Thankful for Holland

 HS #124 2025.11.13

 

 Thankful for Holland

 

Several weeks ago, I saw a movie with testimony of a former Holland resident who said that as a teenager, she found Holland boring and somewhat ethnically snooty (Ain’t Dutch, ain’t much.)

Given that teenage years are often ones of discontent, and given that I’m presently 67, the age statistically found to be the happiest (perhaps the best balance of health and freedom), I still found the comment almost laughable. 

 

Granted, Holland is proud of its history. Our annual Tulip Time and the Van Raalte statue in Centennial Park remind Hollanders of our proud heritage. On the other hand, I recently sent Hope College President Matthew Scogin an email suggesting that Hope consider changing its mascot from the Flying Dutch(men). The Flying Dutchman was a legendary ghost ship – kind of cool, but perhaps it has outlived its usefulness to inspire. My own choice would be HOpe College HOney Badgers. Essentially a Wolverine’s little cousin, honey badgers are not only super smart and ferocious fighters, but are also rather handsome. Check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c36UNSoJenI    and 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHGNsZVE5Ik. You’ll be impressed!

 

Be that as it may, Holland as a whole seems to embrace good living for all of its residents. My list below is available to all – and many are free or inexpensive. 

 

Our nearby beaches are obvious, but it’s easy to forget to take advantage of hometown riches. If you haven’t done so recently, take a trip to Oval Beach (Saugatuck), Saugatuck State Park (includes beautiful fall color hike and the Felt Mansion), Laketown Beach (dune to climb), Holland State Park, and Grand Haven State Park. I still get “thankyous” from former Hope students who I introduced to those parks during their college years. For something even closer, walk down the lakeside sidewalk of Kollen Park as the sun sets. I am often there and am surprised more don’t take advantage of it. 

 

Kayaking is available at Pigeon River a few miles north of Holland, or New Richmond Park on the Kalamazoo River just a few miles south of town. I’ve seen osprey and blue heron lately. The Black River is a quick paddle with sounds of Holland all around. The Nature Discovery Center (with its Bird of Prey exhibition and best-I’ve-ever-seen taxidermy) provides a fun afternoon’s outing. 

 

For indoor recreation, the Holland Aquatic Center is one of the best in the country – including weights, cardio, indoor track, and exhilarating water slide. Pickleball courts (both indoor and outdoor) abound. Outdoor are all free and enough indoor that competition keeps the prices low. I just now returned from Holland Charter Township Community Center – one more first-class facility available at a decent price – and free for Silver Sneakers. For those over 55, Evergreen Commons provides all sorts of recreation and activities. 

 

And we have more coming – a multi-season ice rink and mountain bike course. 

 

What about the arts? In the last twenty years, Hope College has built an “arts corridor” along Columbia Avenue including music, theatre, dance, and painting/sculpture. Many of the events are free admission, and the Miller Auditorium provides a space second-to-none. Local churches (Free@3 at First Reformed Holland, Second Series at Second Reformed of Zeeland)  offer monthly programs by area artists in a beautiful space. 

 

And the food! It’s easy to forget, when walking along 8^th Street, that Holland’s population is only 35 thousand. Many such Midwest towns of this size are excited just to have an Apple Bees. A dozen years ago, offered a faculty position at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota (also home of St. Olaf College), I was surprised on my visit to find relatively few good options for dining. I decided to stay in Holland. Even compared to other such college towns, Holland has it good. And we have a new Indian restaurant! 

 

Then there’s our location. We are a short hop from Saugatuck and Grand Haven, two interesting places. Grand Rapids offers the only professional ballet in the state (fantastic!), the Grand Rapids Men and Boys Choir (rarely found out of England), DeVos Hall with many first-class shows, and Meijer Gardens for art of all kinds. Chicago is a three-hour train ride away. 

 

AND! – have you thought of this! Holland is positioned at the far western edge of the Eastern time zone. So we get long summer evenings in which to enjoy all of these opportunities. 

 

So, raise your glass in thankfulness to Holland. If it’s empty, head down to the Farmers Market. At this writing, the Honey Crisp apples are still available.  

 

 

 

The Risk of Belief (Published in Ottawa News Network)

 ONN #2 2025.10.30

 

The Risk of Belief

 

Dear West Michigan friends – 

 

Before my column proper, a quick introduction. Ten years ago, Sarah Leach invited me to write columns for the Holland Sentinel. I have enjoyed it greatly. For the previous dozen years, I had been known as “the mathematician with Elvis – the calculus corgi.” That changed, to “I read your column.” As you all likely know, a couple years ago, Sarah was removed from the HS and subsequently began the Ottawa News Network. Wanting to continue my readership, I submitted my columns to both. Recently, the HS explained that they can only take columns exclusive to them.  So, I’ll continue my monthly columns with the HS, and will write occasional (perhaps more personal) columns for ONN, including this one and a recent one, “Why Must the Beautiful Die.”  You can find ALL my columns at timothypennings.blogspot.com. 

 

This column, a bit different, is correspondence with my friend, author/Hope Professor David Myers when he alerted me to the recent essay, “Fully Maga-fied Christianity” by Peter Wehner in The Atlantic. 

 

Dave wrote to me: “Tim, you might enjoy this - actually, it’s the last sentence that I liked best.” 

 

The last few sentences were: 

 

“This world is broken but beautiful, a gift from God, and the good in this world is worth fighting for. One lifeon this Earth is all we get, and, in the words of the pastor and theologian Frederick Buechner, “at the very least we are fools if we do not live it as fully and bravely and beautifully as we can.” God is far moreresplendent than the theologies and doctrines about God that we humans construct. And, as the writer Rachel Held Evans put it, “faith is always a risk. No matter what we believe, there’s always the chance we might be wrong. But the story of Jesus is just the story I’m willing to risk being wrong about.”

 

 

I replied: 

 

Dave – 

 

This evening in choir (GR Choir of Men and Boys), we had a guest - a former teacher and presently a minister with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. After choir, I approached him with a direct question which led to a 75-minute conversation on the street of GR (a policeman actually pulled up - perhaps wondering what was going on). Thankfully, he was self-assured enough (with good reason - he was obviously well educated and thoughtful) to take my question in stride: How old is the earth?

 

His answer: Somewhere less than 10,000 years. 

 

My reply: A Presbyterian - under the umbrella of Calvin - acknowledges all truth as being God's domain and, so I would think, you would find it difficult to accept an understanding of the Bible that is in direct opposition with all the various disciplines of science which point to the age of the earth and universe in the billions of years. I explained that the ratio of 4.5 billion years vs 10,000 years is like walking in a forest of 200-year-old trees and thinking they had been planted that morning. 

 

However, he thought that in time, scientists will come to recognize that our present scientific understanding is entirely wrong. That, in fact, the world is best/only explained as being one in which there were numerous acts by God unexplained by science except as being a miracle.  He REALLY BELIEVED IT - - that is what struck me. He reminded me of Johnny Depp's character, Ichabod Crane, in “Sleepy Hollow” when he first encounters the headless horseman, and the next scene shows him in a fetal position in a corner of a room with all the people who had told him that the headless horseman existed. He exclaimed, "You don't understand! There really IS a headless horseman!” Crane assumed the people’s belief was insincere, whereas he really KNEW it to be true.  

 

Similarly, this young pastor wasn't making his claim out of obligation - he really believed it, all because of his devotion to read and understand the Bible as (he claims) it has historically been understood by the church.  For my part (I was very candid), I was aghast that such a thoughtful, educated person would live his life without appreciating the true age (and hence grandeur) of the universe in which we live. That he would go into museums and read articles and books apparently shaking his head that, "Nope - all of this is totally wrong. All of these tens of thousands of scientists - geologists, physicists, cosmologists who have researched for decades - have all come to the wrong conclusion about the world we live in.”  To me, that's a real tragedy. It does violence to truth itself. Hence my passion about it. 

 

Case two: Just now I heard a BBC article about hundreds of glaciers disappearing each year in Switzerland. On TV this evening a story about how African farmers are finding ways to change their practices in light of global climate change – either change or starve. Another recent story: The coral reef off Florida is dying before our eyes because of warming sea water.  A constant stream of such evidence and yet some are convinced that it's not happening. 

 

How can (why do) people allow themselves to go through life believing a lie? 

 

So how do these examples of living in deliberate ignorance compare with willingly risking being wrong about the story of Jesus?

 

Most importantly, beliefs of a purely spiritual nature don't affect one's view of physical reality and so don't hinder the advancement of human knowledge. 

 

Secondly, as you have documented and eloquently expressed, religious beliefs can lead to a “spirituality which helps makes sense of the universe, gives meaning to life, opens us to the transcendent, connects us in supportive communities, provides a mandate for morality and selflessness, offers hope in the face of adversity and death, and nurtures purpose, love, joy, and hope.”   

 

You and I both live richer lives because of the community, inspiration and opportunities for service that our church offers. However, personally, while I understand those who would “take a risk” with their religious beliefs, I think the best life is one focused unflinchingly on truth - on truth as one honestly comes to understand it.  Is there a personal God? I don’t know. But if there is, I will let God lead the dance and I will respond in kind in the hope that a personal and good God, a God worth knowing and worshipping, values that sort of life and commitment. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mathematics and other Magic

  

HS #123 2025.10.9

 

Mathematics and other Magic

 

Here’s a riddle my father told me when I was young: Three men enter a hotel and pay $10 apiece for their rooms – a total of $30.  After they go to their rooms, the manager realizes he has overcharged them, so he gives the bellhop $5 to split between them. But the dishonest bellhop pockets $2 and then gives each of them $1. 

 

So each of the three men has now paid $9.  That’s $9 x 3 = $27. Plus there is the $2 which the bellhop kept. $27 + $2 = $29.  Where did the extra dollar go? 

 

It’s simple 3^rd grade arithmetic – try to solve it before reading further. 

 

Nope – only 30% of you have tried to solved it. We don’t go on until everyone tries. 

 

OK – some of you have now succeeded. I’ll explain it to the rest of you. First, where are the 30 dollars?  The manager has $25, the bellhop has $2, and each of the three men has $1 - a total of 30. 

 

So how did I intentionally confuse you with my question?  I misdirected your attention by suggesting that you ADD $27 and $2 together, even though there was no reason to do so. Instead of adding them, you should have subtracted the $2 from $27. Why? Because subtracting them answers the question: How much money did the hotel make? The hotel made 3 x $9 = $27 MINUS the $2 which the bellhop kept which gives: $27 - $2 = $25. 

 

This sort of intentional misdirection lies behind much magic. 

 

Years ago, Barbara Walters had the psychic Uri Geller on her show. As Walters and viewers watched, Geller seemingly effortlessly bent a thick key just by lightly stroking it with his finger. As I understand, Walters called it one of the most spiritual moments of her life. Years later, the Amazing Randi reproduced the trick for Walters, showing how both he and Geller had quickly bent the key when he had diverted Barbara’s attention. Then, with the key already bent, he held it in such a way as to conceal that it was bent, and then made it look as if he were effortlessly bending it with (he claimed) psychic power. I have fun entertaining my math students with similar tricks. 

 

Now back to mathematics. Have you heard of Zeno’s Paradoxes? Zeno was a math-magician of the highest caliber who has misdirected the thoughts of his readers for millennia - usually involving the infinite. Here’s an example: A hare and a tortoise are in a race in which the tortoise has a 10-meter head start, and the hare runs ten times faster than the tortoise. Zeno argued that it’s impossible for the hare to pass the tortoise because by the time the hare has run to the starting point of the tortoise, the tortoise has run another meter. By the time the hare reaches that point, the tortoise has run 1/10^th of a meter. By the time the hare has reached it, the tortoise in turn has run 1/100^th of a meter and so on. Thus, whenever the hare has reached where the tortoise was, the tortoise has advanced. Conclusion: The hare can never pass the tortoise. 

 

Isn’t this mind-boggling? Of course, we know it’s not true - there must be a flaw in the reasoning somewhere because obviously the hare will in fact pass the tortoise. But where’s the flaw? If we didn’t know the truth from experience, we’d likely find the argument convincing.  

 

As with the other examples, your gaze has been misdirected. If you took a pie and split it in half, then again, then again, and continuing, you would get increasingly smaller pieces. But putting them all back together again you would still get just the one pie. Agreed? Cutting the pie this way illustrates that ½ + ¼ + 1/8 + 1/16 + 1/32 + . . . = 1. Conclusion: An infinite series of numbers can sum to a finite number. 

 

The hare and tortoise example is similar. The number of seconds needed to catch the tortoise (assuming the hare runs 1 meter/sec) is 1 + 1/10 + 1/100 + . . . = 1.1111 . . . which is 10/9 seconds (check with your calculator).  Zeno tried to confuse you – to misdirect your gaze – by breaking that time into an infinite number of pieces.  Now that you know his trick, you can sleep again at night. 

Washington, D.C. - A Great City

  

HS #122 2025.9.11

 

Washington, D.C.: A Great City

 

 

Years ago, I Amtracked to Chicago for a day of sightseeing the Navy Pier, Chicago River Architecture Tour, Buckingham Fountain, Millennium Park and (don’t miss!!) the Old Library by the bronze bull directly across from The Bean, all capped off with Chicago-styled pizza. Returning home, I wrote the Chicago Chamber of Commerce that a great city is one which, after having spent a day there, one leaves invigorated, and by such a measure Chicago is a great city. 

 

I recently had a similar experience with Washington, D.C. In July I attended a three-day National Science Foundation conference which housed us in the heart of the city. Arriving early and leaving late, I made use of the opportunity for sightseeing as well. Here are discoveries I recommend. 

 

As a child I wanted to see dinosaurs and spacecraft. Now I am drawn to art.  So I visited the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery which together fill the third oldest building in D.C – after the Capitol and the White House. Can you guess what the building was originally built to be?  It was the U.S. Patent Office. Isn’t that impressive? What does that reveal about our forebearers? Never mind defense or the Federal Reserve, the 19^th century was so vibrant with invention and innovation that patents were top priority. In fact, the only U.S. president with a patent (for inflatable floats on cargo barges) lived in the 19^th century:  Abe. 

 

Speaking of Lincoln, Ford Theatre where Lincoln was shot, and the just-restored ornate 1200 capacity theater in Calumet, Michigan’s UP are two theaters listed as a National Historic Site/Landmark. When Calumet Theater was built, 20,000 lived within walking distance. 

 

Also speaking of Lincoln, who was the most photographed American of the 19^th century? Nope – not Abe. Instead, it was a man with whom Lincoln had mutual admiration and friendship:  Frederick Douglass. With striking features and penetrating eyes, he was certainly the better looking. 

 

I’ve always thought that a great photograph or painting tells a story. Turns out that Winslow Homer thought the same. Especially neat was “Hound and Hunter” which shows a teenage boy lying on his belly in a boat grabbing the antlers of a deer (he had presumably shot) from the river.  The boy has the same vexed expression as the dead buck, while the swimming hound is obviously enjoying the struggle. 

 

Another painting which left an impression was “Lamentations over the Death of the First-Born of Egypt” by Charles Pearce. A handsome young couple sit, heads bowed in mourning, by an infant-sized mummy-like casket. How many times have I read that Bible story of wholesale slaughter without ever considering the grief of the parents. Israel’s heritage of vengeance. 

 

The Presidential gallery provided a “mixed feelings” experience. Portraits of Washington, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt hung alongside Andrew Johnson and others of dubious distinction. 

Three stood out for the unique and playful style. Can you guess?  JFK, Clinton and Obama. 

 

However, as beautiful and interesting as paintings are, when touring art museums, I often reflect that the people walking about are masterpieces as well – each beautiful and intriguing in their own way. And I found D.C. to be filled with interesting people. No better way to initiate conversation than to be lost and bewildered.  I seem to get more sympathy at age 67 than I did at 37. Anyway, D.C. folk I met were without exception friendly and helpful. Though the city is filled with massive brick buildings and ubiquitous columns, it is pedestrian friendly with quiet and orderly traffic.

 

There was even room for personal expression. An elderly Chinese man by the White House kept up a steady stream of heavily-accented gospel hymns: Jesus Loves Me, Blessed Assurance. I joined in on “How Great Thou Art” and got an appreciative thumbs up from him. 

 

But even more enthusiastic was the response from fellow patrons at the karaoke bar when I finished my best rendition of Elvis’s, “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Another outdid me with his fully memorized rap “My Shot” from “Hamilton”. But I got the bar going with Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” at which every audience now knows to yell on cue: “So Good! So Good! So Good!”  All of this reassured me that no matter who occupies the offices of Washington, D.C., the spirit of the ordinary American people who walk the streets and fill the bars remains firm and vibrant. 

Why Must the Beautiful Die? (Published in Ottawa News Network)

  

ONN #1 2025.8.30

 

Why Must the Beautiful Die?

 

I’m a student of the Bible. But the older I get, the more I find in it with which to disagree. Take, for example, the most ancient book of the Bible, Job. This book struggles honestly with the problem of pain for 42 chapters. But then the author blows it in the last six verses. It’s similar to attending an inspiring orchestra concert concluded by a rapturous piece and thundering ovation.  Then the director diminishes the memory of the powerful concert by playing some little ditty as an encore. 

 

Similarly, without the last half-dozen verses, the book of Job makes a powerful point: Pain is part of life. Moreover, it’s capricious – it makes no sense. What is there to do except to accept it stoically and be willing, as did Job, to die naked as he had been born naked. That’s what life is. That’s what life is. That’s what life is. But the author couldn’t stomach the honesty. Hence, he tags on a “they lived happily ever after” ending as Job gets back everything double over. 

 

The Psalmist tries. He honestly admits that “the rain falls on the just and the unjust”. But that really misses the point. What has justice to do with it?  Bible students especially should be fully aware that life isn’t fair. Jesus’s parables (Matthew 20: all workers get the same compensation) and the Apostle Paul (Romans 9) explicitly argue that life isn’t fair. Most eight-year-olds have learned the lesson. 

 

Instead, the most honest lament of tragedy I’ve encountered is from Stephen Foster. In a less-well-known song, he asks, “Ah! may the red rose live alway, To smile upon earth and sky! Why should the beautiful ever weep? Why should the beautiful die?” Find the entire poem online – it’s powerful. 

 

Why indeed? 

 

I just now returned from kayaking the Au Train River. I passed through my favorite place where my good friend Ryan Weaver and I used to have breath holding contests underwater. He and his wife, Leanna, have been joining me at my cabin for a week each summer for the last eleven years. I watched the family grow from two, to pregnant, to now an eight-year-old. During that time I watched Ryan spend endless hours playing Legos and building sand castles with Beckett. 

To watch him, you’d think it was Ryan’s favorite activity. Their pics decorate my fridge. 

 

Simply stated, Ryan is the most beautiful person I have ever known. He was my Hope College research student and a cross-country runner. The afternoon of June 9, 2012, I celebrated their joy-filled wedding, in stark contrast to the funeral of Hope colleague brain-cancer victim David Klooster that morning. 

 

Since that time we stayed close. Indeed, I chose Ryan as my medical power of attorney and he came to my aid five years ago following a heart attack and anticipating quad-bypass surgery. My nurse, when she discovered I had taught at Hope, told me she had good friends from there. Of course. 

 

So it was an ironic twist when, sixteen months ago, Ryan called and asked if I could meet him at Spectrum because while running his leg was dragging and his arm swinging  involuntarily. 

 

Ryan handled brain cancer with the same positive drive as he handled living. Through his network of friends, his surgery was done by the Duke University surgeon who operated on John McCain and Ted Kennedy. He volunteered for experimental studies and kept to a strict diet without a bit of sugar – all to live as long as possible for his wife and son. Learning that it might be beneficial, he trained his body via holding his breath - - up to 5 minutes. That’s commitment. 

 

Why must the beautiful die? Why indeed.  Irony of ironies, his whole life as a father, Ryan wore long sleeves at the beach to avoid the sun, ate a scrupulously healthy diet, no plastic bottles . . . Like Abraham, Ryan was blessed to be a blessing, and he took his commitment seriously. Yet now cancer has had its say. 

 

C.S. Lewis argued in his essay “Learning in Wartime” that since death comes for us all, it doesn’t really matter whether it comes at age 20 or 90. Bullshit! My 41-year-old friend expressed it powerfully: “I WANT TO LIVE!” Of course. 

 

I have kayaked the Au Train for fifteen years. Today, for the first time, I returned home soaked from a drenching downpour of rain. Each drop was a tear. 

 

Making Choices

  

HS #121 2025.8.14

 

Making Choices

 

Kayaking recently down the Au Train River towards the sandy beach of Lake Superior, I approached a young lad who was singing to himself – a catchy tune with words I didn’t recognize. Passing him, I asked, “That’s a neat song, what language?” He replied with the straight authority of Walter Cronkite, “I just made them up – it’s gibberish.” 

 

I continued on, but would have enjoyed engaging him in a quick conversation. Not only was it impressive for him to reach within himself to find his own words and tune, it was even more impressive that he represented himself to the outside world with unvarnished truth. His actions were true, excellent, and praiseworthy. More on that later. 

 

I’m in my sixties. Folks at my age are making choices about when to retire, when to start Social Security, what sort of Medicare package to get, and perhaps where to move for their retirement years. Subtract twenty-five years, and folks are choosing whether to change careers, whether to move, perhaps whether to change spouse, how to deal with children and relatives. Subtract another twenty-five and folks are deciding whether to go to college or military or work, and if so, which one, whether to start/continue a romantic relationship . . . 

 

As you read this, you are likely thinking of some pressing choices you are wrestling with presently. 

 

And humans aren’t alone in such things. As I ponder this column, I am kayaking up the Au Train River. I just passed a log with five turtles on it. As I passed, a couple of the turtles scurried off, while the others decided to take the risk and stay basking in the sun. I imagine them laughing at their friends as they claw their way back onto the log.  On the other hand, if the jumpers poked their heads out of the water and saw their companions being whisked away by an otter, they’d likely feel rather satisfied with their decision. 

 

Yes, we are confronted with many weighty decisions, but when counseling high school students about which college to attend, I point out that while they are rightfully spending serious effort on this “big” decision, success in college and in life may well depend more on the small decisions: Who are your new friends?  Do you go to class consistently?   Do you manage your time well, balancing study with recreation and fun?  Are you deliberate with spending money? 

 

The right answers are not the same for everyone. Years ago, a conscientious first-year advisee at Hope College told me he was planning to pledge a fraternity in the spring semester. I cautioned him that the time commitment might affect his studying and grades. His eyes teared up a bit and he said, “I’m getting a 4.00 GPA this semester. I wouldn’t mind having a 3.7 GPA in exchange for more friends.” I gave him my hearty blessing. 

 

But another such student asked my counsel of how to do better because his goal was medical school.  I told him what I had learned, “Matt, decide when you want to go to bed each night and commit yourself to it. You’ll find that that will force you to make better time-management decisions throughout the day.” Years later, he thanked me as he graduated, bound for medical school, and many years later he thanked me again when I saw him at DeVos Fieldhouse, telling me that he’s now a surgeon and researcher at Corewell. 

 

C.S. Lewis counsels in “Mere Christianity”, “Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before.” 

My father saged a similar theme, “Sow a thought, reap a deed. Sow a deed, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny.” 

But perhaps the most measured advice about “small” choices comes from the Apostle Paul. In most of his letters to churches, he had to address pressing problems. But when he wrote the trouble-free church at Philippi, he had opportunity to discuss his own priorities:  Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy – think on these things - - and the peace of God will be with you.   

Good advice. And choosing to habitually think on such things, even though it takes discipline, leads to a life such as the young man with inner song and outward truth. God knows we need more of that. 

Empathy

  

HW #120 2025.7.10

 

Empathy

 

 Readers, meet Jim and Tom – Tim’s internal discussion team. 

 

Jim: I just heard a story on NPR   https://www.npr.org/2025/03/22/nx-s1-5321299/how-empathy-came-to-be-seen-as-a-weakness-in-conservative-circles

Some conservative Christians agree with Elon Musk that the fundamental weakness of western civilization is empathy. Musk argues that too much empathy can destroy a civilization and cause a person to actually “suicide themselves.” Others claim that “Empathy is dangerous. Empathy is toxic. Empathy will align you with hell.” 

 

Tom: Empathy is bad?!  As I understand, sympathy is feeling sorry for someone, while empathy goes a step further: feeling badly for someone because you imagine yourself – or actually have been - in their situation. How can that be bad? Granted, we don’t always live up to our highest ideals, but we have never rejected them. We have never called a good thing bad. Trial by jury of one’s peers is based on empathy. Abraham Lincoln said, “As I would not be a slave, so I will not be a master.” His ethic was built on empathy. 

 

Jim: But Lincoln’s empathy concerned not HARMING others. These conservatives are questioning to what extent we should be HELPING others. The President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary hosted the author of “The Sin of Empathy” in his podcast. He claimed that “Empathy almost needs to be struck from the Christian vocabulary.”

 

Tom: Struck from Christian vocabulary?  Doesn’t that thinking run counter to Jesus’s Golden Rule and the commandment, “Love thy neighbor as thyself?” Wasn’t Jesus’s coming to earth the supreme example of empathy – of becoming human – a man of sorrows acquainted with grief so that He could be an empathetic advocate? 

 

Jim: Agreed, but Musk’s statement about suicide reminds me of “Lifeboat Ethics.” 

 

Tom: What’s that? 

 

Jim: My version: Imagine a lifeboat filled to capacity with 50 middle-aged men from a sinking cruise ship and all about are similar men perishing in the water. Those in the water plead for help. Occasionally a man in the lifeboat feels so badly, that he changes places with a man in the water. What’s the end result? Fifty will still be saved, but they will all be ones who care mostly for themselves. The virtuous die. Similarly, because of empathy there is a degradation of society because the virtuous give their resources to the non-virtuous. In time, society suffers and degrades. 

 

Tom: But empathizing with and helping others doesn’t hurt us, it helps us become better people. Isn’t empathy necessary and sufficient to both instruct and motivate us to live moral lives?  Isn’t it the universal foundation of moral living? What else helps us understand others than to “walk a mile in their moccasins.” 

 

Jim: But we’ve only walked in certain moccasins. Acting according to empathy is dangerously self-centered because we empathize more easily with folks similar to us. Remember Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy who was snatched from his father by his relatives so they could bring him to the U.S. The case split America. Some empathized with the boy – they wanted him to enjoy the freedom and opportunities in the U.S. Others empathized with the father – his son had just been taken from him. Or a darker example: Why did some Roman Catholic bishops not take appropriate action against priests who abused children? These bishops weren’t uncaring. But as priests themselves with no children of their own, it was likely easier for them to empathize with fellow priests. It took the judicial system from the outside world to set things right. 

 

Tom: Yes, that likely explains many recent presidential pardons of folks like himself, all while showing no empathy for thousands who have been deported. The key then is to develop disciplined imagination to empathize even with those unlike ourselves.  Lincoln described it as 

following “the better angels of our nature.”  Those better angels were inscribed on Lady Liberty: “Give me your tired and poor, [those] yearning to breathe free”. 

 

Jim: However, even though it may be good for individuals to be empathetic, does that mean that nations should be? Should personal virtues translate to societal/governmental ones? 

 

Tom: Good question. But either way, empathy should start with the individual. Opportunities abound.  Does one give $19/month to starving dogs or to Shriner children or to wounded veterans? Realizing our connectedness with others, we must make tough choices about who and how to help. 

 

Jim: Perhaps Musk and others against empathy are so rich/powerful that their autonomy separates them from others. But realized or not, empathy does seem essential for living well in community. 

 

Tom: Exactly.