PBS and the Point of Life
What follows is an e-mail I just sent to the members of my law school module (the small group of about 32 that you take all your classes with first semester).
Hello all,
Now that we’re past that paper, I wanted to encourage people to try to catch what may be the best thing I’ve ever seen on TV. This week PBS aired The New Americans, an Independent Lens documentary, over two nights, for about six hours total. You can learn more at:
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/newamericans
although I don’t presently know of any additional airtimes.
For me, I thought it was a good program to help people get the whole point of life. It seems to me that most of the world (or maybe just most of the first world) has an unfortunate view on this. They apparently think that what they should primarily do with their lives is acquire wealth and things. I think this is unfortunate not only because of the selfish worldview it represents, but also because if these people continue in this misguided pursuit, they are ultimately going to be unhappy and disappointed. That may be just what I took away. Don’t get me wrong, I think Porsche Boxsters are as cool as the next person, I just don’t also expect that my having one or not will determine whether I feel at peace on my deathbed.
More clearly, the documentary illustrated how rich each of us already is merely by the fact of having U.S. citizenship. The show has you think about a girl from Mexico who wants to finish high school, but whose parents cannot afford the necessary school uniforms to send her. A girl who, when her family is finally allowed to enter the U.S., learns that California won’t allow someone 18 years old to attend public high school. A girl who, without reliable transportation to attend night school, ends up just picking pesticide-covered strawberries for you and I to buy at Safeway.
The myth of the American self-made man is strong. Our culture inculcates it in us from birth. But it seems fairly clear to me that it is just that, a myth. Take most of us at Boalt, for example. We have each worked our butts off to get here and have achieved countless impressive things thus far through lots of hard work. But when I think of my own case, I have to recognize that I didn’t even want to attend high school, but I was in a culture, a country, a community, a family, and a peer group that made doing otherwise unthinkable. Sure, I worked hard in college and did well, but I also had parents who worked hard their whole lives to pay for me to do so, and to create in me the mindset that I obviously would attend college, do well, and graduate. (And they were only in a position to do that because of the hard work of their own parents, etc. If one starts honestly tracing one’s support network, you’ll stop being so impressed with oneself pretty quickly. Not to suggest that any of us has this fault.)
The documentary also tracks a family in Nigeria whose brother is murdered by the government because of his outspoken political views. Their own houses, businesses, etc. are bulldozed as added punishment. One of the brothers, who has a chemical engineering degree from a Nigerian university, struggles in the U.S. as a department-store security guard. The examples continue.
One upshot for me was that there are a lot of good people in this world, doing the best that they can, and having a mighty hard time achieving a decent quality of life. Not that I haven’t had this realization before, but it reinforced it. If one has the slightest bit of compassion for other human beings, then one has to question the worth of devoting one’s life primarily to self-enrichment. The truths exposed in the show are admittedly frustrating, because I don’t know exactly what our society could or should do to solve the myriad of problems it presents. It’s vastly complicated, but one can definitely see that trickle-down economists need not apply.
But since I can’t (yet) do anything to solve every global problem in one fell swoop, I deal with the resulting frustration by doing the things that I believe will help and that are within my control. A large part of that involves trying to make choices with my life that are directed at helping others, not merely directed at enriching me. It also involves encouraging others to make similar decisions. Our module may need to hear this sort of thing less than any other, but I care about each of you. This is a time when each of us will make big decisions about the directions our lives will take. I believe that gaining a global perspective of where we already are can help those decisions come out better. Better for you, and better for the world.
(You may now crack jokes at my expense. But you likely know that I’m just crazy enough to be sincere here and to not be dissuaded by cynicism. I don’t intend to offend, but the medium of e-mail and my own ineptitude limits my ability to convey my intentions perfectly.)
Sincerely,
Brian
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