Points
of Agreement
“We
had many more points of agreement than we had points of difference, but we did
differ, and the bigger we got, the more insistent we got that each one of us
should have his way.”
Paul
Simon
In the quote
above, Paul Simon was referencing his musical partnership with Art Garfunkel
when they were the music duo Simon and Garfunkel. I loved, and still love,
their music; even had the pleasure of seeing them perform together in Central
Park in 1976—along with about 500,000 other people.
The
reason this quote struck a chord with me this morning is that I think it
highlights what has happened in American society and between the US and the
rest of the world. For such a long time America was ascendant, moving up and
out, ahead of most of the world. In the words of my sweet grandmother, “we got too
big for our britches.” Our desire for “each one of us to have his way,”
finally tilted into culture wars, and the social unrest we are witnessing
today. Our attitude has been, if we are always going to be on top, somebody
else has to be on bottom, and by-golly, we ARE going to be on top. That must change.
As we
know from the ancient Greek and Roman gods, hubris is the one unforgivable sin.
Hubris will get you snatched down off your high-horse and laid low every single time. We’ve been
moving in the direction of being power hungry, greedy, and insensitive to the
needs of others for a long time. We finally elected a leader who epitomizes
this trait—"Me, me, me. Me first!” We did that so that we could clearly
see it out front, and in grandiose style. We have no one to blame for this but
ourselves, but it may turn out to be a good thing. Not because this leader will
bring us together, his goal is to divide and conquer, but because we will
realize, as Paul Simon said, “we [the people] have more points of agreement
than we have points of difference.” And furthermore, we don’t like being
divided.
Fortunately,
unlike Simon and Garfunkel, we can turn this ship around. This time of social
chaos has shown us where the problems are, and now we must come together and permanently
change them. Our task will not be easy because this Me-First train is a long
way down the tracks. It will require all of us overcoming our hubris and
pulling together. I have faith that we can do it. At least, that is my prayer.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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