Category: philosophy

A Call for the Return of the Status Symbol

Reading the title of this post, you may be tempted to wonder, “Has Andrew had a status symbol stolen from him, and is he asking for it back?” Well, fair reader, resist that temptation! Such a blog post would be entitled, ‘Help, someone’s stolen my [status symbol here] and I want it back!’ Rather, the purpose of this post is to bemoan the death of the status symbol in American society.

I was thinking about this the other day in the gym. I thought, “I wonder…..27….. which of the people around me…..28…….belongs to each of the…….29…..cars in the……..30……parking lot………whew!” As I caught my breath, I realized that there’s no way of telling. Realization further told me that it doesn’t matter much, that any of these people could have any of the cars I was surveying without much regard for their true financial position. That really blew my mind. Hypothetical person X has gone to the effort of putting herself deeply in debt to try to appear as if she has lots of money, when in fact the symbol she’s buying for that express purpose doesn’t say “ostentatious” to anyone. It just says, “eh…. my owner could be rich, or she could be poor. Sure, I’m an Escalade with spinners, but don’t let that fool you.”

What a sad state of affairs. When status drains from a status symbol, it’s not much of a symbol, either. And it’s not as if this has been taken from us: we sold it to the hucksters and the money-changers who said, “Nice things are your birthright in this society,” and, “It’s not fair that the Joneses can have it and you can’t.”

While I abhor the thought that society would become stratified into ‘have’ and ‘have not’ categories, the greater danger is that the loss of those categories leaves no room for aspiration, much less perspiration. When all good material things come to you by dint of your (supposed) deservedness, the concept of seeking in any dimension of life is lost.

What, then, shall we do? First, we must realize that the ability to have something doesn’t imply the obligation to acquire it. True power is ability with restraint. Next, we must be less impressed with posessions, both our own and those of other people. Being less impressed means that people from all strata between ‘have’ and ‘have not’ can sit equally at the table. Compassionate eyes see the man, no matter how the clothes may distract.

These concepts challenge me. I hope you allow them to challenge you, as well.

– Andrew

Humility, forgiveness and terrorism

Previously, I wrote about terrorism and forgiveness. Perhaps I should have approached that with a little more humility. Let me be clear: I am not yet prepared to forgive the terrorists who attacked New York City and Pentagon and attempted to attack Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001. I was pointing to the cross as the only bastion of hope for stopping the cycle of violence. But I’m not ready to pull the handbrake on this sick carousel yet.When I think about forgiveness, I turn to the Sermon on the Mount. When Jesus said, “Love your enemies,” I wonder who he meant. I’ve always imagined that my enemy is probably a person across town who doesn’t like me. I think I may be able to take a stab (pardon the pun) at forgiving that guy. But Jesus seems to define one’s very neighbor as a person of a different, hated nationality in the parable of the good Samaritan. So I imagine that Jesus would define one’s enemy in even more extreme and uncomfortable terms.

Even though I’m not yet able to respond to the evil of terrorism with love, I aspire to being that kind of person some day. And it helps me greatly to know that even though I’m not supposed to seek out vengeance, our God is a Just God who does. In fact, his vengeance and his wrath are more terrible than anything I can even conceive. I’m sure God’s vengeance would make any payback humans could deliver seem silly and childish. It’s like a toddler toting a wooden sword to go after the man who killed his mother.

I’ve read a good bit of the Old Testament. I know if I can trust my God with anything, I can trust Him to take vengeance on those who truly deserve it. I just need to keep in mind what separates me from those I hate and strive to keep from being one whose actions deserve God’s wrath.

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Terrorism in Munich and New York

I’m reading the 9/11 Commission Report right now. I’ll post a book report when I’m finished, but this is intended to be a meta-report of some of my initial thoughts on reading about the events of September 11 and an effective response to terrorism.

Reading about the details of the hijackings brings home to me how evil those acts were. It arouses my ire and makes me wish for vengance. I briefly fanasized about studying to become an expert in terrorism in order to strike back and make a difference. My initial conception of striking back against terrorism involves surgical strikes and very careful elimination of terrorist cells.

Against a backdrop of these thoughts, I went to see the movie Munich by Steven Spielberg late last night. Munich follows my fantasy of assasination-type surgical strikes against terrorists involved in the terrorist attacks carried out by Palestinians against Israelis at the 1972 Munich Olympics. It follows a young Jewish man recruited to carry out these attacks in what amounts to Israeli state-sponsored terrorism. The movie, though violent, doesn’t glorify violence. It takes a very close look at the very real issues surrounding terrorism. As the main character kills those terrorist and suspected terrorists, he witnesses the rise of harder targets and enemies more vile than those he was killing. He also struggles with many complex moral issues attending to the attempts to serve higher purposes with lower means.

Driving home from the theater, I was forced to reject my previous ideas about striking back at terrorism as an effective means of stopping it. I reflected on the “you-killed-my-brother, I’ll-kill-yours” mentality seen in places like Northern Ireland, the West Bank, and my own heart. I realized that the only solution ever presented to this ultra-hard problem comes in the out-of-the-box teachings of Jesus Christ. Forgiveness, however hard, is demanded as the ultimate solution to the cylce of violence and death.

I don’t pretend to make these statements from a position of understanding, as I haven’t lost loved ones to the pain of violence. But God DID lose his Son to us who declared ourselves His enemies. And the cry from the cross, the one calling for forgiveness of Jesus’s tormentors, echoes today across West Bank and Northern Ireland and through the caverns of my dark heart. It’s the first and last solution to the extreme evils of terrorism. This isn’t a call to weakness or to laying down in the face of evil; it’s a call to carry out one of the hardest acts ever imagined. It’s a call to stand up to evil in the world and in our own hearts; and it’s the only weapon ever shown to stop the cycle. God help us.

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