, the pressures have been amplified by her status as the nation’s first female, first Black, and first South Asian vice president, and by the president’s advanced age.

Ronda Churchill/AP

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a post debate campaign rally, June 28, 2024, in Las Vegas.

“It’s been a very slippery tightrope she’s walked, and it’s been difficult,” says a California Democratic politician who has known and worked with Ms. Harris for more than 20 years. 

Mr. Biden has insisted repeatedly that he won’t drop out of the 2024 race. But should Ms. Harris become the nominee, says the California Democrat, speaking not for attribution, those who know her believe she is ready for the challenge. 

“You do not become, as a woman of color, the San Francisco DA, the California AG, a United States senator from California, and the first woman vice president if you’re some kind of dummy,” the California Democrat says, referring to Ms. Harris’ past roles as city district attorney and state attorney general.

Past stumbles still resonate

Even at this high-stakes moment, with pressure on Mr. Biden to step aside, some party members and top donors have reservations about Ms. Harris being anointed as the nominee, preferring an open Democratic National Convention or even a quick “mini-primary” that allows the best candidate to rise to the top. 

Critics look to Ms. Harris’ own failed presidential campaign in the 2020 cycle, which ended before the first primary, as a flashing red light. Then, her campaign was marred by infighting and her own failure to articulate policy stances and a rationale for running. Her vice presidential office, too, struggled early with high staff turnover, but seems to have settled down. 

Still, Ms. Harris may have an ongoing reputational challenge among professional Democrats if she becomes the nominee.

“People within Democratic consultant circles worry about humility and the ability to keep a team together,” says a former campaign adviser to Ms. Harris.

The strategist also notes that, at this late stage in the campaign, a change of candidate at the top of the ticket would necessitate stability among the campaign staff. Other Democrats interviewed are certain that Ms. Harris would just inherit Mr. Biden’s team.  

From second fiddle to the president?

It’s also worth noting that Mr. Biden ran two unsuccessful presidential campaigns of his own – in the 1988 and 2008 cycles – before reaching the mountaintop. And his own two terms as vice president under President Barack Obama no doubt aided his case for the Democratic nomination, and ultimate victory, against Mr. Trump in 2020. 

Michael Buholzer/Keystone/AP

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (center) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left of center) attend the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, in Obbürgen, Switzerland, June 15, 2024.

As much as the vice presidency is the butt of jokes, it can be a springboard to the top job. Throughout U.S. history, seven vice presidents or former VPs have been elected to the presidency in their own right. 

But some critics say Democrats are fooling themselves if they believe Ms. Harris will be an improvement over Mr. Biden in a head-to-head competition with Mr. Trump. They’re letting their emotions rather than evidence guide them, says Mike Madrid, a California-based Republican consultant.

We’re in a political period now of voting against things, not for them, he explains. That makes the likelihood of the base rallying behind Mr. Biden or Ms. Harris in the closing weeks “about the same.” Mr. Biden’s age issue is already baked in, he says, noting that the FiveThirtyEight polling averages show no significant movement between Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden beyond a small post-debate bounce.

“What we’re seeing now is hysteria,” says Mr. Madrid, co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project – a Hail Mary pass based on “feelings” that Ms. Harris’ approval rating has bottomed out and is ready to go up. But “it’s far more likely that her numbers will go down,” he says – especially as Mr. Trump moves to define her.

Still, some Democrats say Ms. Harris is finally ready for her close-up, adding that her on-the-job training as VP will stand her in good stead, should she become the nominee. 

“With the vice presidency, it’s hard. You’re always playing second fiddle, getting sent to funerals and coronations,” says Peter Fenn, a veteran Democratic strategist who has known Mr. Biden for decades. But “I tell you, she has grown a great deal and shown her ability to be a good, strong president.” 

An extensive portfolio and hands-on training

From the start, Ms. Harris has taken on an extensive portfolio of issues, from COVID-19 vaccination and addressing the root causes of the southern border crisis to voting rights, workers’ rights, the digital divide, and the National Space Council. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade two years ago, which ended the nationwide right to abortion, she has also been the administration’s point person on reproductive rights – one of the Democrats’ top issues for November and an issue about which she speaks fluently. 

Susan Walsh/AP

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks ahead of President Joe Biden at an abortion rights rally at George Mason University in Manassas, Virginia, Jan. 23, 2024.

Ms. Harris’ early mishaps, including a bungled interview with NBC anchor Lester Holt from Guatemala about the southern border, reportedly made her leery of doing more television, at least for a time. But she’s clearly emerged from the bunker.

After Mr. Biden’s debate disaster, she defended him vigorously on CNN. While the president is in Washington presiding over the NATO summit this week, Ms. Harris is appearing at a campaign rally Tuesday in Las Vegas, and on Wednesday will be at the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s gathering in Dallas.

The vice president has a devoted following among Black women – an essential Democratic constituency – who are dubbed the #KHive, a play on singer Beyoncé’s #BeyHive. If Mr. Biden drops out and Democrats don’t replace him with Ms. Harris, they risk alienating her core supporters, who might just stay home, political analysts say.

To some voters, all the memes around Ms. Harris make her seem a bit “cringe,” whether it’s “girlfriend” talk, or her love of Venn diagrams, or her late mother’s saying about coconut trees. 

But to retired Democratic strategist and Biden ally Robert Shrum, anyone who votes based on those memes isn’t going to vote Democratic anyway. 

At this point, her messaging problem is “almost irrelevant,” whether she becomes the nominee or continues as Mr. Biden’s running mate, says Mr. Shrum, who leads the Center for the Political Future at the University of Southern California. That’s because the message for 2024 is “obvious,” and the one that Mr. Biden is already using: “Trump is a bad guy. We’ve done a lot. We have a lot more to do.”

Nick Wass/AP

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg throws out the ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the St. Louis Cardinals, in Washington, July 8, 2024.

As NATO leaders gather in Washington this week to celebrate the alliance’s 75th anniversary, politics has already crashed the party.

French President Emmanuel Macron arrives weakened by the prospect of weeks of political deadlock at home after national elections Sunday delivered no clear path to a new government. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rising far-right (in some cases anti-NATO) parties nipping at his heels.

But nothing compares to the doubts swirling around the summit’s host, U.S. President Joe Biden, and his mental fitness for reelection in the wake of his alarming performance in the June 27 presidential debate.

The summit was supposed to be a 32-nation high-five to NATO’s postwar successes. (Read more about those in this Monitor cover story on the alliance’s anniversary.) Highlights this week include the recent addition of new members Finland and Sweden and possible confirmation of Ukraine’s path to membership.

Yet what, from the White House’s perspective, was also to be a testament to Mr. Biden’s global leadership threatens to become three days of intense observation and judgment of the host’s physical and mental capacities.

Moreover, the president’s weakened political prospects can’t help but sharpen concerns among NATO members over what a possible return of NATO-bashing Donald Trump to the White House would mean for the alliance and for American leadership of the transatlantic security structure.

“All the leaders are aware that all eyes are going to be on President Biden in a way they haven’t been before. Every journalist is going to be asking any leader who meets with Biden or has a simple passing conversation with him how he seemed to do,” says one European official, who requested anonymity to comment on a sensitive topic.

“But the bigger question hovering over the summit will be whether this is a kind of high point, to be followed by more contentious relations or even a U.S. departure from NATO,” the official adds. “Those worries were already there, but Biden’s weakness makes them seem more likely and something to prepare for.”

Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

President Joe Biden, with first lady Jill Biden, responds to questions from the traveling press as they board Air Force One at Harrisburg International Airport after attending a campaign rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, July 7, 2024.

The summit will still have its celebratory high points. Mr. Biden and first lady Jill Biden will welcome NATO leaders and other invitees to the White House Wednesday evening for a flashy 75th anniversary party.

On Monday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg threw the ceremonial first pitch at the Washington Nationals’ baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

But the looming question of how NATO members will deal with the prickly question of Ukraine membership in the alliance is now overshadowed by anticipation of Mr. Biden’s formal press conference – his first since November 2022 – at the end of the summit Thursday afternoon.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend the summit knowing the invitation to NATO membership he seeks is off the table, yet hoping for a stronger commitment than what alliance members agreed to at their summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, last year.

Some members are pressing for the word “irreversible” to be used in the summit’s final communiqué to describe Ukraine’s path to membership.

White House officials say the communiqué’s wording on Ukraine accession is still being negotiated. But they add that a commitment to building a “bridge to membership” is already agreed.

That “bridge” will consist of steps to enhance training of Ukrainian forces to prepare them to work better with NATO counterparts, as well as steps to help fight corruption and strengthen democratic governance.

A five-step plan will also include establishment of a new special command in Germany to manage international support for Ukraine’s war effort against Russia.

Czarek Sokolowski/AP

Polish President Andrzej Duda meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (right) at Belvedere Palace in Warsaw, Poland, July 8, 2024. The two held talks on the eve of a NATO summit in Washington at which Ukraine's path to membership will be an issue.

Some Ukraine supporters see any talk of eventual membership as too weak and deferential to an aggressive Russia, while others worry that even imprecise language on Ukraine membership will put the alliance on a slippery path to a step that could put NATO closer to war with Russia.

“A ‘bridge to NATO’ seems to be the phrase du jour for Ukraine membership, but I see that as a semiserious or unserious proposal ... [that] shows once again how the alliance is engaged in a creeping process towards membership,” says Stephen Wertheim, a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

“We’re seeing a pattern where the alliance says, ‘Let countries in, expand, and we’ll consider the costs later,’” he says. Seeing no NATO country as willing to enter the war to fight on Ukraine’s side against Russia, Mr. Wertheim says it is dishonest to dangle NATO membership, which would commit alliance members to defending Ukraine.

For his part, Mr. Zelenskyy will attend the Washington summit not so much interested in debating processes but focused on pressing the urgency of receiving more defenses now against Russian aggression.

That need was underscored by a particularly intense barrage of strikes Monday against Ukrainian cities that left scores of civilians dead and included a hit that partially destroyed a children’s hospital in Kyiv, killing 20.

For some, it was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grim tip of the cap to NATO’s Washington celebration.

Liam McBurney/AP

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stands outside Northern Ireland's Parliament Buildings during his tour of the United Kingdom, in Stormont, Northern Ireland, July 8, 2024.

When the Labour Party took power after the United Kingdom’s general election on July 4, its victory was hailed as a landslide.

The party took 412 of the 650 seats in the U.K.’s House of Commons – 211 more than in the 2019 election. The incumbent Conservatives watched their share tumble from 372 to 121, a record low for the party.

“You have given us a clear mandate,” said Labour Party leader Keir Starmer as he stood on the steps of the prime minister’s official residence, No. 10 Downing St. “We will use it to deliver change.”

Yet a closer look at the statistics shows a different picture.

Labour may have taken 64% of the seats in Parliament, but it won only 34% of the vote. The disconnect between vote share and seats won was even more pronounced for smaller parties: The populist Reform UK secured 14% of the vote, but won only five seats. By contrast, the Liberal Democrats won a 12% share of the vote, but will become Parliament’s third-largest party, with 72 representatives.

These discrepancies have long been a part of U.K. elections, which are geared toward a two-party system. But as more Britons turn their backs on both Labour and the Conservatives, they are wondering whether the current system can represent the country’s widening spectrum of views.

“This election was the most disproportionate on record,” says Tom Brake, a former member of Parliament for the U.K.’s Liberal Democrats and the director of Unlock Democracy, a pressure group campaigning for electoral and democratic reform.

“We now have a situation where 40% of people are voting for parties other than the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. Many of them are now realizing that vote often doesn’t count” in the current system.

House of Commons/UK Parliament/AP

Hundreds of newly elected lawmakers gather in Parliament in London, July 9, after the election that brought a Labour government to power. Among the 650 members of the House of Commons, 335 are arriving for the first time.

No simple answers

The U.K.’s current electoral system follows the principle of “first past the post” (often called FPTP). It means that whichever candidate wins the most votes in a constituency will win its seat in Parliament.

The system is easy to understand – but to critics, its simplicity leaves many voters unrepresented. Many candidates are victorious after winning fewer than half the votes cast, and they head to Parliament without the support of the majority of their constituents.

The system also sees widespread use of tactical voting. If the race between the top two candidates is expected to be tight, many voters will use their ballot to keep their least-preferred candidate out, rather than to express their own beliefs. It is a dynamic that inevitably favors larger parties – a bias that has become increasingly apparent as smaller political groups win more votes but see no change in government.

For many electoral reform groups, the answer is simple: switch to a new system of proportional representation, in which seats are awarded based on a party’s vote share. The format is common worldwide, particularly in Europe. But previous attempts to change the U.K.’s voting system have fallen flat.

In 2011, Britons were asked in a referendum if they wanted to do away with FPTP, to be replaced not with proportional representation, but with a ranked, alternative vote system. The British electorate, however, was unimpressed – 67.9% voted to keep the status quo. The result ended any talk of change for several years.

For Louise Thompson, a senior lecturer in politics at the University of Manchester, one of the reasons for that result was simply apathy. Election reform is an issue that tends to resonate in the aftermath of a ballot but quickly fades, she says. “It’s not really something voters tend to care about between elections. They care far more about health and education.”

This gives little incentive for major parties to push for change – particularly as they are the ones who benefit most from FPTP. “If you’re a government with a big majority, then you’re going to be wary about putting something forward that will inhibit your parliamentary authority at the next election,” says Dr. Thompson.

Hannah McKay/Reuters

Outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, leave No. 10 Downing St., in London, July 5. Despite the record low seats won by Conservatives, the party still earned 24% of the popular vote.

Yet the U.K.’s political landscape in 2024 is very different from the way it looked at the time of the alternative vote referendum. The country’s media landscape is fragmented, and trust in institutions is low. In a June 2024 report, Britain’s National Centre for Social Research found that a record 53% supported changing the electoral system toward one that was “fairer” to smaller parties.

Campaigners believe the time is right to try again.

“Trust in politics has declined precipitously” since the 2011 referendum, says Steve Gilmore, a spokesperson for Make Votes Matter, a group campaigning to introduce proportional representation. “As trust declines, the desire for politics to be done differently – in a way that can give the public more confidence that their voices, that their concerns will be taken into account by government – grows.”

Rebuilding trust

Electoral reform isn’t the only route to greater representation. Changes in other areas of Parliament could provide an answer.

Currently, only the official opposition and the third-largest party are given special rights in Parliament, such as a guaranteed opportunity to speak at the prime minister’s weekly interrogation by members of Parliament (a convention known as Prime Minister’s Questions), or an assured spot on certain parliamentary committees. Expanding such guarantees to smaller parties could be a less contentious way for the government to show voters that their voices are truly being heard.

“Electoral reform would mean waiting for the next general election and hoping that parties don’t learn how to play the new system,” says Dr. Thompson. “Changing internal rules and procedures would make a massive difference now.”

Yet ultimately, campaigners believe that change of some kind will be needed for the country to move forward – and particularly to regain trust among disenfranchised Britons.

“The surest way to improve trust in politics is to deliver for the people,” says Mr. Gilmore. “It’s much easier to deliver for the majority when the majority of people’s voices are actually being represented in government.”

In the lush mountains of China’s western Sichuan province, deep in bamboo-covered forests, the new mission was a closely guarded secret.

Life went on for the team with seeming tranquility – munching bamboo, climbing trees, and sleeping on wooden platforms under thatch-roofed huts. But amid the quiet daily routines, hushed preparations were underway. 

“I don’t know the concrete time – but we are getting ready,” Huang Zhi, director of the Ya’an Bifengxia base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, told The Christian Science Monitor in June.

Then came the word, late last month – it was a go. 

Two rare giant pandas jetted off from Bifengxia base to California, the first pair of panda envoys to the United States in 21 years. Feted in a send-off by American and Chinese dignitaries and accompanied by an entourage from both countries, the young VIPs, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, are now settling in to their official quarters at the San Diego Zoo, priming for their debut public appearance.

Indeed, despite serious U.S.-China tensions, panda diplomacy is alive and well. These furry emissaries were dispatched after Chinese leader Xi Jinping suggested panda cooperation should continue during a November visit to California, where he met with U.S. President Joe Biden, and more are on the way. China’s use of panda diplomacy dates back to the 1940s, and in recent decades, the bears’ mission has expanded – from envoys of peace and friendship to wildlife and conservation ambassadors.

China is “now using the panda diplomacy as a way to underscore their commitment to conservation and the environment,” says Barbara Bodine, distinguished professor in the practice of diplomacy at Georgetown University and a former senior U.S. diplomat. “Pandas are now kind of a twofer,” she says.

Ann Scott Tyson/The Christian Science Monitor

A giant panda mother nurses her baby at the Ya’an Bifengxia base in Sichuan province, China, June 12, 2024.

History of China’s panda diplomacy

Pandas have roamed eastern Asia for millions of years, but the iconic black-and-white bears first captured the hearts of the American public in 1936, when a wealthy U.S. adventurer brought a baby panda back from China and put it on exhibit. With its unique black-fur-ringed eyes, signature waddle, and sixth digit that lets it hold food in a humanlike way, the bear’s cuteness unleashed what was dubbed “panda-monium.” 

The unthreatening, cuddly bears soon emerged as the choice to represent China on the world stage. In 1941, Chiang Kai-shek, ruler of Republican China, first gave pandas to the U.S. in thanks for Washington’s support of Chinese refugees during the war with Japan. Communist Party leader Mao Zedong gifted two more pandas to U.S. President Richard Nixon during his historic China trip in 1972. 

“It’s a brilliant use of animal diplomacy,” says Ambassador Bodine.

To be sure, she says, “The issues between China and U.S. are not resolved when we get two oversized plush toys.” But the wildly popular pandas certainly don’t hurt.

And the bears are more than mere symbols. Panda power is fueling tangible conservation work and partnerships between China and the U.S., and around the world. 

While some have accused the charismatic bears of drawing attention and resources away from other critical species, experts say it’s not a zero-sum game. Protection of panda habitat – some 5 million acres of bamboo-rich forests in western China – is also helping thousands of other animal and plant species survive, including the red panda, golden monkey, and snow leopard, says Fu Mingxia, deputy director of the Management and Protection Center of Daxiangling Nature Reserve, Yingjing County in Ya’an.

Ann Scott Tyson/The Christian Science Monitor

Researcher Yang Xi checks one of 300 cameras set up to capture panda footage at the Daxiangling Giant Panda Wilderness and Reintroduction Research Base in Sichuan province, China, June 13, 2024.

And of course, pandas themselves have benefited greatly. Their population in the wild grew by several hundred since the 1980s, reaching more than 1,800 in 2015 – progress that led the International Union for the Conservation of Nature to downgrade their risk status from “endangered” to “vulnerable.” Another nearly 700 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers worldwide. 

In giant panda research centers in Ya’an, scientists from China, the U.S., and other countries are studying panda biology, breeding, and reproduction. Some 11 pandas bred in captivity were introduced into the wild between 2005 to 2018 and are believed to have survived for at least two years, the life span of tracking devices.

Overall, preventing habitat destruction by logging, farming, and other development has contributed most to the pandas’ improved prospects. China is preparing to conduct another wild panda census next year, and expects to find the population has grown, Mr. Huang says.

The panda cause has raised awareness worldwide about the need to protect endangered species. In 1961, the World Wildlife Fund chose Chi-chi, a panda at the London Zoo, as the model for the WWF logo.

Ann Scott Tyson/The Christian Science Monitor

Zhang Hemin, chief expert at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan province, China, has researched pandas for 41 years. “Pandas belong to the whole world,” he says.

Pandas “can raise everyone’s awareness of environmental protection,” says Zhang Hemin, chief expert at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, who has researched pandas for 41 years. “Pandas belong to the whole world.”

A thriving “pandeconomy”

Wherever they are, pandas bring donations for conservation efforts, as well as economic opportunities from tourism and retail sales.

In Washington, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo is awaiting new panda cubs Bao Li and Qing Bao later this year, filling a void left in 2023 when the zoo had to send its last three pandas back to China after 50 years of hosting the animals. The flurry of excitement is helping the zoo advance its goal of raising $25 million for pandas and conservation, while also stimulating business nearby – a phenomenon dubbed the “pandeconomy” in local news reports. 

In San Diego, residents are eagerly awaiting a chance to see Yun Chuan, a 5-year-old male whose mother was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007, along with Xin Bao, a 4-year-old female called “gentle and well-behaved” by the official Chinese media.

Ann Scott Tyson/The Christian Science Monitor

Protection of panda habitat – which includes millions of acres of bamboo-rich forests in western China – is allowing panda numbers to grow, while also helping thousands of other animal and plant species.

In western Sichuan, pandas attract significant tourism revenues, which translates into jobs for some of the thousands of villagers who were relocated out of panda habitats.

Many villagers in Ya’an go out of their way to protect the pandas – calling for rescues if they come across pandas who appear injured or ill.

Rescuer Zheng Congjun patrols year-round high in Ya’an’s mountains looking for signs of pandas, and has spotted 13 in the wild over his 30 years in the field.

“Once a family found a panda in a tree. They thought it was hurt, so they used bedding, sheets, and rope to make a giant net in case the panda fell,” says Mr. Zheng, director of the Giant Panda Education Center in Baoxing County. “From this, I knew the local people loved the pandas. I love them, too.” 

Unhurt, the panda returned safely to the wild.

In my childhood, the working-class homes on my New Jersey street were wedged pretty close together. This meant that the free-standing, flat-roofed garages behind these houses were also lined up in inviting fashion, with just enough space between them for an energetic, long-legged boy like me to bound from roof to roof.

One late afternoon, when I was 12 years old, I took a great leap onto the next-door neighbor’s garage. Mrs. Strenger, her hair in curlers, came out with a broom and tried to swat me as I crested the gap onto the next roof. She complained to my father, who sat me down that evening and suggested that I look for a job, in the interest of dissipating some of my misdirected energy.

Truth to tell, I had long wanted to be a working adult so that I could have some disposable income of my own.

And so I began the search, going from business to business along the main shopping street, offering to sweep, deliver, clean – anything to earn a few bucks. But it was a no-go.

“Too young” was the repeated refrain.

My last hope was a small pet store run by the no-nonsense Mr. Timmerman. Mustering my courage, I begged him for a job, any job. It was near Easter, and he had just obtained a large number of baby chicks, which were chirping nonstop in the background. Surely he needed help with those. Mr. Timmerman looked me over. “You’re young,” he said with a hint of disapproval in his voice. But my pleading expression must have won him over, because he sighed and nodded. “Come back after school tomorrow.” I was ecstatic. A job! I ran home and told my father the good news.

The next day after school I hightailed it to Mr. Timmerman’s. He pointed me toward a mountain of cardboard shoeboxes in the backroom. Then he handed me a penknife. “Cut a slit in every box for the chicks,” he said. “That should keep you busy for a while.”

I worked apace, nonstop, cutting slit after slit until my fingers were cramped. But with every box I cut, my mind flew like a boy leaping across garage roofs. What would I buy? Sneakers? A BB gun? A skateboard? The possibilities were endless!

After two hours of diligent labor, I returned, glowing, to the front desk. “Done, Mr. Timmerman,” I said as I handed over the penknife, making sure to display my sorely taxed hands. He thanked me, and I watched as he reached into his shirt pocket. Then he handed me my pay: a pen inscribed with the name of the pet store.

I was shattered. But what could I do? I went home, where my father was waiting. “How was work?” he asked.

When I told him my tale of woe, he pulled me in close and put his arm around me. “Did you learn any lessons?”

Lessons? Was that the point of work? I looked up at my dad and said, “Yeah, always agree on the pay ahead of time.”

He smiled. “Let me tell you how I see it. You showed up. You finished something you started. And you did a good job. You can take pride in that.” The last thing he said was, “And it will get better.”

He was right. It did get better. Mr. Timmerman told another proprietor that I was a reliable, hardworking kid, and I picked up some after-school hours for real pay. That first job, then, had been an investment. It enabled me to create something I had never thought about – a reputation.

And it kept me off Mrs. Strenger’s roof.

AP

Officers of the White Angels – a special unit of Ukraine’s National Police – help a woman walk into a van during an evacuation to safe areas, in Toretsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, June 28.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the member states of NATO have bolstered their shared military readiness across Eastern Europe and admitted Sweden and Finland to their ranks. Now world leaders gathering in Washington this week to mark the 75th anniversary of the alliance plan to go further. They expect to deepen their military support for Ukraine and extend security cooperation with like-minded partners in Asia.

These measures mark a push within NATO to apply its long-standing approach to building peace through “defense and deterrence” to a new age of threats. Yet within the alliance, some members are also pushing safeguards for collective security that do not rely on military hardware. One national leader, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, said debates about global security are overly based on planning for war. “We also need to start talking about peace and a pathway towards peace,” he told a forum of policymakers in Helsinki last month.

A bilateral security agreement signed Monday between Poland and Ukraine enumerates what Mr. Stubb may have in mind. It sets a “shared responsibility for peace” on “commonly shared principles of democracy, rule of law, good governance, [and] respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights.”

That is just one of 19 such agreements that individual NATO members have forged with Ukraine. While many include supplying Kyiv with weapons, they also include measures to strengthen governance and ensure that children in war zones keep going to school. That dovetails with Sweden’s national security strategy, which links peace to the security of girls and women.

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, one of Europe’s foremost hawks in response to Russian aggression in Ukraine, argued that encouraging corruption reform in Ukraine is as important as sending it arms. Her argument corresponds with a bilateral security framework the Biden administration signed with Ukraine last month. It encourages “implementation of Ukraine’s effective reform agenda, including strengthened good governance, anti-corruption, ... and rule of law.”

These building blocks, argued Michael Doyle, professor of international affairs at Columbia University, explain why liberal democracies remain peaceful – at least with each other. “When governments are constrained by international institutions, when political elites or the electorate are committed to norms of liberty, when the public’s views are reflected through representative institutions, and when democracies trade and invest in one another, conflicts among republics are peacefully resolved,” he wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine last month.

In a 2021 speech to the United Nations, U.S. President Joe Biden put that more succinctly. “The future will belong to those who embrace human dignity, not trample it.” Russia’s war in Ukraine is expanding NATO’s approach to security beyond arms. It sees peace rooted in human dignity as unshakable.