A Juvenal Satire

So, in response to my earlier post, I think it would be interesting to draw a parallel. In a history class here at BYU, we have been studying the writer Juvenal, a Roman who lived during the height of the Roman Empire's dominance. He is the father of satire, and one of his writings complains about many of the same points that I mentioned in my post about the United States. Let's see a few...

Hunger / Poverty
It's not surprising to see Juvenal talk about real poverty. He tells a story of a man named Codrus who suffered from want. "Poor Codrus had nothing, it is true: but he lost that nothing, which was his all; and the last straw in his heap of misery is this, that though he is destitute and begging for a bite, no one will help him with a meal, no one offer him lodging or shelter." He talks about the unfairness of the wealth of those outside of Rome, while in the great empire's capital they "perish for want of sleep...for who but the wealthy get sleep in Rome?" He goes into great detail, but it suffices to say that there is a lot of this in Rome, around our very communities and not too far from our homes.

Violence
We all know about the Coliseum, and the gladiator fights there, among other things. Juvenal mentions that once-good men now "hold shows of their own, and win applause by slaying whomsoever the mob...bids them slay," showing a kind of de-evolution. I think this happens all too often here in the USA. For starters, our culture is saturated more than ever with a love of blood and violence. That can easily rub off and take away our ability to recognize good humanity.

Dishonesty
Juvenal talks about men always trying to be something they aren't, mostly to impress their friends and neighbors. Sometimes, people will even take advantage of others to improve themselves. He states that, "In Rome, every one dresses smartly, above his means, and sometimes something more than what is enough is taken out of another man's pocket." There is a great falseness about the greatness of Rome, and though it seems nice on the outside, it is apparently just barely contained poverty and corruption. Sometimes that describes how our "American Dream" may really be perceived. "A man's word is believed in exact proportion to the amount of cash which he keeps in his strong-box," and that reflects in many of the lead innovators and celebrities of the day.

Immorality
This isn't a new problem; in fact, the wide-spread presence of immorality in a culture usually is a sign of its nearing fall. Here Juvenal says that to a Roman, "there is nothing sacred to his lusts: not the matron of the family, nor the maiden daughter, not the as yet unbearded son-in-law to be...if none of these be there, he will debauch his friend's grandmother." There is such an eager immorality in our country as well, and I hope that people can go back to the traditional values soon.

Intolerance
This seemed to be another problem for Juvenal's Rome. He says, "And what of this, that the poor man gives food and occasion for jest if his cloak be torn and dirty...?" He hates the fact that tolerance is based on material wealth. Juvenal bemoans, "Of all the woes of luckless poverty none is harder to endure than this, that it exposes men to ridicule." It's very unfair, and can still be seen all over America. We judge people by what they have or where they come from, not who they are.

The U.S.A. as I Know It

Well, fellow Americans, we are living in the midst of turbulent times. With all these crazy things happening around the world, national security doesn't always feel so secure. Whether these threats are militant, marketplace, or microscopic, there's a lot of trouble out there.

That being said, I think that there are plenty of issues right here in the homeland that need to be addressed--sadly, they are often looked over. I'm not going to get long-winded, but I think it's good to have a little reality check every now and then. Here are my top five:

Hunger
It's very easy to feel our hearts ache when we see the suffering images of starving and malnourished children in foreign lands. That is good--I would hope that you feel at least something. But it's all too common to forget about those hungry families right around us. They're not without food because they deserve it--no one does! Whatever the case may be, we can play a part in literally giving food and relief to our brothers and sisters. I would hope for the same if I fell into any unlucky circumstances.

Violence (Domestic or otherwise)
It's so tragic. Someone gets their "fair chance" taken away when they lose their life. Let's all learn that the first step to preventing violence is preventing anger. How do we do that? Forgiveness. Period.

Dishonesty
Perhaps you might say that this isn't quite as grave, but we hear about it all the time. Scandals, forgeries, embezzlement, thievery. And the funny thing is, it's almost always rationalized. Maybe because it's so competitive in nature, it's hard to shake off. That's like shaking off our pride. Can you imagine a world where people actually lived, worked, and interacted with 100% honesty?

Immorality
Seriously, this is one of the worst. Why? Because not everyone even thinks it's bad yet! Take drug use, or alcoholism, or any other gratifying behavior. While many succumb to it, it's still looked at as bad and wrong in a society. But sexuality? On the contrary, it is often praised, and as long as it stays that way, our families and relationships will be in continual, steep decline.

Intolerance
"Why can't you just get along?" Raise your hand if you were ever told this by your parents! On whatever end of the spectrum it is on, intolerance is one of the ugliest issues out there. Whether it's the majority hating the minority, or the minority hating the majority, it's just wrong. The worst is, we have gotten into a sort of cycle where it's increasingly okay for the underdogs to cry out in contempt against previous views or standards. In the end, we really do all need to just get along. Be tolerant.


Don't misunderstand me at all--I'm not complaining in the slightest. I just think it's prudent to not always look so far off for problems with a fearful or blaming finger. Sometimes, it's right under our nose, and that means that there's probably something we can actually do about it. While I might not be able to fight off ISIS terrorists or stomp Ebola out of existence, I'm pretty sure that I can help stop suffering, poverty, and violence in my own community by the small action that I take. And if nothing else, we can all decide to live better and give a good example, being part of the solution.

God bless the U.S.A.!

The Power of Routine

So, in college, there's pretty much two main approaches to managing workloads.

The first is basically like chasing the tide on a beach. The waves come crashing up on the shore, the water rushes up, and you run away from it before it catches you. Then, as it recedes, you charge after it, going as far as you can without going underwater. Of course, sometimes you'll get caught off guard and an especially large wave will knock you down. And then you're soaked.

The second is like swimming laps in a lane. Although you are constantly in the water (and therefore pretty wet), your main goal is to keep a pace and rack up the number of laps completed. Sometimes it gets pretty tiring, but let's say you get a break every ten laps or something.

I have always been a lot more like the first one. It's easy to kind of run with the tide of work, homework, studying, and reading. What I mean is, I just do the minimum to keep myself from getting pulled under, but never really learning consistency. I lack a disciplined routine. And too often, I get caught by an unexpected wave of stress or workload and I drown and suffer the consequences. If only I could develop an unshakable routine--maybe more difficult at first--I would actually be more free. Lots of steady, consistent work will enable me to do much more than just surviving by obligation.

So, what am I going to do now? Stop playing in the tide and get in the pool.

Everything Has its Cost

As a college student, there are lots of choices that I have to face everyday. And usually, there isn't any possible way to do everything at once. If I choose one good thing, I'll have to forgo another. So I am learning about how to make these decisions by balancing the costs of not choosing something. For example, will it be more costly to not finish this homework or miss out on a rare opportunity? The answer isn't always easy, but can clearly be seen if I just take a minute and weigh the situation before acting. Thanks, Professor Kearl.

So what? I think this will be an important skill to use when I have even more responsibility, like a family or a true career. I can't ever have everything in life, so I need to try and choose the best things. And sometimes, that means just minimizing my losses. Hey, life isn't always fair.

Thanks to a good friend, I'm going to try and take a step back when I'm about to make a tough choice. The solution to our problems isn't always to just "bite the bullet" and lose out. Yes, sometimes it's okay to not do a certain thing because it's more important to do something else. So I'm going to start really sizing up situations before I self-sacrifice or lose out.

The Principle of Prayer

Prayer is one of those things that most of us learned about since we can first remember. Whether you believe in it or not, prayer is the best way to communicate with God, our loving Heavenly Father.

Something interesting often happens, however. We often go to God with a list of things that we want or need. And usually, it's a legitimate request. We don't have the habit of asking frivolously for things like sports cars, mansions, or CEO positions. We understand that we're not going to get those by just asking for them. But I still find that I ask for things that, although important, aren't crucial to my salvation. For example, getting a good grade on a really important test. Or maybe the job I need.

If you think about it, there are millions and maybe even billions of people in the world--sons and daughters of God--that don't even have an education, much less a grade on a test. There are so many who don't even have any income. They might not even have anything to eat today. So does Heavenly Father love them less, just because they don't get an A+ or a nice job offer? Of course not. So what does that tell me? What should I really be praying for?

I'm not saying that it's wrong to pray for our needs. In fact, God often gives us those "trivial things" that are really important to our current situation, despite the fact that we don't earn or deserve them. Nevertheless, I think it's more important to pray for things like more faith, more desire, and more humility. I know that I have many, many flaws, so that's a pretty good place to start. I can pray for more desire to work hard, no matter my circumstances. I can pray for the trust and faith to keep my promises and covenants with the Lord, no matter my situation. Pray for family unity. Pray for love and peace to be a part of my life. I think that's something I can work on these next few months.

Hecuba vs. Oedipus

Alright, I know, all this Greek tragedy might be getting boring for most of you. But once again, I have been persuaded to make an interesting comparison, this time between two different tragic characters. Yesterday, I saw the play Hecuba by Euripides performed here at BYU. It was tragic, naturally, and haunting to say the least. So I decided it might be fun to compare Hecuba (the fallen queen of Troy) with Oedipus (the cursed king of Thebes).

I think that these two have something in common, at least in the fact that they are doomed to misery. But, I wouldn't say that they have any other common ground beyond that. Hecuba is the victim of war, cruelty, injustice, and betrayal, and longs for revenge and even her own death. There is no clear hamartia here--she is just the victim of suffering. So naturally, she wants to make things at least a little bit more right by dealing out her own vengeful justice. The true tragedy is just us watching this once-noble woman reduced to a pitiable creature that loathes life itself.

Oedipus, by contrast, brought his doom upon his own head. His hamartia was essential to producing tragedy in the first place. In fact, without his interference, there would be nothing tragic at all. So he was very much so the instrument of destruction and suffering, both for himself and the whole cast of characters. Very different, yet still tragic. In both cases, we are quite helpless to stop the pain.

Lessons from Oedipus

So, I've been reading the famous Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex, and have been persuaded to share some insights. For those of you who aren't acquainted with the play, just look it up on Google. This is an opinion, not a summary.

It's essential that every tragedy has a character who is not too good, nor too bad--somewhere in the middle. Also, you need hamartia, which basically means "mistake" or "error" in English. Miasma and catharsis are also elements, but I want to talk about King Oedipus' hamartia for a moment.

The tragic irony from the start is that we all know that Oedipus is the guilty culprit he is so determined to find. To me, this is his true hamartia--his unyielding determination to find answers, no matter the cost. Even though his sins of unknowingly killing his father and marrying his mother are of huge-scale impact, his tragic mistake was his persistent anger and stubbornness. One by one, the characters tried to keep him from finding out what he didn't want to know, and he repeatedly sets their pleas aside.

Tiresias the prophet is one example. When demanded that he not hold back and tell all, he replies to Oedipus, "You have found fault with my anger, but your own, living within you, you did not see, but blamed me," (22, line 356). We all have aged, wise "prophet" figures in our lives, and they usually know more than we do. Yet too often, we set at naught their counsels and bring upon ourselves the very troubles they were trying to protect us from.

Another example is the woman figure in Oedipus' life, the queen Jocasta. She loves him, and begs him to not follow down a path she knows will end in grief. She has the foresight to see the utter ruin his revelation will bring not only himself, but all the kingdom. When he's on the edge of discovery, Jocasta begs him to stop, "No, by the gods! If indeed you care for your own life, do not go after this! I grieve enough," (48, line 1087). How many times have we had a misunderstanding of opinion with a spouse, a sibling, a parent? They care so much for us, and we still follow our route into self-misery.

Tragedies are tragic, and pretty much everyone dies or wishes they could die. But there is still something we can learn from them. Because they aren't reality, they can show us the most extreme of the human experience, and teach us lessons that we might not ever be able to learn in real life.

Sources:

Thomas, J. E. Oedipus Rex. Clayton, Del.: Prestwick House, 2005. Print.