I won’t get into preaching here. I think we each oughta be responsible for finding our own heroes and moral exemplars (if that’s not already being too preachy of me). Unfortunately even that might not even be within easy reach.
There’s an article in the March Weekly Standard called “The Age of Irresponsibility” by Matthew Continetti [via NYTimes Ideas] that got me thinking on these lines. It argues,
America’s political, economic, and cultural elites seem incapable of behaving responsibly and being accountable for their actions. That incapacity is why you wake up in the morning and dread reading the day’s headlines. It is why, for years, there seemingly has been nothing but bad news. It is this larger crisis that has driven the public’s opinion that the country is headed down the “wrong track” and fostered the widespread sense that American power has entered a period of decline. This is the age of irresponsibility.
There’s an extensive inventory of examples – starting with Bill Clinton and Paris Hilton; G.W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld don’t escape criticism in this conservative piece, and then of course there are the great bankers and financiers… and,
There are moments when it seems as though every figure who waltzes across the public stage is a cheat, a fraud, a liar, or a failure. Child abuse scandals have tarnished the image of Catholic bishops and priests. Steroid scandals have racked Major League Baseball, the Tour de France, and the Olympic games. And then there are the celebrities who write books, make music, and perform in film and television. Where to start?
Continetti cites Sully Sullenberger (who piloted the Humber River emergency-landing) as one of the few positive “exemplars of decency, professionalism, and ability,” and he does a good job selling General David Petraeus as another. Barack Obama gets a nod — at least based on his intentions, and albeit packaged with conditions and criticisms of his cabinet selections and near-selections (as we might expect in a magazine that tried tearing him apart in the election).
Much of the article turns out to be just as muddled as the Republican Party is in general — with criticisms of Obama’s populism (the same magazine decried him as an “elitist” a few months ago, while singing the praises of the absurdly populist Republican ticket), but I fully agree with the sentiment.
I know I’m being America-centric again but Canadians are certainly affected by American personalities. Besides, my feelings about our leaders in Ottawa are already known. I don’t know that Stephen Harper is such a bad guy, but there’s not much there to make a case for him as a good guy either. That’s about the best I can say about anyone there (though admittedly, I say that without looking very hard at them as people — regardless, being a swell person in private still leaves us in need of public exemplars).
This discussion is timely for me because I’m trying to make a greater effort to be good lately — if only because I’ve been feeling bad about becoming compulsive and immature.
Yesterday I read a great article from Shambhala Sun, “Two Sciences of Mind,” about Francisco Varela and the broad movement of Buddhist-oriented psychology (I previously addressed here). I came to that article via William Harryman on Twitter and I’ve been gradually picking up a lot more of this kind of thing there (another one that stood out was the post that introduced me to Shinzen Young, who practices and teaches mindfulness).
Much of the attitude around this kind of spiritual stuff (at least in the publishing industry) is about meaning. I’m not sure it’s meaning we need. What we need is sound management and self-mastery.
So I’m going take these leads a lot more seriously. I don’t know if I’d say I’m becoming a Buddhist but the notion of cultivating mindfulness through daily practice is certainly something I feel I need to do (blended with substantial servings of Pragmatism, Confucianism, Stoicism, etc). There’s a lot more to be said on this but for now I want to focus on actually doing… (posting may be reduced, we’ll see).
In the mean time I just want to mention a couple of my living moral exemplars. I must say it’s damn hard not to look at Barack Obama — with caution. I’m not nearly as conditional about it as Matthew Continetti, but Obama still has a lot of time left to make mistakes, and his job isn’t exactly suited for cultivating a pristine aura.
And of course I always come back to Jacques Barzun. If you don’t know who he is (and you’ve read this far), start learning now. I’ve been meaning to write more about him lately; stay posted if you’re interested.
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