BY JOE GRIMM and GEORGE DAHL

In print | November 15, 2007

Buy a bed net, the sidewalk said. At Swarthmore we often meet sidewalk imperatives and dining hall adjurations. I have a friend who declined an offer to attend this institution because he found it unpleasant that even the bathroom stalls issued commands. Putting aside the issue of power relations in the bathroom, what must be done? In ancient Athens, neutrality was a crime and in American politics, the irresolute meet with failure. We argue the opposite: that the wise man remains apathetic.

We are confronted by an overwhelming mob of demands: build an antiracist identity, oppose war, conserve natural resources, defend workers, support immigrants, read real old prospectors, the list goes on. Shall we exhaust our youth in righteous anger, venting fire and fury at the evil stalking the Earth? No. Consider the warlord. No man could order war, with its consequent loss of life and resources, without the spurs of passion deep in his side; few could observe destruction without surrendering to those spurs. We urge you to be those few. Insensible to pain and calm in the face of calamity. Move slowly, with deliberate thought and consider carefully before making lasting commitments. In this way, what we possess will not be squandered. Many of today’s demands will be forgotten tomorrow, but which is hard to judge. Time will be our faithful ally in all things—exhausting our frenetic foes and revealing the right path. A man who lives thusly at least minimizes his own suffering.

What crime is committed today, which has no precedent? None we say. Can the modern performance of ancient deeds damn? Our heritage we will not condemn; we are the culmination of our ancestors. It is with their eyes that we see the world. Perhaps some day a synthetic culture may be manufactured – as today there is work on robotic eyes – but until then we prefer a diabolic vision to none. Even ignoring the absurdity of creating a discontinuity with history there remains the difficulty of effecting a first occurrence. Indubitably all that is has an ur-instantiation, but by far the greater part of new ventures end in failure. A life dedicated to failure is absurd, and is laughable so long as it is not our own.

The Buddha has a relevant teaching: “You too shall pass away / Knowing this, how can you quarrel.” Truly, concern for the temporal is to be discouraged. Let us instead be indifferent to our pain and sufferings. It is the fate of man to die, that what he does will be forgotte, and that his creations will melt away. This is known to scientists as the Second Law of Thermodynamics. We disregard existential calls to action as logically indefensible so it must be mad to answer them. We implore those who answer such a call to reflect on the virtues of sanity, in contrast to the deficiencies of madness.

Christianity, too, sides with inaction, as evidenced by the parable of the workers (Matthew 20:1-15). We paraphrase it now (a sad necessity of the modern age): Jesus likens heaven to a landowner. This landowner hires workers for his vineyard, some for the entirety of the day and some for a single hour. All agree to be paid a single denarius and receive that compensation. Those who labored all day chafe at this perceived inequity and are told to accept their agreed wage. This teaches us that decades of apathy are justified by a moment of correct action. Now is the time for nothing.

So we say, for it was common order that elevated our parents and whose stations we inherit today. We do not spurn kindness and generosity, but are slow to act in all things; thereby, we avoid the greatest of errors, survive and die reflecting on a life free of pain. The next time someone tells you to support wind power, just shrug and walk away.

George and Joe are seniors. You can reach them at gdahl1@swarthmore.edu and jgrimm1@swarthmore.edu.

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