I just wanted to publicly congratulate Wm. Anthony Connolly, one of our frequent catapult writers, on having the sixth best-selling trade paperback in Canada according to the bookseller McNally Robinson. As the bestseller lists will change, I will also link directly to his book, The Obituaries. Canadians have excellent taste, don't they?
Brother Roger, founder of the Taize Community in France, was murdered yesterday during an evening prayer service. I'm still reeling in disbelief ...
I was reading the latest disturbing news from Iraq this morning while this was playing in the background:
Wise Up
by Aimee Mann
from the Magnolia soundtrack
It's not
What you thought
When you first began it
You got
What you want
Now you can hardly stand it though,
By now you know
It's not going to stop
It's not going to stop
It's not going to stop
'Til you wise up
You're sure
There's a cure
And you have finally found it
You think
One drink
Will shrink you 'til you're underground
And living down
But it's not going to stop
It's not going to stop
It's not going to stop
'Til you wise up
Prepare a list of what you need
Before you sign away the deed
'Cause it's not going to stop
It's not going to stop
It's not going to stop
'Til you wise up
No, it's not going to stop
'Til you wise up
No, it's not going to stop
So just...give up
I started getting images from Magnolia running in my head alongside images of the war and I was startled by the emotional congruency. Both prominently feature brokenness as it unravels and leads to more destruction. In Magnolia, it takes frogs raining from the sky for catharsis--for the characters to stop, take stock in their situations and recognize the freedom only available through grace.
What will it take in Iraq?
When listening to this song, I can't help but think, "When will we wise up?" We continually attempt to use violence (a result of human brokenness) to achieve worthy ends and we repeatedly see that we cannot control the effects of these attempts.
Alaa al-Tamimi, the now deposed mayor of Baghdad, is quoted in the New York Time article linked to above: "This is the new Iraq. They use force to achieve their goal." Yes, they do. And so do we. Each side is trying to use the same means to control the situation and to force its will on the other. While it is certainly important to note that each seeks vastly different ends, the underlying intention is still the same.
I'm not sure what Aimee Mann had in mind when she originally wrote the last line of this song, but it seems particularly apropos in this context. I am most definitely not suggesting a surface level comprehension, wherein we simply give up when things become too difficult to accomplish. Whether it was Mann's intention or not, I think this line refers to giving up our attempts to control situations and outcomes in the recognition that God does a much better job of it.
While this almost reads like another take on a relatively simplistic Christian idea, it seems like we don't fully realize the implications of it. Taking up arms and attempting to use violence to reach desired ends--regardless of whether those ends are ultimately just--is a grievous and consequential wresting of power from the hands of God.
I am not saying that humans have no agency whatsoever, merely that we need to understand our role better. In the words of the late Archbishop Oscar Romero: "We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own." We need to separate ourselves, to a large degree, from the results we seek from our actions and refocus on the obedience of our actions.
