POST #4
At first I didn’t even notice it.
A few days ago at work a group of us gathered around the TV to eat lunch and watch the news regarding Obama’s trip to Buchenwald. We were captivated by the scenes, Obama’s outward display of seriousness and the significance of the event itself. And then Elie Wiesel – the 80 year old Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner – spoke so beautifully, “Mr. President, we have such high hopes for you because you, with your moral vision of history, will be able and compelled to change this world into a better place… It’s enough — enough to go to cemeteries, enough to weep for oceans. It’s enough. There must come a moment — a moment of bringing people together.”
So it was a powerful moment to say the least.
And there was a 20-something assistant editor in the room, really nice guy, who sort of scoffed. I asked him why. “I don’t know…I don’t know why everyone is making a big about this visit, I really don’t.”
No one really said anything…I could tell we were going to move on and speak about something else. Then it hit me. Of course he was entitled to his opinion. But what seemed crystal clear to me was that this guy was equating his own reaction as being more informed and more significant than Elie Wiesel’s! I mean, he wasn’t even taking into account who this man was. There was absolutely no distinctions being made, no appreciation or respect for who Elie Wiesel is, what he has seen, and been able to make of his life in its wake.
In fact, the guy was weighing his own responses as MORE important, not valuing the decades of experience that his comfortable life will never come close to seeing. He obviously didn’t reflect for a moment – “Hey, I’m 24, I still live at home in New Jersey. The hardest choice I had to make this week was whether or not to buy the new Green Day CD or wait for my girlfriend to get for me for my birthday next week. I’ve never been west of Ohio and consider ‘breaking news’ to be when someone gets knocked off American Idol.”
All kidding aside, I did try to push the point a bit with him, but I could see it landed in that lovely green swamp and immediately became a pointless discussion.
It was a brief exchange and then the conversation moved right along without a hiccup. But in it, I saw the arrogance, ugliness, and delusion of the postmodern ego in a way I hadn’t so clearly before. And of course, recognized it immediately in myself. How many times have I weighed my own ideas, my own responses and opinions as being the same if not MORE the truth than who I was with, without ever taking into consideration who they are, what they know, and that – God forbid – they might actually know more than I do? That they might actually be a more significant or relevant person to speak about the topic? Too many to count for sure. It’s pretty much my main point of reference. “I think, therefore I’m right.”
What would it have been like if this young man had expressed his lack of understanding BUT seen that Elie Wiesel was obviously impacted, and by that very fact, been interested in what was going on? There is hierarchy everywhere and when us postmoderns REALLY start to see and appreciate that, we are left with something we hardly ever experience but DESPERATELY need: humility.
