Buber Revisited - AHB

"If we go on our way and meet a man who has advanced towards us and has also gone on his way, we know only our part of the way, not his -- his we experience only in the meeting ... We have to be concerned, to be troubled, not about the other side but about our own side, not about grace but about will. Grace concerns us in so far as we go out to it and persist in its presence; but it is not our object." - Buber

This is one of those universal truths that really resonates with me. I think that it is impossible to successfully navigate life without learning what it means to forgive and love, but in order to do those I must begin from the standpoint of the humanity that we all share. I love this quote by Buber because the language is so vague. The best metaphors for life are based on this idea of a journey, but that term in itself doesn't describe much of anything. My "way" is what I will spend the rest of my life trying to discover, even though I've already set out upon it. Recognizing that everyone else is set upon the same quest helps me empathize with their struggles. Kant believes that all rational humans are trying to live up to the moral law (this is a rather complex argument), because we all feel the pull of the law on our conscience. Therefore, our injuries to one another are not necessarily acting out of malice, but rather out of a failure to adopt the moral law in our practices. I can't wholesale condemn someone if I believe that they are still connected to and reaching for the moral law.

One of the really great subjects in film is the classic American gangster (pick your ethnicity). The reason that Pacino is so good in the Godfather is because you see his struggle between the life of crime and the love of his family. All great gangsters have a code (something they perceive to be the moral law), the problem is that their code is in opposition to that of society. I've become really addicted to "The Wire" this semester. The essence of the show lies in this same sort of dilemma. Cops, politicians, fiends, thugs, and businessmen are all caught up in trying to navigate life - the point being that everyone is crooked somehow. One newspaper that reviewed the show by saying something like, "all the characters are simply caught up on different sides of the socially acceptable."

Buber quickly summarizes our position when he writes that our only concern is our own will.

THE WIRE QUOTES!!

Omar: "I'll do what I can to help y'all. But, the game's out there, and it's play or get played. That simple."

McNulty: "I got to ask you. If every time Snotboogie would grab the money and run away, why'd you even let him in the game?"
Witness: What?
McNulty: "If Snotboogie always stole the money, why'd you let him play?"
Witness: "You got to, this is America, man."


Bubbles: "Thin line between heaven and here."

Omar: "All in the game yo, all in the game."

-Those were mostly just for fun