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In the four months since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, there has been an ample number of examples to illustrate an old Chinese curse I am fond of reciting:
"May you live in interesting times."
"Interesting times" -- war, death, conflict, fear -- we have had, indeed, in abundance since September 11, 2001.
As with most such sayings, of course, this particular curse is not to be taken too literally. In terms of our individual lives, few of us desire boredom. We enjoy variety in what we do. Whether at work, at mealtime, or at our leisure, we (as humans) have an innate curiosity that keeps us delving into the crooks and crannies of life. Such ever-questing explorations have survival value. Discovering new resources and ways of accomplishing our goals is the essence of free enterprise and progress. Intellectually and spiritually, when we seek fresh stimuli, we grow as people. Imagine the horrors of interacting with an adult who operated from the same framework he had as a child.
Our inquisitiveness, of course, may also unearth various dangers. Yet even that result can be a positive. Becoming aware of potential or actual threats -- and dealing with them in time -- increases the likelihood of living long enough to enjoy one's next birthday. Evading reality (in the form of unpleasant facts) may "work" in the short run. Over time, however, such an approach to existence will kill you...either literally or figuratively.
Cultivating an active mind is essential to expressing our basic humanity. Shutting down our brains, quashing our questions, ignoring that "itch" to climb the next hill is a personal betrayal of the rankness sort.
On another, more fundamental level, though, sameness is -- paradoxically -- precisely what we do require to function at our fullest capacity. When it comes to the ideas -- the principles -- that help us make decisions among the innumerable alternatives confronting us, variability is debilitating. A person who claims that he is a "pragmatist," who believes that "reality is negotiable," who scoffs at congruity as a personality flaw, will ultimately be paralyzed by the perceived complexities challenging him.
If each and every person, event, or situation is unique and unconnected -- i.e., if such concretes cannot be organized, classified, or categorized into abstractions based on their similarities; if overarching principles cannot be discovered linking these existents together -- then this individual will be forced to puzzle and sweat and labor every time he tries to act. After all, he is, in essence, claiming that his experience is irrelevant to the present or future he faces. He might as well flip a coin.
To function properly -- to feel comfortable when seeking "new frontiers" -- one must have a solid and unchanging baseline from which to launch forays into the hidden and the exotic. Uncertainty is devastating to that process. For a simple example, a child who knows with innate confidence that his mother will be there for him will be far more likely to venture into a crowd of strangers than one who suspects his mom may abandon him on a moment's notice.
For a more serious example, witness the randomness inflicted on their prisoners by Nazi concentration camp guards as a method for keeping their captives helpless and subjugated. As Ayn Rand pointed out, people can tolerate a lot if they understand the rules. If, however, they face the arbitrary at every turn, they will eventually collapse in mental and physical surrender.
In the realm of (correct) principles, boring -- sameness, monotony, predictability, uniformity -- is good.
It's a truism, of course, that no one can consistently be inconsistent. Intellectual conceits aside, reality simply does not allow contradictions to exist other than in our own minds.
Unfortunately, the "leaders" of this country have the relationship between what must remain constant (our principles) and what should be given free rein for experimentation and inquiry (our individual selves) exactly bass-ackwards.
We are treated daily to the sorry spectacle of politicians and their cohorts praising freedom while destroying its very foundations. The principles expressed in our Constitution are transformed from cherished guidelines invaluable in helping us deal with the current crisis to unpleasant obstructions to be subverted and overcome by any means necessary. The excesses our citizens suffered in the past -- various alien and sedition acts, press restrictions, concentration camps interning our citizens -- are deemed irrelevant to this "war" or, worse, merely ignored.
Anonymous citizens slap physical flags on their car while remaining innocent of any knowledge of what constitutes true liberty. These are the same folks who see no reason for concern over national identification cards, surveillance cameras blanketing our cities, secret evidence, indefinite detentions, denial of legal representation, wiretaps on phones and computers, humiliating airport "security" searches, and the multitude of burgeoning controls inherent in establishing and maintaining an incipient police state. Abstractions mean little to such "concrete patriots." Indeed, they are the first to attack you for not mindlessly supporting the unconstitutional behaviors of the politicos hunkered down behind their concrete barriers in Washington, D.C.
While they destroy our ability to adhere to the principles we require as rational creatures, Congress and the president simultaneously forbid any variability in how we citizens are to act in response to any future dangers we may face from terrorists. Where are the airlines that encourage armed crew and passengers? Where are the airports that adopt a multiplicity of approaches to screening for saboteurs? Where are the citizen militias guarding vulnerable facilities? Where is the respect for diversity in how we decide how we will spend our own money?
A few prominent pundits have even gone so far as to suggest that the "uninteresting" times we experienced in the past two decades are somehow to be regretted. Americans became too "soft," too "selfish," too accustomed to prosperity for our own good. In the warped Weltanschauung of these warmongers, disruptions of routine and armed conflict with other nations are "character building" exercises. (Compare this attitude to the cloying portrayal by such statists as Tom Brokaw of the "greatest generation" of World War II.)
The status quo of individuals going their own ways at their own speed for their own purposes (i.e., freedom) is, according to this viewpoint, what is truly destructive to society. Like some twisted brand of crypto-Nazis, they spout nonsense about "collective character" and the "virtues of sacrifice." Since when did surrendering one's real values in exchange for lesser ones -- rather than creating and enjoying new values -- become the true measure of one's morality and worth?
The politicians, of course, are much more comfortable sacrificing your values than their own. Former president Clinton whines that he was cheated of his rightful legacy -- his chance for national glory -- because the terrorists negligently failed to attack us during his administration.
Meanwhile, U.S. Representative John Dingell got to witness firsthand the nonsense his colleagues have foisted upon the rest of us. Preparing to board a flight to Detroit at Washington's Reagan National Airport, he confronted one of those recently federalized airport security blokes who did not believe the elderly Congressman when Dingell claimed his hip implant was the culprit setting off the metal detector. Forced to pull down his pants, Dingell complained about his treatment.
Do you think his unpleasant experience -- echoing that of a myriad of other "potential terrorists" such as little girls, buxom women, and elderly ladies -- that his humiliation will prompt him to introduce legislation freeing the airlines, airports, and security workers from the dictates Congress has inflicted upon us?
If you do, you have another think coming.
Such excessive scrutiny is inappropriate for him, of course. For the rest of us, however...
Ayn Rand once remarked that she really did not like having to think about politics but was forced to do so by the incessant meddling of the State in areas of no legitimate concern to its agents. She desired nothing more than to enjoy the freedom she had come to this country to find.
Once upon a time in this nation, few people really paid much attention to the government. After all, Americans were too busy living their lives ever to conceive that a tool that they had created would one day come to dominate every aspect of their existence.
In the spirit of Rand's distant desire, then, I offer you this blessing:
"May you live in boring times."
For that is when things will really get interesting.
