In Hail, Caesar, a film by the Coen brothers, Eddie Mannix, a 1950’s movie studio “fixer” played by Josh Brolin, has a problem. One of his biggest stars and darlings of the screen, DeeAnna Moran, who is played by Scarlett Johansson, has gotten pregnant out of wedlock. If news of this scandal were to get out, it would prove to be devastating for the studio. Mannix and his crew need a solution, a magic bullet to take care of this imminent PR catastrophe. And what would that magic bullet be? What is the only thing that could take on this dirty secret and make all things right? It would be none other than a “professional human being.”
Jonah Hill’s Joseph Silverman was a man to whom the studio could turn when they needed a stand in human being. He met the “legal requirements for personhood,” and was therefor employed by the studio when a representative of the human race was needed. In this case, he would be used to provide legal custody over Moran’s secret child until she could publicly do the wholesome deed of becoming an adoptive mother to a needy infant. Things get a little more interesting from there, but you’ll have to check that out for yourself. What’s most important however is that there is something valuable in being a “person.” As illustrated by this subplot, we can see that being an individual in the group we call mankind carries with it an irreplaceable ability to impact.
Some profound, stabilizing truths have been so bedazzled, glittered, and fitted with bright orange tips that we have been fooled into passing them by because of how plastic they have been made to feel. One of these ruggedly sturdy truths is the abundant efficacy that the individual possesses. It is likely that when you read that, your memory fetches up all those PBS shows from your youth that told you how “amazing your potential is” or that “you can do anything!” I sincerely appreciate those who came before us who valued this idea so much that they animated it in bright colors or voiced it over felt puppets so that young, impressionable minds might stay tuned in long enough and deeply enough for the lesson to be absorbed.
Let’s be honest, though. Even though children’s programing and curriculum has been pumped full of this message, it doesn’t seem like we as a populace have really taken hold of it. Perhaps it is because of the great contrast between the safe place on TV with its soft lighting and bright colors to the more real world where issues aren’t resolved within 30 minutes and it’s a struggle to make it through the bus ride to school. It could be that an over saturation of a good message without real life application becomes a lecture that is stylish to mock among peers. Regardless of the reason, the simple fact remains. For many of us the truth of the power that lies within a man has not germinated into a belief that changes our actions or our mindset when we wake up in the morning. Instead many people view themselves as ineffectual and anything they could do in this world as unavailing, leaving them to wallow in a valueless existence focused only on securing what comforts might be scavenged upon. That’s why it’s time that we take this neon painted factuality down to the workshop, apply the paint thinner to it, scratch off the plastic jewels, remove the glued on orange tip, and take a look at its restored glory so that it might have its chance to restore us.
This matters because if we continue in the incorrect understanding that as an individual we are like a fragile blade of grass, we will sit quietly as life passes by, venturing nowhere and changing nothing for the good. If, however, we see that we are more like a loaded gun, able to accomplish devastating harm or powerful good, we take ourselves and our roles more seriously, and can start doing what’s useful for ourselves and for those around us. Simply put, it will help bring more good to our world. Additionally, we may also find that we will cease to be farmed by those who do know our power and who seek to harvest it for themselves. So let’s take a look at the outworking of this inherent power within the individual in its two forms. One will be symbolized by the grenade and the other will be symbolized by the engine.
Man as a Grenade
The concept of a grenade is a simple one. It is a small and unassuming package that houses immense power. Many people who have been in battle can attest to its effectiveness, but the catch is that it is a one time deal. It can certainly move the local environment around and change the narrative of any particular story, but doing so is at the cost of its own existence. The life of a man can be very similar. There is much that will be said in the way of potential that doesn’t throw life on the line later, but we must come to terms with the fact that trading our life for something can be very effective and directly illustrates the great dynamism within us.
A myriad of examples can come to mind. First, let’s start with the negative. I wish that we didn’t have to, but the ugly and evil are an undeniable side of the coin we call reality. Without recommending it or honoring it, I call our attention to the “suicide bomber.” In the suicide bomber’s mind, there is an understanding that he, a single individual, can do something that will dramatically impact the stories of many in irreversible ways. Yes it is a trade off, but the math of one life for many apparently seems like a worthwhile investment to him. He shows that this organism called humanity, made up of billions, can be effected by one single individual.
On the more noble side of this, if you’ve been in the woods with loved ones, perhaps you have imagined the prospect of a hungry bear surprising your party. Sure, maybe you could fight it off, but it is unlikely that you would win that battle. What is more likely, however, is that you could make a trade right there. You could pour your life into the danger and allow your people to escape. You could save many by doing basically nothing! The math seems to show that one = many when it comes to Mankind. Our shared fiction shows that this concept is an important one to our social collective. To name a couple of examples, in Return of the King, Gandalf and Aragorn knew that charging into the battle of the Black Gate would most likely be a suicide mission, but they also knew that by doing it they could give Frodo and Sam the chance they needed to save the world. Or if your entertainment tastes as more refined than that, you will remember how, in the Independence Day film, Russell Casse decided that he would rather let his life end as he guided his plane up the barrel of the alien ship than allow it to fire its city killing laser down on a group of innocents.
As always, the heroes of our fictions distill great truth to show us what can happen when we embrace such an idea completely. This truth becomes even more clear, however, when we are surprised by it in the actual flesh and blood. The grand sacrifice of one’s own life for others can be seen beautifully in the story of Mr. Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt. As his name suggests, Alfred was heir to an astounding fortune that afforded him to develop a playboy status. He was one of America’s elite, a Yale graduate, and a member of the secretive Skull and Crossbones Society. His pastimes included fox hunting and racehorse breeding. Still, all of these details are merely the back drop to what is truly pertinent to our discussion.
On May 7th, 1915 Alfred was aboard a luxury transatlantic passenger ship called the Lusitania on its way to Europe. This particular voyage, though, would prove to be a very deadly one. The world was at war and German u-boats had been sinking ships in the area around Ireland through which the Lusitania would be traveling. The fears of many were made real when the giant ship carrying men, women, and children was hit by a German torpedo.
As the heavy, steel ship started sinking to the bottom of the ocean, many had to make decisions. As a first class passenger, it would have been easy for Alfred to hold tightly to his own life safely in a life boat. He could have safely made his speech later that week at the horse breeders convention like he had been planning. He could have even said something touching about those who had lost their lives in the dreadful attack, and he could have gotten on with his life of comfort and fun. Instead, Alfred chose to pull the pin on the proverbial grenade and make a greater trade. He and his valet spent the short time they had as the Lusitania made its way downward, guiding as many women and children as they could to escape on the life boats. According to The Lusitania Resource, Alfred was seen carrying two kids at a time under his arms, dropping them off at the life boats, and then going back for more.
One of the last people to see Alfred was a second cabin female passenger who accepted one of the multiple life belts that he had secured and been giving to women and children. Some records say that he was seen tying it around the young lady with her child in her arms. This may have been one of his last living moments as it was reported that the two were separated by the enclosing water. Alfred’s body was never found. He knew the power he had as a person. Many could survive because of what he could offer, and he gave way to that basic truth. He did so as a gentleman as well. This was remarked upon by another passenger whom he almost collided with, saying that he would never forget his calming smile in the midst of his certain death. Alfred’s attitude helped keep chaos partly at bay, and he was even heard saying with chivalrous acceptance to another passenger, “Well, they got us this time, all right.” Even when the ship holding everyone up couldn’t, with his last moments, Alfred Vanderbilt did what he could by keeping an even keel.
The greater majority of us will not be called to exercise the power within us in this explosive way. Not all situations require it, but it is the truth that is represented here that matters. Whether it is or isn’t used in this way, the power within each individual person remains. To see the individual as one passive observer among billions of others, who’s smallness nullifies its importance would simply be an inaccurate way of interpreting reality. Instead, to operate more in accordance with the truth of existence, we must understand that Man is a creature with fearfully great capability.
Man as an Engine
It is true that a combustable substance can be employed as an explosive to move heaven and earth in a devastating concussion, but we also know how effective it is to harness the same substance in smaller, controlled, and continuous ways. This has been perfected over the years in what is called the combustable engine. Watch any farmer’s field over the course of a couple of decades, and you will see the millions of acres of accomplishment that the determined, plodding engine of a tractor produces.
The same is true when the inherent power of the individual is harnessed in a likewise manner. The determined plodding of a person can be one of the most far reaching and deeply impactful forces in the world. Many people do not have to scratch very far down in their life experience to remember the parent or peer who singled them out to methodically antagonize, torment, or manipulate them, sometimes for years at a time. Often, people who have experienced such prolonged and negative focus from another find themselves either intentionally or unintentionally doing the same thing to others, perpetuating a legacy that has been long lasting and far reaching into the whole network of humanity.
Similarly but all the way on the other side of the coin, you have people who choose to represent this truth in a more prolific way; people like Milton Hershey. He is known mostly for his chocolate, but to a still growing population of once orphaned and dejected children, he is known for plodding kindness, sacrifice, and care.
Much inspiration and many solid lessons can be gleaned from Milton’s story. His was a path paved with failures that lead to great success in a thriving caramel business and then a chocolate empire. It has been the subject of many well produced papers, stories, and videos. What fewer people know, however, is that on that path, Milton Hershey sought to make sacrifice after sacrifice for the betterment of his fellow man.
When his business had become successful, he knew that he wanted to do something far more important than generate product and make money. He hyper-focused on the well being of his employees which, around the turn of the century, was definitely not in style the way it is today. Working conditions for many employees around the country and around the world were deplorable and demoralizing. So Milton invested in building a legitimate town, now called Hershey, Pennsylvania, around his chocolate production headquarters to take care of his employees’ needs. He did this by forgoing the cheap and depressing settlements that industrial worker communities had been, and instead created a place where his employees could have their own freestanding houses with actual yards, public transportation, recreation in parks, and plenty of greenery. This is a prime example of a leader’s heart being more full of care for his workers than his head being full of thoughts of profit margins.
Even though Milton and his wife, Catherine, were greatly in love with each other, the Hershey home did have to contend with its own emotional struggles. One was that they were not able to have children of their own. While this was a heartbreaking revelation for the couple who loved children very much, they chose to take it in stride and find a redemption of their misfortune. They decided that this meant they were supposed to take care of children who didn’t have parents. This lead to perhaps the most important addition to the city of Hershey, The Hershey Industrial School for orphan boys, which is still in operation as a boarding school for both boys and girls who come from difficult home situations. By directing his fortune into the school, It was Milton’s hope to provide important education to children who didn’t have someone to secure that for them. When his wife died, he donated most of his personal wealth to a trust to secure the future funding for the school.
Milton Hershey wasn’t necessarily called to lay it all on the line in one heroic moment like Alfred Vanderbilt had been, but he did do something just as impactful. He and his wife chose to sacrifice daily in order to help move other lives towards something better. They lived with the mentality that when an opportunity presented itself for them to give for the sake of others, they would move right ahead into it. They chose to pour themselves into cultivating the field of humanity. Their legacy continues on in the families who serve as house parents at the Milton Hershey School today. They are individuals who have decided that giving their weekdays and evenings to be nurturing parents for children who need such stable influences is an investment that they want to make, displaying once again a continual, engine like caring for other people.
Refining Power for Good or Bad
As we’ve said already, it is quite difficult to fully grasp or actually feel the truth that we have such efficacy solely because we are a member of the human class. However, as it has already been noted, even just a small amount of reflection can remind us of how individuals have deeply changed so many lives, even long after they are gone. The proportions to which a single person can move the physical and social fabric of our world are so astounding that they seem to be on the spiritual level. Once we are able to really clinch that idea in our hearts, it can be inspiring beyond words. Simultaneously, though, we can’t ignore the hairy fact that it can also be absolutely terrifying. Both noble and horrific things can and have been done with this power, which we will discuss, but for a moment please lay that juxtaposition aside. There is still one more cave to explore in order for us to appropriately respect, fear, and understand the extent of this inheritance we have as mankind.
First, we have this power at conception. Yes I literally mean conception, and maybe even before. Just consider the way that the decision to bring a child into the world changes the plans, emotions, and actions of the future mother and father, all the way down to how they spend their money. Also, think of the effect on the extended family of aunts, uncles, grandparents, siblings, and cousins that announcing a pregnancy has. That is all before the little representative of personhood is even showing outward signs of existence. The power is present at the beginning, but another astounding thing about it is that it can be honed and increased as life goes on. Such is the nature of humanity. We are coded with the potential for enhancement and development. It all depends on if this potential is activated or not.
If it is so, that people can grow in their inherent power, then the curious may ask what the path for this growth is. In the book The Coddling of the American Mind, written by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, the idea of humans being “antifragile” is explored. They assert that the individual isn’t made weaker by a life of troubles and obstacles, but instead is more like a bone or an immune system, and actually gets stronger with resistance and more able to handle difficulties that present themselves. It is a fact that people who experience obstacles and press through them are generally more satisfied in life and better prepared for the next set of problems. In short, they find that the adage of “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is actually true.
Haidt and Lukianoff use many different examples to demonstrate the science of their observations, but one of the most valuable ones is when they talk about the concept of “free range kids.” The message is as obvious as it sounds. From the polling that Haidt has done, the age at which children were allowed to go outside and away from the immediate premises of their home has increased wildly for those who grew up in the 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s, and 10’s versus those who came before those periods. In essence, an alarmingly high percentage of children of high developmental age are no longer allowed to be out by themselves where they can face the challenges of life without the protection and immediate rescue from an adult. Haidt and Lukianoff assert that this finding is part of the current, collective worldview that they call “safteyism,” the mindset that believes people to be inherently fragile, and that we must therefore be hyper focus on forcing the world to be a safe place for them. They would assert that this is filling children and adults with anxiety, fear, and depression.
To make sure the discussion is well balanced, the authors recognize the fear of things like abduction and tragic accidents that are indeed based in reality, but they state that those risks, as well as crime rates in general, are lower than they have ever been in the past. They suggest that it seems more scary today because there is more media coverage on these tragic occurrences, not that these things are actually happening more often. Also, there are wise ways and unwise ways to go about letting kids have more independence and facing struggles on their own. You can look into Lukianoff’s and Haidt’s material to learn more about apps that can be used in keeping up with your child’s position, how to arm them with the right equipment for success, and how to observe from a safe distance as they grow in their understanding of how to function independently in society.
The glaring problem that this all comes down to is that when we avoid the hardships that grow us in life, we are robbed of the all-important times where we can overcome obstacles and cement in our psyche the idea that we can in fact still move forward when things are difficult. In an effort to highlight how this pertains to our discussion, consider the problems of lacking a robust experience in encountering adversity. When this happens, we become less the people who help to grow our culture and society, and more so become ineffectual liabilities on our society. The example used in The Coddling of the American Mind is the mom who was shocked with the realization that she still needed to cut her ten year old son’s meat at the dinner table. Our world needs us to be beyond requiring people to metaphorically cut our meat for us as adults.
This has been a look at the negative space of the picture, but like all pictures, there is the positive as well. What those studies documented by Haidt and Lukianoff also show is that, generally, the children who’s parents did let them out earlier seemed to develop more positively and appropriately. They were more ready for adulthood, more emotionally stable, and better equipped with the idea that they could handle life as they faced it. Again, this comes from due diligence where perceived risk and actual risk is concerned, but the data does seem to show that facing challenges, risks, and hardships does a remarkable thing with that inherent human power inside each of us as individuals. Effectively, it makes us aware of it, helps to develop the initiative to use it, and gives us a mental predisposition to be a producer of what’s better in our shared world.
This is pertinent because the concept of the antifragile individual elevates this already amazing inherent power and ability. Not only do we have such phenomenal potential to rearrange the world around us, including the lives of others, but over time we can actually become more refined, more determined, and more effective in it. It is truly something at which to marvel. These implication are also scary, however. Power used by malicious hands for evil purposes has always been a problem in the world of man, and what we are talking about is perhaps the greatest power that mankind has ever received. It is definitely a concept that should make people a little scared, and in fact, in the words of Major Chip Hazard from Small Soldiers, “You’d have to be crazy not to be scared.”
The Extent of the Problem
The problem presents itself before us, then. There are billions of these immensely power creatures going this way and that in one shared place. The world may seem like a large space, but the degree of power which we are discussing here shrinks its size dramatically. Consider how the efforts of one man named Adolf Hitler significantly decreased the the expanse of the globe and seemed to put most of the world into one very close arena together. If you consider the levels of ability that we are dealing with, especially with the combination of the technology that those before us have given to us, which we continue to build upon, you can see how our world is actually quite small. It might as well be the house that we all inhabit together. Truly, it might as well be our shared home.
For many, home is one of the most positive places that exists. We have the experience of Dorothy and can say at the end of our daily adventures that there is no place like it. Again, however, such a warm feeling is tightly bound to the type people with whom home is shared. If it is people that love us, seek what’s best for us, and are invested in our well being, home can be a refuge, a headquarters, a place of peace, and a down right happy place. If it is shared with someone who has negative intent for us or someone who is set on destroying whatever is around them, including the peace of others, this shared place called home is a prison, a dangerous setting all together.
This is the nature of the shared world of man. People, regardless of if they have intellectually realized their inherent and fierce potential or not, do set about using it in our shared house. Ambition without restraint exists in many as they use this explosive, grenade like and rolling engine like power to till the earth around them for their personal benefit. The problem is that the dirt that gets chewed up as they till isn’t dirt in reality. It is other people. At the time of writing this, the world is still in shock from the extremely quick take over of Afghanistan by the Taliban in the wake of America’s exit from the country. The Taliban and many other groups like them is filled with thugs who come into villages that are easy enough to conquer and then set to bending that world to answer their own comforts and desires. Raped women, dead men, and traumatized children are the result when they are done.
Many have somehow been fooled into believing that such atrocities throughout the world are rare and alien to normal reality. However a person does not need to be a world traveler to see that this is not truly the case. They merely need to be brave enough to open the curtain and lay their eyes on the the global stage where it is actually quite the common way of things. Even what is called polite society or the progressive world has its share of fellow humans manipulating the political and business systems that were meant to serve mankind and human society for their own eccentric comforts, not to mention the death and destruction of life in the dark alleys of our society and the emotionally destructive contending to be on top in every way that marks most of the relationships in our local culture.
The truth is stark and so simplistic that we all know it. With a creature such as man, if hands exist, fists will exist. If stone, bronze, and iron exist, bullets and blades will exist. If the ability for speech exists, destructive full metal jackets hurled by another’s tongue will exist. If man exists, danger to others is close. Hiding and pretending it does not exist does not fix it, change it, or help the ones who have suffered from it. History has proven this to be the case in our shared little world. It can be a dark picture, but fear doesn’t have to be the dominating emotion here. There is reason for hope.
New Hope in Old Wisdom
If then we are faced with such a great problem, this problem of the amazing and fearful power in us and around us that turns all people, including ourselves, into scary wild cards capable of both affirming life and dealing death all in the same hour, what is the message of hope here? What is the solution to which life loving people can hitch their hearts?
The answer is not a new one, but an ancient one. The old proverb says, “In the Lord’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water that he channels toward all who please him.” This is a distillation of an obvious principle that handles the inherent power of man. First, are we all kings? The answer is yes, but not in the sense that we are all entitled to be obeyed and adored by a nation of underlings. We are kings in the sense that we were born into possession of the great power we have seen thus far. We can impact positively or negatively a great many others by what we do. We may be missing the purple robes, but the ability that we wield is there. With our words, our intellect, our skills, and our strength, we can uplift or crush in the same way that a king can the person in his audience. As the proverb mentions, we possess the powerful stream of water that can produce or destroy.
In that light, kings and queens, what matters then is the channel, or the hands that guide this power. If this power is in the wrong hands, and make no mistake, the wrong hands are that of what Freud would call our “Id” and what Plato would call our “Appetite,” then we are bound to be a destructive and abusive monarch. We have great power that will be used one way or another, and with only ourselves channeling it, we tend to use it in ways that are ultimately harmful to ourselves and others. All of this isn’t new knowledge, but is actually something that the ancients discovered long ago. Just as it was for them, to see, know, and claim this truth is a greatly beneficial skill. To not be ignorant of it is to be capable of facing it in battle. The human is such a wonderful creature in that we can have this problem in us and simultaneously desire freedom from it.
The Chivalric Code for Modern Man
In order to find that freedom, we must do as the freedom seekers before us have done. We must find a code that reaches higher than our appetite for comfort and self gratification, and place it over ourselves the way that we do with warm clothing when we need to be freed from the effects of the harsh elements. This code has gone by many names throughout the millennia, but the one that I have found particularly inspiring is Chivalry. There are many things that fed into the pot where the “original” chivalric codes were cooked up, and just like what Chivalry became, not all aspects were worth keeping for humanity. But one part was and is astoundingly useful for the world of man.
In the early middle ages the church found itself with this familiar dilemma. Their desire for the people around them, as well as what their holy book prescribed, was peace and abundant life. However, just like what we’ve seen in our time, the tendency of the men then, especially the ones with power and authority, was to wage war, commit violence, and seek conquest. Often times, lords were merely powerful thugs that would directly and indirectly ravage the villages around them.
In order to see the people of authority employed in building up their surrounding world instead of breaking it down, the Church started developing and disseminating a message of something higher. Clergy and churchmen like Chrétien de Troyes often used narrative and poetry, particularly set in the genre of Arthurian legend to show the ideals of knights, lords, and kings who wholeheartedly embraced a higher form of knighthood. Their goal was to show these people of power not only a better place to invest their inherent ability and efficacy, but a good and life affirming place to invest it. They showed that there was honor in things like not harming the weak and innocent, treating your enemy with respect on the battlefield, and pursuing higher morals than personal want and greed.
Much can go into describing the spirit behind this chivalry, but one summary of it could be that it was the idea of seeing higher value in every individual person, and therefore living with an acknowledged responsibility to use your power for the sake of others’ true benefit. Such a basis quickly makes way for appropriate progressive ideas. For instance, what nowadays the word “chivalry” is boiled down to, the valuing of the fairer sex, actually started as something even more robust. The message encoded within the arthurian legends’ focus on elevating women to almost otherworldly levels was more of an encouragement to give ear to women in a higher way, therefor treating them with honor instead of as vehicles of pleasure. As laid out by professor Ryan Reeves, the church knew that if the thuggish warlords were to evolve into men of peace, it was time for them to be impacted by the more peace-minded and nurturing gender.
Additionally, a large part of many chivalric codes was that of the knights going through hardship and discomfort in the wilderness on their way to do good; striking at the very heart of “safteyism.” Baked into this concept is the idea that has been proven to refine and develop men and women timelessly. To follow most official codes of chivalry, the knight required a rootedness in such a mental and emotional state as to allow him to actually find joy in the process of strengthening that came from prolonged exposure to the elements with only meager sustenance. Initially, these people were from some of the richest of society and would not ordinarily have to go without any contemporary comfort. However, since they knew that this would make them ineffectual and less valuable to the society that they were born to protect, they sought the glory that would come from the more difficult things.
Duty
As can be seen, some ideas that are important to this thought are those such as responsibility, destiny, and intentional placement. This is because, when talking of chivalry, it is impossible to move away from the concept of duty. Most, if not all codified chivalry, when divided into its many aspects, find their places in one of the “three duties.” These three are the duty to God, the duty to fellow man, and the duty to women. A deep dive into even just one of these would be far too much to include here, but the broader idea is what is pertinent for now. Duty and responsibility are of immense importance for those who wish to see the world built up instead of destroyed. Psychologist and lecturer Jordan Peterson sums up the thought as follows, “Trust those who speak of their responsibilities, not of their rights.”
To take responsibility is to set actionable inspiration to yourself. The people who embrace codes that require an acceptance of such duty binds those people to take positive action for their prescribed tenants. To the chivalric knights of the past, this meant that they no longer had the choice or any justifiable escape from doing what was helpful for the needy innocents whom they passed. To be who they desired to be and fulfill the reason for their existence, they had to offer aide. Seen in this way, it is clear that a firm adoption of responsibility and duty is greatly effective in directing the power of man to construction in society. In this light, it truly is like guiding hands, holding a person to the path.
Can We Get There?
The unordinary idea of chivalry, the discipline of power and authority for good, took time to take hold, and in some places and ways it never did. Nevertheless, the idea of an honorable man who would be heroic instead of bloodthirsty or greedy was introduced to some who had not known it before and to many who would be saved by it. Kenelm Henry Digby, a 19th century writer from Cambridge gave chivalry’s definition as so: “Chivalry is only a name for that general spirit or state of mind which disposes men to heroic and generous actions and keeps them conversant with all that is beautiful and sublime in the intellectual and moral world.” This truer and better worldview, regardless of what name it is given, was spread and adopted by many, creating moral codes that acted as guiding hands to channel man’s power towards rescue, goodness, and maintaining life instead of the all too common dreadful alternative. It was even a part of defining the few higher values that still exist in current society today.
We are faced with these very simple facts, then. There are billions of people. Each one within the billions has remarkable, fearful, and wonderful power to impact what goes on in the world. This world is a room we all share. Some never learn about this power, and are then of no active benefit to their fellow man, but are in fact open be taken advantage of and have their ability employed for the ill will of others who do know their potential. Some learn of their power and devastate with it, but it is possible, as some do, to learn and build with it. The thing that determines this is the thing that is behind this power, the code and the hand that is channeling it. The world would be objectively better if all of these powerful beings walking around were builders instead of destroyers. The only problem with that truth is that it is impossible to see happen. There can not be some kind of idealogical carpet bombing over the world that adjusts the worldview of all individuals. Even if such a thing was possible, it would be unethical.
Yes, the part in us all that is inclined to fear and anxiety, at this point, may start puffing up when we consider if it is true or not that Chivalry and the good things like it are, as it has been said, truly dead. If we are faced with loaded gun individuals, like ourselves, walking around, and the thing that channels their power is deep in a 400 year old grave, then the outlook would be very bleak. However, I comfortably offer a happier truth. It is not dead. To be certain, it has suffered a very prolonged attack through the ages that is still going on, and I reckon, until this present world dissolves like snow to reveal the glory of its original intention, the attack will continue. I would even go as far as to say that there has been positives in the concept of Chivalry going through the crucible. Through the years, parts were appropriately questioned and whittled off of it. However, and I might add, sadly, many institutions throughout the centuries have instructed many individuals to go right ahead and throw out the whole precious baby with the dirty bath water. That has not killed it, though. It remains.
It remains as a choice for every individual man and woman, however. Sure, the child like desire in many of us would be to see it as a setting on which we could switch humanity and leave it there, but it is actually better than that. It is a thing that must be chosen, picked up, and owned by the man or woman who is convinced of it. No it isn’t the natural inclination of our human race, or at least it hasn’t been since our origin, but instead it is an enlightenment of an individual. It is one of the heart and the mind. It causes a man to have a new love for humanity and a pursuit of what true love actually is when acted out, even if many claim it is the opposite.
It is an ongoing choice for one single person at a time. Perhaps it is so difficult for cultures, now or before, to take on the look of it as a whole because that would require the majority of that culture to embrace it. And why doesn’t the majority embrace it? Because, simply, it is hard. For the true chivalrous knight of old, which admittedly were probably found in legend a bit more than in real life, the real ones not withstanding, the shining armor that marked them was not made light by merlin’s magic in the real world. It was up to the knight to rouse himself early in the dark and wet morning and go about the business of putting each cold, heavy piece on. Perhaps daily he had to wrestle with the decision to either continue in his course or take off his weight and sell it for some money and rest.
To choose to be governed by a thing like chivalry today, to let the power in you that can be set to build an empire of comfort for yourself instead be disciplined and channeled for the care of your fellow man and our shared world is to be made a marked man in this age. It is no different than choosing to don the shining armor as was done in the past. When you do so, you are choosing to wear the mark distinguishing a steward of humanity. Such a role isn’t an official one in the sense that would be accredited by the cult of popularity, but in a truer and deeper way, isn’t it more official than if it were to be declared by some commercial conglomeration or governing body of a state? Isn’t there a mark that would have caused Milton Hershey and Alfred Vanderbilt to notice and acknowledge one another as they endeavored on for something more timeless than their empires. Won’t the ones who wear this mark look over the chaos and panicked scurrying to make eye contact with one another, nod, and start building?
Humanity requires these marked men, and it will have them. They have existed and will continue to do so, many growing into it without even being intellectually aware of the office that they occupy, some fascinating over it as they pursue it intentionally. It is not some kind of grand secret or martial art that has been lost to modernity. People have received it and communicated since there has been people. The concept will be with us as long as man exists. The hard part will always be to do it. But, as has been said before, it remains your choice to do so.