HS #96 2023.7.13
The Present Age
I always advise college students to take courses in Introduction to Psychology and Modern Philosophy. In these two courses one meets thinkers from the past who still influence our lives: Skinner, Freud, Kant, Marx, Nietzsche, Hagel, and Kierkegaard among others.
Case in point: This past spring, playing pickleball on a Saturday morning at Central Park Church, I found myself thinking of Kierkegaard’s, “The Present Age” which I read in college.
Though written in the mid 19th century, it describes aspects of our present age. Kierkegaard tells a story of a man who has fallen through thin ice on a river. As townsfolk gather on the nearby shore, individuals venture out on the ice toward the drowning man. As each gets closer to the man on the dangerous thin ice, the crowd cheers in admiration for their bravery. Receiving the accolades, they return to shore, giving others the opportunity to do the same.
Does the drowning man get saved? Who knows – it’s not worth mentioning. The important thing is that people have shown their courage and have been recognized for it.
Absurd! What’s the point?
Perhaps it’s making a similar point as the story of the parent of an infant who enters a burning house to retrieve a favorite picture of their beloved infant, but leaves the infant.
I think the point of both is the folly of valuing symbolism over substance. I don’t know how that inversion showed itself in Kierkegaard’s day, but there are clear present-day examples.
President George H. W. Bush certainly put symbolism over substance when he (among others) advocated for a Constitutional amendment prohibiting the burning of the U.S. flag. Our Pledge to the Flag concludes “with LIBERTY and justice for all.” Perhaps the most important of these liberties is free speech – including the right to proclaim one’s disagreement, disgust, even loathing towards one’s country. How can one express such sentiment more forcefully than by burning a U.S flag? So those in favor of this amendment chose to value the symbol – our flag – more highly than the substance – our liberty. They were willing to trade the infant for a picture of it.
I also think of the symbolism-over-substance fallacy whenever I hear of Dance Marathons in which participants spend an entire night dancing for a good cause. Townsfolk and businesses donate money so that participants will spend a fun night dancing.
Granted, money IS being raised, which is a good thing. But just like the townsfolk applauding those who ran onto thin ice, they are rewarding a symbolic act rather than a substantive act. What added value does the symbolic act contribute? Are participants adding real value by dancing, or just gaining self-satisfaction by dancing towards a good cause?
Other examples abound: runs, walks, dunk tanks – all activities where participants are rewarded for their symbolic sacrifice.
And that is why I was so impressed and pleased by what I saw at Central Park Church this past spring. For two Saturdays as we adults played pickleball in the recreation room, the young people of the church were vigorously engaged in making pig-in-blankets and apple pies. It was clear that they came to work. In an organized and coordinated effort that would impress any local industry, we watched as they loaded tray after tray of their assembled goodies. Though obviously having fun together, they were on a mission. These items were to be sold to raise funds for a youth trip to Nashville so they could spend a week volunteering and helping there. Impressive! It tears me up to think of it.
In a recent (June 20) Holland Sentinel column, Aging 101, Jane Weisiger detailed the maladies of aging. It brought to mind Ecclesiastes 3:20, “Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth before the days of evil (no pleasure) come.” Indeed, one key to aging well may be taking the opportunity to look back with satisfaction on these kind of efforts accomplished during the vigor of one’s youth.
Where/how did these young people get this passion to serve others even before graduating from high school? Nothing merely symbolic about their actions. They were working hard to produce a product, selling them at a fair price to earn money, and then using the money to provide an opportunity to help others. All substance. I don’t remember thinking that way as a 16-year-old. Kierkegaard would be impressed!
