meekness gets you nowhere in this city
There's this guy. His name was Jesus. He once said that the meek will inherit the earth. I'm fairly certain Jesus didn't have the modern city in mind when he made that proclamation.
Meekness isn't going to get you on the F train at the Bergen St stop during rush hour. Meekness isn't going to get you a table at Whole Foods in Union Square during lunch. Meekness won't get you to your appointment on time while walking the crowded avenues. Meekness won't get you the apartment you want in a city where vacancies are rare. Meekness doesn't bode well while driving on the FDR or West Side Highway.
So I'm hoping Jesus has a set of alternative beatitudes for city folk because, frankly speaking, meekness gets you nowhere in this city.
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Meekness isn't going to get you on the F train at the Bergen St stop during rush hour. Meekness isn't going to get you a table at Whole Foods in Union Square during lunch. Meekness won't get you to your appointment on time while walking the crowded avenues. Meekness won't get you the apartment you want in a city where vacancies are rare. Meekness doesn't bode well while driving on the FDR or West Side Highway.
So I'm hoping Jesus has a set of alternative beatitudes for city folk because, frankly speaking, meekness gets you nowhere in this city.
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posted by jch at
10:17 AM
5 Comments:
You may be right about that, and I hope there are alternate beatitude rewards in that case. . .but I heard an interesting take on meekness in a recent sermon.
Meekness is not about being a doormat. It's about controlled patience. I had always been taught, and subsequently chose to believe, that being meek meant I had to choose a silent submission or be weaker somehow. But it might be that being meek is about doing what needs to be done in ways that communicate controlled strength--loving behavior with a healthy dose of confidence.
I don't know. . .just a thought.
i think it's interesting how we resist meekness and weakness more than just about anything else Christ calls us to. if we're meek we risk losing our place in line, losing our promotion at work, losing the apartment of our dreams. and we're not about losing things that are rightfully ours.
but Jesus was about that. he defined that.
I'm hoping for/counting on "Blessed are those who stand clear of the closing doors, but then proceed forth with firm intention."
I learned this living in my first big city: Wuhan, China. I can still recall with perfect clarity the Saturday that a friend and I got so desperate for non-Chinese fare that we hit McD's for lunch. I'm sure you can imagine what a mob scene that was. Since "queueing up" (alternatively known as standing "on line" in some places :) was an unknown convention...well, let's just say that to get to the counter and order my Big Mac I threw out an elbow, blocked a dude on the left, ducked under someone else's arm and spun my way in front of an old lady with absolutely no pangs of conscience whatsoever. I wish I'd gotten it on video. Mainly I felt pleased that I had managed the feat so gracefully.
i've heard from a couple of sources that "meek" often referred to horses when greek civilization was dominant. the word was used to describe either horses who could take easily to the bit, or, in the case of chariot racing, the horse who pulled on the inside edge. in that context, the meaning doesn't connote "door mat," like dana said. rather, it implies that the subject is submissive, but especially in the case of the chariot meek horse, that it is the stronger and smarter of the horses--the one who knows how to hold back just enough to keep everything stable and moving safe but fast.
having dealt with rush-hour trains and desperate lines, it mostly seems like holding back is pointless. but the chariot horse's holding back didn't mean he stopped running as fast as his position would permit him. he still pounded the track with the rest of them--he just knew that he wasn't ultimately in charge.
meek in new york doesn't have to make a person lose opportunities. it makes a person highly aware and hopefully more considerate, but not someone at all about to step out of the break-neck pace of the race.
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