Make of "The Man"

     As I missed my last two posting dates (I was out of town, apologies), I figured I might pick up with the same theme of "The Man" for this post.  I believe this will be my last blog on this topic.  For now at least.

     

Watson - "People don't have arch-enemies."

Sherlock - "What?"

W - "In real life.  People don't have arch-enemies."

S - "That sounds a bit dull.  So what do people have in their real lives?"

W - "Friends, people they like, people they don't like, boyfriends, girlfriends ..."

 S - "Like I said, dull."

     I wanted to start with this bit of conversation from the BBC show Sherlock (which I highly recommend if you have not seen it yet).  This quote relates a lot to our topic of today.  Now, I would have to place myself somewhat in disagreement with Dr. Watson in his claim, but I will explain later that I also agree with him in a manner. 

An Enemy to Oppose

     In life, we all strive to find meaning.  Some people find meaning in their work, some in their faith, some in adventure, some in their relationships, and there are a million other ways that people find meaning.  The most simple way of finding meaning in one's life, however, is in adversity.  

     Just think: how easy is it to be the defender of something you love?  How quickly do you jump to the defense of those things you invest your time into at the slightest inkling of attack?  To be the defender of a cause makes one important, if only in their mind.  The cause might seem menial and worthless to one but to another it is a cause to die for.  Those that rush to the defense of a cause often make a caricature of their enemy.  They become twisted picture of all the things that are evil in the world.  Sometimes they are a single person or, more often, they take the shape of an organization or group.  

     Some go as far as to take it personally.  This self-made antagonist to their life story exists for the destruction of them, the hero of the tale.  And like Don Quixote they sally forth from their home to engage in mortal combat against an enemy like whom the world has never known.  In finding a cause to defend, people find an enemy to oppose and a meaning to their brief existence.

An Imaginary Mantle

     How often are specific people displayed under a single light in the world of the media?  Almost always a single source will apply a few strong traits to the characters they display for the simplicity of their information.  In a similar way, we tend to only apply a few traits to those that we have little access to.  For example, an increasing number of people apply simply "dumb" to their image of President Obama.  Now, these traits we apply to people may be true or not (as it is in this case - few dullards make it far in the realm of politics).  It seems somewhat ironic, though, that often people will characterize their personal arch-nemesis as lesser than themselves though they will ultimately fail their quest as it was impossible from the start.  The Obama that most criticize holds no position in reality.  He simply does not exist.  And thus we find most people living their lives fighting phantoms.  They swing their swords at enemies that exist only in their mind while others look on like they are crazy or foolish.  As we discussed in my previous blog, those that we place as our enemies rarely deserve the hatred directed towards them.

     And here I want to leave you to question those empty causes you might champion.  While it is healthy and good to have those things that you enjoy and stand up for, do not do so at the cost of another.  This is the problem that we face in the US: we stand ready to die for every last menial cause while those causes that matter find themselves without the necessary defenders.  Go and find meaning in your life, but make that meaning have meaning.