Over simplification. The idea that things are one way, or the other, with no middle ground. That questions must be answered, not asked. This is the Quest for Black and White. It seems human beings like simple answers, we want things to be one or the other. In fact, it’s almost necessary for human life to continue. Red on the stoplight must mean stop, or horrendous car accidents will occur. Green must mean go, in order that we all don’t sit at intersections for the rest of our lives. However, some questions are not so simple. For instance, is stealing wrong? Well, generally, yes. What about if you can save someone’s life by stealing? Say you have kids, and there starving? Is the reason your kids are starving because your lazy, and stealing is easier than working, or did you get laid off, because someone else is willing to do your job cheaper, or a machine can do your job, better, faster, and cheaper?
This idea of oversimplification carries over into all steps and walks of life. When I was a kid, my mom used the threat of “washing my mouth out with soap” if I said a word I wasn’t supposed to. Does this mean even if I hit my hand with a hammer? What about if I broke my leg? A Chapel speaker recently talked about the danger of words. Certainly there are dangers in words, you can hurt a key relationship irreparably with them. They can even, and do start wars.
However, with this talk of the “Power of Words”, why is there never a discussion of the danger of the absence of words? Couldn’t absence be just as horrible? Lack of accurate criticism can leave a person unprepared for life, or more practically ,the final draft of a paper. Couldn’t a lack of healthy self deprecation lead people, organizations, country’s to take themselves too seriously?
By way of illustration, A friend of mine is thinking about going to a country in Africa with Wishing Well this summer. “To dig wells?” I asked him, “No to film a documentary” was my friends reply. Ok. My thought was, does anyone really (at least at Oc) not know about the need for clean water in Africa? You actually would have to go out of your way not to see at least a part of Wishing Well and various related organizations presentations, literature, and t-shirts ( especially these). So, does anyone really need to be educated? Isn’t the need for clean water? For thirsty kids, parents, aunts, uncles, third, fourth and fifth cousins?
But, is that not an oversimplification? Isn’t it possible that this documentary might reach someone who’ll decide to go and help, as opposed to the “old” documentary? Or couldn’t a rich donor be particularly moved by the new documentary to donate large sums of money? Couldn’t this documentary bring more clean water to thirsty children than one team that only dug wells?
Do we hear this questions being asked? Does the man behind the pulpit say that criticism is healthy, that jokes about oneself keep our view of ourselves from becoming skewed? Is there a public forum for debate ( not over whether or not a certain group, does this or that in Africa) but the ”helpfulness” of said action? Does even asking such questions help, and not impede people being helped?
Sometimes questions are just meant to be asked, because, there is no answer. Or the answer is complicated. Such as, couldn’t criticism help a person do a better job or destroy the persons will to do the job. And is a badly done job, better than a job not done at all? Is a thirsty child being given a bottle of water, better than no children being given any water, at all?
Keeping questions in mind, letting them influence both how we deal with other questions, and our specific actions related to a specific question must therefore be the goal. Perhaps we can achieve this, perhaps we cant. Maybe if we stay with black and white, life will be easier, there will be more doing less thinking. But, is it any good to do, without thinking?
