The etiology of my insight probably doesn’t matter. I have my theory, and it centers on my humbling religious epiphany of some 17 years ago and my subsequent conversion from Calvinism to Orthodox Christianity, of which I’ve written a great deal over the life of this blog.
The insight is probably too simplistic in this form, but here goes anyway.
Everybody is trying to be The Best at something. If they’re not athletic, they’ll try to excel at music, and may come to despise athletics as trivial. (Well, the source of that example isn’t far away at all, actually.) If they can excel in neither, then perhaps in theater, or academics generally.
Or if none of that avails, maybe defiance is an option. “Screw it all! It’s all a show! To hell with it! They can’t make me learn. I’m the most defiant student they’ll ever see!” Add some piercings and tattoos to that, and some gang-banger stylistic statement. If you can’t be very good at anything, be the baddest you can be.
I consciously reach for my insight when confronted by some of the seemingly alien life forms one encounters these days, such as sullen gang-bangers or pink-and-green-haired goths. They’re really no different than me. They’re just playing the hand they feel they’ve been dealt, and playing it as best they can.
I got some corroboration of my insight from Alan Jacobs:
A friend recently passed along to me an email from a young Christian who teaches in a public high school and is, perhaps naïvely, trying to smuggle some aspects of the Christian account of the world into her teaching — with decidedly unsatisfactory results:
In an effort to get the kids in my class to do something, I taught the cardinal virtues today and asked them to choose one that they believe they possess and write an essay about it. I had two students approach me and say that they do not possess a single virtue. I asked, “You don’t have anything about yourself that you’re proud of?” Both of them responded (I’m not kidding) that they are bad people and are proud that they don’t have any of the cardinal virtues. One boy asked if he could write about his vices.
“Write about his vices.” Brag about them. Elaborate on them. “Proud that they don’t have any of the cardinal virtues.”
To which Jacobs’ close is apt:
Where would you start if you were trying to show such young people that “there’s got to be some better way for people to live”?
(Hyperlink in original) Damned if I know, Jacobs. Whaddya think I am? A teacher or something? Sheesh!
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“The remarks made in this essay do not represent scholarly research. They are intended as topical stimulations for conversation among intelligent and informed people.” (Gerhart Niemeyer)
Tipsy Teetotaler ن 