In Search of Dignity
Every now and again, I’m encouraged by the use of serious thought over irrelevant rant in opinion pieces. One of the finest I’ve read in some time comes from columnist David Brooks (his politics are of no matter here, only his prose) of the New York Times, questioning the loss of dignity in a world that seems to have failed to notice its absence. An excerpt:
“The old dignity code has not survived modern life. The costs of its demise are there for all to see. Every week there are new scandals featuring people who simply do not know how to act. For example, during the first few weeks of summer, three stories have dominated public conversation, and each one exemplifies another branch of indignity.
“First, there was Mark Sanford’s press conference. Here was a guy utterly lacking in any sense of reticence, who was given to rambling self-exposure even in his moment of disgrace. Then there was the death of Michael Jackson and the discussion of his life. Here was a guy who was apparently untouched by any pressure to live according to the rules and restraints of adulthood. Then there was Sarah Palin’s press conference. Here was a woman who aspires to a high public role but is unfamiliar with the traits of equipoise and constancy, which are the sources of authority and trust.
n each of these events, one sees people who simply have no social norms to guide them as they try to navigate the currents of their own passions.
Americans still admire dignity. But the word has become unmoored from any larger set of rules or ethical system.”
Just the right note on another of the dying arts — that I’d file under etiquette and breeding. And his choices are perfect. Two of them being politicians, you would expect gravitas. These people are elected officials and they can’t conduct the simplest of inequities in their own lives. jackson, on the other hand, was just plain sad. A boy/man who never did find his bearings.
And yet, these are the folks who dominate our air waves and our culture. I especially liked what Brooks had to say about George Washington:
“he turned himself into a new kind of hero. He wasn’t primarily a military hero or a political hero. As the historian Gordon Wood has written, “Washington became a great man and was acclaimed as a classical hero because of the way he conducted himself during times of temptation. It was his moral character that set him off from other men.”