The app for independent voices
David Brooks’s farewell column has been stewing in my pot for a week. In his reflection on the state of the nation he wrote, “In my reading of history, cultural change precedes political and social change.” Further on, he gets to the heart of the matter, “…every member of society has a role in shaping culture.”
Brooks invites his readers to join the “Great Conversation” and others have replied that the answer to our current challenges lies in community. Worthy and necessary pursuits, talking and gathering, in promoting cultural cohesion, but I’m stuck on the prerequisite of individual core transformation. I need to be intentional about which version of myself I bring into conversation and community. Have I done the transformational work to ensure that my words in deeds are additive?
Sitting with that question brings G.K. Chesterton to mind. The apocryphal story goes that Chesterton replied to a Times of London request to write an essay answering the question “What is wrong with the world?” with the reply, “Dear Sir, I am. Yours, GK “ Chesterton did, in fact, speak to this truth when he wrote, “In one sense, and that the eternal sense, the thing is plain. The answer to the question ‘What is wrong?’ is, or should be, ‘I am wrong.’ Until a man can get that answer his idealism is only a habit.”
In short: I need to get right with myself before I can get right with the world.
I enjoy Brooks because he’s challenging. He asks deep questions and then attempts to provide thoughtful answers. I don’t always agree with his perspective, but I respect his approach to searching for practical truth. Most important though, I am willing to give him my attention because he has shared openly in his writing about his journey through the wringer, and the resultant personal evolution. He got core deep and was authentic about the experience.
I make no claim to know the answers to Brooks’s big questions, but I’m grateful that he’s asking. Best of luck to you, David, in your new phase. Best of luck to us as we attempt to chart a better path than the one we are on.
If you missed it, Brooks’s farewell piece is worth the read: