Illusions and Images

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As a child, my parents took us to feed the ducks, and I learned to respect them for their abilities and their beauty. When I grew up, I realized that it was mostly an illusion, an image, and that the truth beneath told a far different story. You see, when a duck swims on the lake, he looks calm, cool, and collected, but underneath the water, he's paddling frantically like a maniac! From Shakespeare I learned that most of what you see is a play, and as I watch other adults, it vexes me that most other adults believe in, seek after, and engage in puppetry designed to create illusions and images rather than truth, that they act because they are selfish mostly. Very few things are as they seem.

I ran on the treadmill for 20 minutes at lunch while watching CNN which amounted to nothing more than propaganda. They were absolutely excited about the reestablishment of diplomatic relations in Cuba, but it's nothing more than the parliament jester's foist on the somnambulent public. There were no protestors at the ceremony, because John "Served in Vietnam" Kerry invited them to an alternate venue which will probably not be televised. Cuba continues to jail dissidents, and now the American flag waves above a building there as if we endorse and support it. The media, filled with repeaters rather than reporters, regurgitates the talking points of the left and celebrates it. Later, they switched to a celebration of the Iran nuclear weapon agreement, as if it's something good for American. They tell themselves "Only Obama could go to Iran", but what other reason could they have to enrich uranium besides to make weapons? After that, they discussed the democrat debate tonight and celebrated the thought of someone who can "get things done" as if getting things done is the point.

The story is told of a work crew in the British Congo. They were tasked with building a road deep into the jungle to allow the British Empire to essentially rape the country for resources. It was a fastidious and efficient operation. Work crews rotated in and out on rail lines so that the work never ceased although the workers themselves rotated out and slept full nights away from the site. Materials arrived on the coast, traveled by rail, and fell into place under the swing of the finest hammers as civilization came to the bush. The crews penetrated the formidable jungle at breakneck speed. Eventually, an engineer fresh from Manchester climbed a tree to view the progress from above and found something alarming. He scampered down and went to the chief foreman to report. We're on the wrong side of the river. Shut up, we're making great time. Action isn't synonymous with achievement.

I look around sometimes at the people around me and wonder what I'm doing wrong. I am not earning as much as I thought or even as much as my fellows. My sister will probably outearn me by leaps and bounds in the military. My neighbor's girlfriend regularly sleeps over or joins him on vacation trips. The folks at church have attractive wives, lofty titles, and gaggles of children. Students have physiques not necessarily consistent with their diets or activity levels. However, I know that most of what you see is a play. Years ago, one of those "perfect families" in my parents' congregation suddenly fell apart when the wife left the husband with her kids from a previous marriage because she just didn't feel like it anymore. We do not know how other people's lives really are. We do not know all the facts. We do not know what will happen. We only know what can. It is foolish to assume that the best is happening for others or that everything we do will lead to happily after happily. I know that sounds pessimistic, but it's also honest. It's important to properly manage expectations.

The greatest liars in the world are those who convince you that everything they do is virtuous and that everything in their life is earned. The truth is that we are all subject to grace and mercy that we do not deserve. Even when we live lives of virtue, God immediately blesses us, and so we remain continually indebted even when we serve Him valiantly. Even when intentions are noble, the fact of the matter is that evil men will always try to take advantage of others. Although edited to more modern prose, I've read the letters of Thomas More and know he did in fact say essentially the following:

If we lived in a State where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us good, and greed would make us saintly. And we'd live like animals or angels in the happy land that needs no heroes. But since in fact we see that avarice, anger, envy, pride, sloth, lust and stupidity commonly profit far beyond humility, chastity, fortitude, justice and thought, and have to choose, to be human at all... why then perhaps we must stand fast a little --even at the risk of being heroes. (A Man For All Seasons; emphasis in original)

Most people do what they do because they hope to profit from it regardless of its virtue, real or imagined.  In order to achieve this, they "clothe their naked villainy with odd old ends stolen forth from holy writ and seem saints when most they play the devil" (Richard III). I don't know if any of us really do anything with pure motives. Deep down, we act because we hope for that watermelon at the end. Deep down, we do what we do to make a world that conforms to our sense of morality. That does not make ours better. It makes it our preference.

When I was young, it was common knowledge that there's no such thing as a free lunch and that if it sounds too good to be true it usually is. I find it so exasperating as an adult to see so many adults promise us free lunches, to vow to give us the moon, and to see only the virtues in their own pet projects. The gal from Environmental Health and Safety lauded Obama Wednesday for clearing the bureaucracy of boot-licking toadies as if Obama didn't sow any himself, which is outrageous and incredibly naive. Krister Stendahl taught me that most people see their own side in its best light whilst painting their opponents in caricature. However, I watched CNN and saw that puppet show of propaganda today. More than that, as they spoonfed us hogwash, PEOPLE ATE IT UP. You see, people believe a lie for two reasons. First, they believe it because they fear it might be true. Secondly, they believe it because they want it to be true. I have said for years that people are not really looking for truth as much as they're hoping however clandestinely that the truth will validate what they already happen to believe. People want to be lied to. They want to be told that things will work out, that giving Iran weapons will end war, that electing Obama will end racism, and that redistributing wealth will wipe out poverty. Just because they can doesn't follow that it will or must work. There are far too many other variables out there to be sure. There are far too many PEOPLE.

One of my favorite cartoon strips as an adult is Dilbert, and in one that I hang at my desk, Dilbert explains the secret to frustration. It's OTHER PEOPLE. You see, it would be easy to bend the world to our wills if our will was the only one. That's why tyrants try to subjugate people. It's why bullies use force and violence to change behavior. They want to impose their will. They give us a rosy image and illusion and let us assume it must come to pass. The fact of the matter is that most people are really out there saying as Bruce Almighty, "My will be done". They are not humble, and so they cannot be virtuous. The humble and virtuous do not tell you that they are humble, qualified, virtuous, etc., because then they would become something else. I am glad I don't listen to the news. It angers me to see so many people buy the lies. Then again, I also think how much it must hurt God to watch so many of us actively seeking to be deceived when the Deceiver hopes to do precisely that. When I first started teaching, I opened the first night by telling students that everyone has an agenda. My agenda is to convince you that everyone has an agenda. Only when you realize that can you make wiser choices than I.