Making Sense of Making Sense of it All: Passionately good people

A liberal arts college is a medium uniquely suited for cause involvement: really confused young adults who need some form of activity in which to employ their passions. And recently I’ve seen an upsurge in the level of student involvement in causes. I’m talking specifically about those involved in the Forgiveness Blitz. Now, it’s good that these really passionate students are so fervent for bettering humanity. The only problem I have is that people who are really passionate about causes can be exhausting to be around.

I admire these passionate students, because I think their intentions are for the most part good and laudable. However, this still doesn’t dismiss the fact that I and lots of others get sort of angry when we’re barraged so heavily by pamphlets and posters that bore an enormous guilt-encrusted hole into our conscience. It’s uncomfortable to be made aware of your failings as a compassionate human being, and my natural course of action is to direct my anger or resentment on those who initiated this awareness. For example, take the recent Forgiveness Blitz now in the works on our campus. One small problem I have with this initiative is that it seems to imply that I and others don’t practice forgiveness, or that our beliefs about forgiveness are wrong or misconceived. Now, they’re probably right. But even so, I still directed my resentment towards those students involved in the Blitz instead of directing it towards myself and the fact that I’m not always so forgiving or compassionate.

But there’s also a deeper form of resentment that stems from my really stupid bitterness I feel for people who seem to have answers—because I don’t have answers and these passionately involved people seem to give off the very distinct scent that they do indeed have answers and they’re happier and less lonely because of this fact. I recognize that this sounds stupid and contrived, but I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this way.

The students involved in the Forgiveness Blitz are most likely justified in believing that many of us don’t practice forgiveness, or that we practice a mistaken form of forgiveness. But raising this awareness about forgiveness really unnerves me. First off, seeing all these really passionately-involved students bustling around writing didactic fortune cookie philosophies on the sidewalks makes me feel sort of morally inadequate deep down, because these people have a cause or a belief system to submit themselves wholeheartedly—and I don’t. Second, forgiveness is an extremely untidy and complicated issue that takes us all out of our traditional comfort zones. Forgiveness means compassion, and living compassionately isn’t at all easy.

Last week Mitch Zoelzer wrote an opinion piece entitled “The Will to Forgive.” In his article he wrote, “forgiveness is more than a single act; it is a way of life.” I wholeheartedly agree with Mitch. Living life through forgiveness necessitates compassion, benevolence, kindness, empathy, etc. It’s good to live this way—the only problem I have is that living this way seems crushingly daunting and exhausting. (Trust me, I know it’s awful that I think this way.) Living like a good and forgiving person, that is, really living like a human is terribly difficult. In this really cynical time in America it’s become almost second nature for many in my generation to regard really passionately religious and benevolent people with disdain and disgust. It’s sad that this high-octane generation of ours looks at good and decent religious people as fanatical and naive, and that religion in general often comes off as sentimental and irrational.

I think what I’m really trying to say is that we need things in this life, things that aren’t always easy to recognize or grab onto. It’s not painless to admit how powerless we are in the face of everything else. And though I’m not able to submit myself to a cause like the Forgiveness Blitz, I can admit that those people scuttling around with hope and compassion in their hearts are making a conscious effort to be better human beings, and I wish them all the luck I can muster.