The Impoverishment of Tragedy

A few weeks ago, I attended an Eschatology Conference where Dr. Sharon Baker of Messiah College (PA) spoke of a "Hospitable Hell." She explored the meaning of divine justice and did a thought experiment how Holy Fire might be used to purify all of us, come judgment day, so that we might all enter into the Kingdom of God. It made me think of tragedy and how we as a society and culture have lost our ability to tell a good story, be it a tragedy or comedy, because we've so much of our worldview separates "us" from "them."

Tragedy itself was perhaps most celebrated in the past and lamented in the present by Nietzsche. And I think he's onto something, when I look at our modern forms of tragedy/comedy (those eternal twins, or two sides of the same coin). Just one example, "Meet the Parents," casts a family against the groom-to-be, and we the audience laugh at Ben Stiller's misfortunes. We may identify with his situation, but we're spared the consequences, laughing at him rather than with him. We watch people suffer, in Gitmo or Abu Ghraib or Darfur, but while this knowledge is readily available, action is lacking. The distance between our heads and our hearts has never been further.

A character's "tragic flaw" is tragic precisely because the origin of his or her downfall lies within his or her self. Yet all too often we are prone to divide the issues into black/white, good/bad, righteous/evil, without recognizing that both sides are found on the spectrum of human life, and each life is a microcosm of society. Perhaps our tragic flaw is our inability to recognize that we have a tragic flaw, that as humans there are logs (let alone specks) in our eyes.

As you advocate, forgiveness (not punishment) brings about repentance. May we forgive ourselves and our own societies, repenting of the sin of allowing others to suffer or go down to hell, and not realizing that our fate is bound up in theirs. Their lives matter just as much as ours - to think less of them is to say that they don't matter as much, and therefore our actions to help them don't matter as much, and then we're all too prone to give up on the connection and let them (and thus ourselves, as we're all bound up in this together), perish.

My Post-Election Hope

I wrote this as a comment on a blog for the NYTimes.com, and thought I'd share it with this audience. This election has taken over our news cycle and threatens to interfere with my studies... and so it's good every once in a while to step back and take the long view.

My hope is that after this election we can have some serious civil discourse about issues that really matter: healthcare, national security, economy, jobs, schools, etc., rather than sling mud from one side or the other. We really do all want similar ends, because we all do love America. The fact that we disagree on how to get there does not make one a patriot and the other a communist. One person does not live in "Real America," implying that the other lives in a "Fake America."

Let us take advice from (gasp!) Sen. Joe Biden and (gasp!) Chris Matthews, and not question another's motive, for only God can see the human heart. Let us instead focus on OUR future hopes, desires and dreams... and search for COMMON GROUND ground to build the BRIDGE to get over the chasm of fear and arrive safely to the other side, TOGETHER.

Not Trusting "Burn After Reading"

So in the midst of studying for my Theology Exam tomorrow, I decided to write some thoughts about a sub-par movie I saw recently by the Coen brothers, Burn After Reading. The movie was somewhat funny and grotesquely (and therefore needlessly) violent - I don't necessarily recommend it. But I did want to share some thoughts about it in case you have or will see it.

I think the Coen brothers are trying to portray what happens to people when they are too focused on themselves:
- Former CIA agent Cox (Malcovich) is too focused on his book and lamenting his forced retirement;
- His wife just wants a divorce to save herself and can't see her suitor (Clooney) doesn't want her;
- Clooney's character just cares about a one-night stand and staying in shape, not caring/realizing that his actions may ruin his marriage;
- McFarland's character only wants plastic surgery, and can't see that her boss loves her.

And then they pay people to spy on each other, since no one trusts anyone else! People are pawns to be used for an end. Those people who are relatively innocent (Pitt and the boss) end up dead. it's funny and tragic all at the same time, and ultimately the viewer is repulsed by such insolent, petulant, myopic behavior.

So is this film a social commentary on our society today? The Coens seem to be saying national security agencies can't save us, especially when they're spying on people too unwilling to be in trusting relationships. Let us hope we can build better communities and treat people as an end, rather than a means, unto themselves.