What makes something good? Interesting? Wholesome? Useful? More specifically, how can any of these characteristics be applied to an opinion article? Is it logically incongruous to attempt attributing such characteristics to a human opinion? These are but a few of the countless thoughts that raged through my head this Christmas. Yeah, our economy is on deck. Yeah, I don’t agree with the policy decision made by this politician that day in the day session of that committee that I happened to be keeping up with this week. Yeah, I don’t think we should do this or that. And on and on I could go. Jibber jabber. Rabble rabble.
So, how can I use my word count to actually make a difference? Why do we find harmony so boring? Why is it so difficult to write a message with a simple truth? We all desire to make our lives appear better than they are, whether we realize it or not. We are always more or less in a state of constant falsehood and lies, and we add our own small little embellishments here and there to our own stories to make them fit and seem better. Maybe that’s why some get so offended when the simple, plain truth is given to them. It is often courteous to bend the truth.
Are these lies our deep yearning and/or evidence for our removal and intense longing to return to paradise? In many ways I think so. The question is: What is paradise? What do our incessant lies point toward? There are hundreds of thousands of pages written on this. Is paradise the embellishment in our stories? Or, is paradise the plain simple truth, the circularity and regularity of life that surprisingly brings peace and calmness, as it is so often easily witnessed in man’s best friend, dog?
I don’t know. But I do know we spend more on trash bags each year than nearly half of the world spends on all goods. I know 40 percent of the world lacks basic sanitation. I know 49 million diapers are used and thrown away in America every single day. I know you have probably read, witnessed or heard these or similar statistics countless times. I know the number of Americans taking antidepressants has tripled in the last 10 years. Why are we not happy?
Guilt or shame is not the answer. I don’t write this to induce that. God (or something) has indeed blessed America. What an immense excess we have. We are so lucky. But what an equally daunting responsibility and burden these treasures can be, especially when not used properly. It is no wonder so many of us are sad. How dangerous when we begin to believe we are entitled to these treasures! When lavishness becomes necessity, when we forget just how much we have, we want more lavishness to turn to necessity. And as long as we use our resources to obtain more, we will need increasingly more resources to manage the more we have just obtained.
The Caesars recognized that at the center of empires lies economics. True power over the people lies in the control of their money. So if you wanted to buy or sell products in the market, an offering recognizing Caesar as Lord was needed in order to show that you were a good, compliant subject in his kingdom, an offering that inadvertently (and even directly) funded suffering and slavery. If you refused? Well, you couldn’t take part in his economy, so you couldn’t make any money. And then you would starve.
Sound familiar? Work hard. Play hard. File our income taxes. Spend. Borrow. Work to pay off what we borrowed. Is Caesar’s path the road to fulfillment? Will it bring us happiness? Compassion or dominion? Sharing with our neighbor or building a tower to the skies?
“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” In Rome, tomorrow means nothing – it is no different from today, and indisputably no different from yesterday. Because in Rome, we wake up to pour the concrete, and then we go to bed. But we don’t have to be in Rome anymore.
Rumi once said, “If you could untie your wings and rid your soul of jealousy, you and everyone around you would fly up like doves.” Let’s try to work on our hearts this semester. Remember, in servanthood, humility, charity, sacrifice and goodness lies the kingdom of heaven. And it is our job to construct it. One heart at a time.
Julio Cespedes is a junior majoring in biological engineering. He can be contacted at [email protected].