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Looking Ahead to 2009

Posted Dec 29, 08:08 AM | 5 comments | by Editor | Link

By Julie Clawson:

Perhaps it isn’t such a great idea to be looking ahead to 2009 right after going to see the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Bad acting, plot holes, and the end of the world aside, I can’t get the idea of tipping points out of my head. The film of course proposes (with an implied hat tip to Al Gore) that the earth has reached a tipping point—either our wanton environmental destruction will completely destroy the planet or it must come to an end. The alien visitors believe that humans are incapable of change and therefore must be exterminated to save the planet, while the humans argue that when faced with a large enough crisis they can actually change (imminent destruction by aliens being that crisis). I don’t want to spoil the ending, so I’ll leave you hanging on the whole “do humans survive or not” question.

But ignoring the sci-fi melodrama, the film’s message bothered me. I understand why crises can prompt people to alter habits, but does it always have to be that way? I don’t want to believe that the only reason people choose to do good is to avoid negative consequences. Granted this is a common equation in our culture. We exercise and eat right to avoid heart disease. We study for a test so we won’t fail the class. We even accept Jesus so we can avoid the flames of hell. Sometimes it seems like life is just one big crisis aversion scheme. We avoid expending energy and doing anything until it becomes apparent that not doing anything personally hurts us more than actually doing something. So we act to save our own butts.

Depressing, isn’t it? It’s what I see all the time, but I’d like to believe it isn’t true. The idealist in me wishes that sometimes people did the right thing because it is the right thing. You know, like taking care of the planet because we genuinely want to care for God’s creation and not because aliens are threatening us with extermination. To reach that tipping point and base our decision on whatever is loving, right, and just instead of that which is self-serving. To actually do that whole “each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” thing we Christians like to quote so much.

So while I am not anticipating any alien invasions in 2009, I do believe our world is at a tipping point. In addition to environmental destruction, injustice and oppression abound. Too often our response is to do nothing. We make excuses about how seeking justice and loving others takes too much time, energy, or money. We are encouraged, for example, to only buy organic foods when not to do so presents us with a personal health risk. So we buy organic apples to avoid the personal pesticide exposure, but don’t bother with bananas because their pesticide usage only affects the farmworkers and the environment. Other times it benefits us more to allow injustices to continue—so we can spend less we buy the sweatshop jeans or the slave-grown chocolate. We look to our own interests and not the interests of others. And so the balance keeps tipping away from whatever is true, noble, and right.

But the outcome isn’t inevitable. Selfishness doesn’t have to win. Perhaps change can occur without impending doom. Maybe we can all do good simply for the same of doing good. We forget that it is within our power to make that choice. It is my hope that 2009 will be a year when we decide to declare ourselves in that regard. A year when the tipping point must be dealt with. A year when we stop doing nothing and take a stand for good regardless of whether it benefits us or not.

And I really don’t care if that sounds about as melodramatic as a cheezy sci-fi flick; it’s what needs to happen.

So I look forward in hope to a year of action. To a year of doing something. To tipping the balance towards justice in 2009.

Painting by Duy Huynh, “Invitation to Optimism”

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Julie Clawson lives in Austin, Texas, where she takes care of her kids. She is the author of the forthcoming book Everyday Justice (IVP, 2009).

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