Calming the Cacophony
by Randy Bretz
Not long ago Jan and I attended a concert of the Lincoln Symphony. As the orchestra members warmed up their instruments it was cacophony until William McMullen played an “A” note on his oboe, and as each member of the orchestra listened and began to play the same note, they came together for a fine performance. During the warmup, the musicians were individually focused, or “me” oriented. Following the oboe’s lead, they came together and became more “we” oriented. As I have listened, read and watched the news recently it has seemed like that chaotic time before a symphony concert. We’re so focused on our own thoughts and feelings, we’ve become politically polarized, socially dislocated and culturally narcissist. I’m waiting for McMullen and his oboe to help us tune up and come together again.
It’s not that this hasn’t happened before. Robert Putnam, in his recent book The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How WE Can Do It Again, notes that the increasingly global information age is inundating people with an explosion of information that overwhelms us. He points out that it gives the average person the sense that they have less and less control over the events in our world, in our country, even in our communities. As a result, people are focused narrowly on themselves, they have become “me” oriented. However, as Putnam points out, people were politically polarized, socially dislocated and culturally narcissistic in the late 1800s, they were “me” oriented. During in the first half of the 1900s, they became more “we” focused.
We live in a culture of hyper-individualism. There’s tension between self and society, between the individual and the group. I think we need to build a culture that steers people toward relation, community and commitment. In his book The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life, David Brooks likens our individual or “me” approach to a first mountain, and our relationship oriented or “we” approach to a second mountain. Those on the first mountain who are “me” oriented are “ . . . not measured by how they conform to a shared moral code, they are not measured by how fully they have submerged themselves in thick relationships, they are measured by what they have individually achieved.” However, Brooks notes that “People on the second mountain have made a strong commitment to one or all of these four things: A vocation, A spouse and family, A philosophy or faith, A community. A commitment is making a promise to something without expecting a reward.”
So, at this point you’re wondering, just how I can be that oboe that brings the orchestra together, what can I do to help bring about the upswing or how can I climb the second mountain. I’ll share with you some suggestions. In fact, I’ll pass along that there are no fewer than “Twenty Everyday Acts to Strengthen the Common good and Defend Democracy,” as outlined in the book Reclaiming WE. The list begins with doing small acts, includes connecting with others, it suggests reading, focusing your time, talent and treasure, and concludes with an encouragement to show up and balance hope and conviction.
It can be as simple as inviting people to dinner, or for coffee, or just to drop by to talk just like Kim Howe, a young friend who lives in Omaha. She invited folks into her home for dinner. Kim shared her idea on the TEDxLincoln stage a few years ago titled “Searching for Purple in a Red and Blue Time.” https://youtu.be/L5qXR_BeKLQ
I’ll leave you with this thought that Putnam uses to conclude his book. “No one party, no one policy or platform, and no one charismatic leader was responsible for bringing about America’s upswing as we entered the twentieth century. It was instead, the result of countless citizens engaging in their own spheres of influence and coming together to create a vast ferment of criticism and change . . . a genuine shift from “I” to “WE.” May we all start the upswing in our own corners of the world, like William McMullen and his oboe that helps calm the cacophony of the orchestra.
