This is a rant about an act that I witnessed last night that epitomized one of the greatest diseases that infects contemporary society (en mon avis).
I was at a dinner conference on the topic of honor and community last night. It was sponsored by my university and all student leaders along with several faculty members and staff were invited to attend. It included a dinner, a motivational speech and a post-speech table discussion.
Before the meal portion of the event commenced, the University Chaplain was invited to say a prayer and bless the food. The portly gentleman made his way to the podium and gave a delightful, but slightly too long prayer that sounded more like the introduction to the motivational speech that was to come than anything else. Rarely did he mention God, never did he mention Jesus. When he mentioned Christianity, it was in the same sentence as Judaism and Islam. When he mentioned Church, it was mixed in with the words 'temple' and 'mosque'. It was as agnostic as a wholesome prayer could get. And as an agnostic myself, I was intrigued and enlightened by his words, not offended or even a bit discomforted.
However, throughout the entire prayer, a fellow female student who was sitting next to me was boiling with outrage. She couldn't believe that there was a prayer! She couldn't believe that a university chaplain had the audacity to engage in an act that was even remotely associated with religion at a non-religious event! It was AWKWARD, she exclaimed. So awkward that she decided to look around with a disgusting little grin on her face and scoff at those bowing their heads in player or respect, as I was. She then whipped out her cell phone and started texting in the middle of the prayer. The icing on the cake, my friends. I guess I could say I was alarmed.
After the prayer, the student tried to make her case about how it was inappropriate for them to pray at such an event. But I just looked at her with crooked eye brows and said, "I don't know. I'm an agnostic and it didn't bother me." I then removed myself from the premises because I feared I might slap her out of frustration. Later on in conversation at the table, I found out that this young woman was not even atheist. She's Jewish!
So, last night as I lay awake I asked myself: Is she an atheist disguised as a Jew? Unlikely given that she later self-identified as a Jew. Did this girl not listen to the chaplain's introduction to his prayer? Or to the prayer itself, both of which acknowledged with respect all religions and the importance of prayer in all of their practices? Clearly not. Because had she listened, she would have realized that the prayer stuck to the Old Testament just as it fit with the new one. But no. Instead, the second that something remotely religious was mentioned by someone who happened to identify personally with a religion other than her own, the student put on her earmuffs and turned on the ignorance.
As a relatively educated individual, I have found that one of the greatest causes of discontent, anger and even war throughout history has been an unwillingness to listen to and respect others despite their differences. Far too often individuals and groups fall into the trap of jumping to conclusions about situations and conversations based on pre-conceived notions of what they might be or mean. Especially when it comes to religion, it seems as though everyone thinks everyone is trying to indoctrinate everyone else.
Ever since I realized that I didn't personally fall into a defined category of religion, I have become hyper-aware of situations like this. Not because I fear indoctrination, but am interested in the way people speak of their religions. I respect other people's beliefs and am intrigued by the way they view them, practice them and, yes, even share them. And I don't say this as a forgiving Catholic or a victimized Jew. I say it as a human being, a citizen of the world, a member of mankind. Because at the end of the day we are people. We are all just trying to make our way in the world. And if we could take a step back and listen instead of avoid, appreciate instead of scoff at, or in the least just take a step back and keep our mouths shut out of respect for others, I truly think this world would be a much more peaceful place.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
My First Verse: Reflecting on the Shooting in Tuscon
Vitriole. It is a noun defined as cruel and bitter criticism. It is a word that was rarely used by the media before an allegedly mentally disturbed young man fired fatal shots at a "Congress on your Corner" event in Tuscon, Arizona. However, now that the alarms have sounded to the tune of gun shots and people have died as a result, the word sounds much more familiar than initially anticipated. Identifying the underlying tone of anger and volatility that has sprouted beneath present-day political rhetoric as vitriole is merely a diagnosis. It is putting a name to a sentiment that hyper-conscious, educated Americans started to feel years, if not decades ago.
It should not be forgotten that vitriole is also a word for sulfuric acid. It is a chemical that industrialized societies heavily rely on, but one that is known for how vicious and corrosive it can be when mixed with the wrong thing. And just as the media is identifying the bitter rhetoric utilized by extremists from the left and the right, most specifically in the Tea Party and other right-winged movements, we are seeing the result of allowing the chemical of uninformed disdain spread through the veins of our national conversation.
Debate, protest, freedom of speech and anger are all essential to the preservation of a true democracy. However, what about compromise at the end of the debate? What about peace in the protest? What about judiciousness and moderation in freedom of speech? And where is the pride, the unity, the patriotism that is supposed to trump the anger?
As grateful as we are for our aging democracy and as beneficial as the growth of technology and the media have been for mankind, it is difficult to look at the world we live in now and not question if we are the nation that we want to be. Do we want to live in such paranoia that we allow for the government to encroach on those very freedoms that these random acts of violence supposedly seek to advocate? No. Do we want to feel as though compromise is a thing of the past and that the only realms of thought worth entertaining are the extremities? No. Do we want to encourage the use of violence against public servants and each other when communicating, voting, and collaborating has proven to be rather productive in the past? I doubt it.
Our democracy has spun out of control into a clusterfuck of fear, complacency and misinformation. We are living in a state of emergency with packages flaring up at mayors' mansions and bullets penetrating the brains of our public servants. And we are the ones to blame. Each and every individual, on the right, the left or in the middle, is to blame. We tune into the biased news channels, we read the inflammatory blogs, we give the extremist groups air time and allow their spinned perspectives of reality to camouflage itself among what is actually real. We are a classic case of Kitty Genovese syndrome. We are all bystanders, failing to call foul as lady liberty, our mother America, is drowned in acidic rhetoric.
As with every tragedy that our nation faces, I sincerely hope that the incident in Tuscon is viewed as an opportunity to change. It may be too late for the victims. But I truly believe that it is not too late for the rest of us.
It should not be forgotten that vitriole is also a word for sulfuric acid. It is a chemical that industrialized societies heavily rely on, but one that is known for how vicious and corrosive it can be when mixed with the wrong thing. And just as the media is identifying the bitter rhetoric utilized by extremists from the left and the right, most specifically in the Tea Party and other right-winged movements, we are seeing the result of allowing the chemical of uninformed disdain spread through the veins of our national conversation.
Debate, protest, freedom of speech and anger are all essential to the preservation of a true democracy. However, what about compromise at the end of the debate? What about peace in the protest? What about judiciousness and moderation in freedom of speech? And where is the pride, the unity, the patriotism that is supposed to trump the anger?
As grateful as we are for our aging democracy and as beneficial as the growth of technology and the media have been for mankind, it is difficult to look at the world we live in now and not question if we are the nation that we want to be. Do we want to live in such paranoia that we allow for the government to encroach on those very freedoms that these random acts of violence supposedly seek to advocate? No. Do we want to feel as though compromise is a thing of the past and that the only realms of thought worth entertaining are the extremities? No. Do we want to encourage the use of violence against public servants and each other when communicating, voting, and collaborating has proven to be rather productive in the past? I doubt it.
Our democracy has spun out of control into a clusterfuck of fear, complacency and misinformation. We are living in a state of emergency with packages flaring up at mayors' mansions and bullets penetrating the brains of our public servants. And we are the ones to blame. Each and every individual, on the right, the left or in the middle, is to blame. We tune into the biased news channels, we read the inflammatory blogs, we give the extremist groups air time and allow their spinned perspectives of reality to camouflage itself among what is actually real. We are a classic case of Kitty Genovese syndrome. We are all bystanders, failing to call foul as lady liberty, our mother America, is drowned in acidic rhetoric.
As with every tragedy that our nation faces, I sincerely hope that the incident in Tuscon is viewed as an opportunity to change. It may be too late for the victims. But I truly believe that it is not too late for the rest of us.
A New Year, A New Blog
In an effort to improve my ability and style as a writer, I have decided to make some changes to my blog for the new year. I started blogging in the summer of 2009 in order to document my first summer internship in the public relations department with the New York Knicks. I continued keeping my blog while studying abroad in London, once I returned to the states and throughout two more internships, with Turner Sports and Wake Forest's Athletic Department. However, as my last semester at Wake Forest University approaches, I want to take a step back from the ordered blog posts and transform this space into something that better reflects who I am.
I am a consumer of culture. I am addicted to current events. I am an information junkie, an opinionated outsider, a young person overflowing with passion for the moderate and disdain for the temperate. Through this blog, I plan to share my logical, politically independent and genuinely curious approach to modern-day happenings. That's why I named it "The Choir". My goal is to speak for the middle, to preach for the choir and to define the gray area of moderation and compromise that contemporary society has to refused to admit exists.
I am a consumer of culture. I am addicted to current events. I am an information junkie, an opinionated outsider, a young person overflowing with passion for the moderate and disdain for the temperate. Through this blog, I plan to share my logical, politically independent and genuinely curious approach to modern-day happenings. That's why I named it "The Choir". My goal is to speak for the middle, to preach for the choir and to define the gray area of moderation and compromise that contemporary society has to refused to admit exists.
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