Week 42 - Christmas 2020
There is no more appropriate time than the end of a year to take stock of what is wrong and make plans to right it … and write about it. While the extraordinary events of 2020 have added urgency to that task, I am not persuaded this year has added anything substantive to the mix. There is nothing new in what is wrong, nor in what we know is needed to make it right.
Self interest and obsession are, as they have long been, at the core of what is wrong.
Several years ago, Barak Obama weathered a storm of criticism for correctly observing - and I paraphrase - if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. Or it must be because I worked harder than everybody else. There are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable system that we have, that has allowed you to thrive.
The ever-increasing interest in self that touched off that outburst is unsurprising. It has been fuelled since the late 20th century by the ceaseless demands for rights without concurrent obligations, and wild imaginings that we are each self sufficient. Concern for others is not necessary because others are not necessary. The precipitous decline in charitable giving that we have witnessed in 2020 is but one symptom of the deepening malaise. One in five charitable organizations has either suspended operations or ceased programs as a result of the pandemic. Compared to the global economic recession of 2008, twice as many charities have seen a negative impact on their bottom line as a result of COVID-19. Two-thirds of charities depressingly report drops in revenues of 30% or more. Canadians are expected to give 37% less to charities this year than last.
A favourite client of mine died some time ago of a poorly timed heart attack – he was playing charades. Anyway, he used to shrug whenever I raised this issue, and suggest that changing human nature was not possible. He was dead wrong. There is no puzzle of chickens and eggs here. Until recently, human nature has been chronically concerned with the plight of others.
There is no better evidence of this than the stories of those who did the right thing that we have told one another for, literally, 10,000 years. Stories. We have always been drawn to them. Perhaps because they have no value unless they are shared. Millenia before early Christians cheered themselves up by blatantly appropriating this week’s ancient pagan feast of Saturnalia and telling a tall tale of how Jesus was born then, heroic stories were a comfort to cling to and a bulwark against the seemingly endless winter and the bitter cold. I consider them often when I offer Elder Advice, because they are the products of thousands of years of careful thought by those who understood human nature and were unburdened by the siren call of social media and other shiny objects of 21st century life.
Two fundamental truths can be drawn from these stories.
The first is that the yarns of St George, King Arthur, Hercules, Perseus, Thor, Siegfried, Dažbog, Osiris, Fionn mac Cumhail, Gwydion, Quetzalcoatl, Glooscap, Guayin, Bunjil, Fu Xi, Hua Mulan, Amaterasu, Anubis, Apanuugak, Māui and so many others, all have common threads. Whenever and wherever these heroes came from, they never strove for themselves alone. There were always others in distress. And while there was inevitably wisdom and self-knowledge for the successful heroes, whatever personal gain came from the performance of their labours was incidental. The true purpose of every quest was to assist others in need.
These stories teach us the moral lessons we have always considered necessary. Those who (for good reason) did not get what they wanted, got what they deserved. And while we may now be past the point of putting the severed heads of wrong-doers on a pike outside the city gates, there is still something just and satisfying in dealing severely with those who treat others unkindly. Like the murderous witch from the teutonic version of Snow White and Rose Red, who met her entertaining and instructive end when pitchfork-toting locals heated up a pair of iron shoes in the village fire … and made her dance in them until she died.
Most important, these age-old stories reflect what we have always identified as important to being human. We need to remind ourselves of them more often, to ensure our individual connection to the human community is not severed and that we do not allow the modern, ill-conceived fancy for self-interest to further replace our compassion for others.
Elder Advice? If you have not already done so, embark on a quest this holiday season to devote significant money, time and/or talent to assist others in need. Prove that you are a worthy beneficiary of our ancestors’ efforts to make us incrementally better. Do it because you know Dr. Who was right when (s)he said: “Somewhere there is injustice and the tea is getting cold”. Do it because you know doing the right thing will certainly gratify those who do not know you - and perhaps astonish those who do.
Don’t force me to warm up the shoes for you.
Oh, yes … the second truth. In each and every heroic tale, there are those who provide the critical assistance without which the hero would fail. These helpers are almost always older, frequently supernatural, and give unerringly correct advice.
I’m just sayin’.
Very wise and very true! Happy New Year Tim! Here's hoping that 2021 will be better than 2020!