What Happened?

Something happens to all of us, but exactly what happens usually remains a mystery.  Joseph Heller wrote a novel on the subject, “Something Happened.”  Famously, not much happens in the novel at all, until the end. 

Even if we achieve some understanding of what has happened to us, it usually remains impossible for us to explain it to others.  Few such enlightened individuals even attempt to speak of it.  This is a recurring theme in the novels of Haruki Murakami, notably in “The Wind Up Bird Chronicle.” 

There is the great “what happened?” and the small “what happened?”  The great question is: how did our particular combination of personality, temperament and experience make us the people that we turned out to be?  That’s a whopper, I get dizzy even to consider tackling it. 

The small questions relate to the life-altering situations that we encounter along the way.  Considering those things is somewhat less of a challenge, at least in the attempt. 

For example, I was married for forty-four years; technically I am still married, but the matter is before the court as we speak.  The first ten years were dodgy, and the success of the enterprise was often in doubt.  The next fifteen were generally very good, with two wonderful children, a good relationship and moderate prosperity.  After that it was all downhill relationship wise, with the slippery slope achieving victory in the end.

By what mechanism did this tragedy unfold?  It would be something of a comfort to know.  Several major problems appear immediately.  They are:

1.  The self-serving lie (the “Rashomon” issue);

2.  The avoidance issue; and

3.   Mere misapprehension.

Ignoring for now the full scope of the Rashomon problem, I may be selective in my analysis of the evidence.  I may prefer explanations that make me appear blameless. 

I could even embrace a version of events that is actually delusional.  Some cheerful fairy tale that eschews reality altogether and allows me to keep my pride and my peace of mind.  I would chose this one if the choice were mine, but it is denied me by the little clarity that I have achieved in life.

An even greater problem for me is that of avoidance.  I don’t really want to think about it too much.  Even if I did wish to consider it, I wouldn’t want to share the result in writing.  It is better for some things to remain mysterious, even to ourselves. 

I may have been encouraged in this attitude by my ten years in Thailand.  Thais have wonderfully flexible minds, they are fully capable of knowing something and not knowing it at the same time.  They can also stop a thought process short of its inevitable conclusion, in order to spare themselves actual knowledge.  These are useful skills. 

The Big Picture

These mysteries play themselves out on the larger stage too.  Should it be any easier to understand what is happening to a country, or a society?  All of these effects are manifest in America these days.  Certainly things are happening, on both the great and small scales described above.  And in response we see the self-delusion, the knowing and not knowing, and the same misapprehension that we see in our own lives, played out on a national scale. 

“Something is happening, but you don’t know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?”  (Apologies to Bob Dylan.)

I’ll spare you a reading of the charges, but a lot has happened to America in the last fifty years, and little of it could by any stretch of the imagination be labeled “progress.”  America is not well these days.  The economy is in taters; politics has become a shouting match between two right-wing cliques who share a belief in the supremacy of cost-benefit analysis; the social contract has been breached; and prospects for the future are dimmer than they’ve been since about 1805. 

(Historical footnote: in 1805, America had a deeply divided and poverty stricken government, a struggling economy and no armed forces to speak of, a tiny, ill-equipped army and a small navy confined almost entirely to rivers and lakes.  Things have gotten better since then, in fits and starts.)

People are certainly anxious, but the leap to understanding the reasons for their anxiety, and the leap to an appropriate fear for the future, are as obscure on the national level as they are on the personal level.

Most people much prefer to believe the old myths.  America is the fountainhead of democracy in the world; America is somehow exceptional, somehow more beloved of God than other countries; America is the best country to live in; America has the best health care system in the world; there’s no freedom in the world like American freedom.  It’s all about the freedom!  Not so much, if you’ve been paying attention.

The typical attitude is to focus on the distractions posed by the media and politicians.  The dog-and-pony show that takes up so much of people’s precious Internet time.  Certain demonized groups, or even some ideas, are imagined to be destroying America, whether it be immigrants; homosexuals; socialism; college professors; activist (Liberal) judges; unions (especially public employees’ unions); abortion; gun rights; minorities; or the Federal Government itself.  If only we could restore America!  Take back our country!  Constitutional values!  Family values! 

Delusional beliefs are rampant.  Some believe that there is a Homosexual Agenda and "they" want to take over the country. Others are certain that President Obama and his “Wookie” wife want to a) take our guns; b) declare martial law and remain in the White House forever; c) use Homeland Security to stage a coup and put us all in FEMA camps; d) make slaves of all the white folks; etc.  If we could only eliminate corporate taxes and Federal regulations, the free market could raise us up to new heights of prosperity.  (Guess whose idea that last one is.) 

Oh yeah, something is happening in America, and the psychological situation mirrors the one that we face as individuals.  It’s all very difficult and uncomfortable, so we misread the signs, we force the analysis that we most desire, and all the while we cannot really grasp, or do not wish to grasp, the mystery of it all.  So we substitute talking points for evidence and seek simple solutions.  Please God, anything would be preferable to weighing the easily discoverable evidence and facing the obvious problems head on.  “Sleep!” most people say, “please, God, grant us the blessing of sleep!” 

Well, friends and neighbors, that’s not going to work.  We’re going to have to do better than that.