What do you do when you come face-to-face with your own mortality? Julio Diaz bought someone dinner. Honestly, after I read this story I was speechless for a few minutes – I just had to sit and absorb it. When I had finally processed it, I realized that I want to be like Julio Diaz. Instead of focusing on the fact that his life was potentially in danger, this man thought about how his attacker felt! Imagine if everyone did that?
Sartre explains (although he ripped the idea off from Dostoevsky) that when an individual performs any action, (s)he acknowledges that that action is permissible for any man or woman. In other words, if I lie to someone, then through that action I’m saying that it’s OK for anyone to lie to me.
So then, the only course of action left for each of us is to only do the things that we would want others to do to us (sound familiar?). If you were desperate enough that you would consider mugging someone, wouldn’t you want someone like Julio Diaz to take you out to dinner?
I keep being reminded of this scene from Waking Life lately…
I attended a presentation last night by James Randi (professional magician, skeptic, and rhetor) and Dr. Richard Roberts (Nobel Prize laureate for his work on the human genome) regarding their personal ideologies as atheists. It was an enlightening (and entertaining) event. Considering my religious background and the current pseudo-religious climate in this country, it was refreshing to hear some intelligent, level-headed arguments for rational thought.
During the Q&A period at the end of the presentation, a well-intentioned young man got up and proceeded to tell the story of a brush he had with the law and how Jesus saved him from the consequences for his actions. He didn’t really have a question, and as he began quoting Bible verses, members of the audience began to shout, “Next question!” Eventually, one of the speakers cut him off and called for the next question (after the man had spoken for a good four or five minutes). He continued to stand near the microphone, forcing people to walk around him and, at one point, literally take the microphone out of his hand. After several questions, he asked if he could continue, to which Randi responded, “I think this gentleman has had his turn at the mic,” which was met with general applause.
I understood his motives all too well. Evangelical Christians fully believe that the rest of the world will reject them if they practice their beliefs properly. They are encouraged to “stand up for their faith,” which essentially involves sharing your beliefs and not backing down when confronted by people with contrary beliefs. While this idea is not necessarily bad, many Christian leaders communicate to their followers that this means they should initiate confrontations with non-believers by attempting to proselytize in awkward situations (i.e. during the Q&A session after a lecture or by approaching people on the street). These encounters rarely end with anyone being converted – more commonly people either ignore them or ask them to leave, and in more extreme cases may become hostile. Rather than realizing that perhaps they had chosen an inopportune situation in which to share their personal religious beliefs, they interpret this as evidence of “the world” rejecting Christ. This leaves them feeling like a sort of martyr, which is the ultimate goal of all Christians: according to the Bible, to be rejected (and ultimately, to be killed) for your belief in Christ is the most honorable act a Christian can commit, and those who become martyrs will be greatly rewarded in Heaven.
There was a part of me that felt sorry for the young man at the microphone. I wanted to talk to him and explain that people weren’t jeering at his faith in Christ, but at his rudeness in attempting to sermonize during a question and answer period. Every time someone came to the mic and felt the need to preface their questions with a long-winded explanation, groans of frustration arose from the audience, no matter what they were trying to communicate. It’s just incredibly impolite to take up that much time when there are fifty people behind you waiting to ask a question. I also wanted to tell him that Jesus probably didn’t save him from the consequences of his actions, because that would make him an irresponsible deity, but I can’t imagine that would have gone over so well
I’m pretty sure that if I had tried to talk to him, though, he wouldn’t have gotten the point. He would have probably seen me as another opportunity to be rejected for Christ. I know this because 6 or 7 years ago, I would have probably felt the same way. It’s called self-righteousness, and it’s not something to be proud of.
I guess the point of the story is that there are so many things that separate us from each other, and all of those things are built up in our minds. Sometimes we just forget that the we’re all people. I just don’t feel like I’ve experienced very many “human moments” lately, and I kind of miss it.
