In the world of black and white photography, it is considered best to avoid the perfect whites and darkest blacks. It is the grays that give depth, the grays that tell the story and shade the object. In life, however, these grays are what take away our depth and blend us together into a finger-painted collage of something quite ordinary.
A good friend once told me, when critiqued for his outlandish views and tendency to argue, that this world needs a villain. “I just choose to fill that spot, at least for some people,” he said to me, completely serious. He has a point, and a position I envy. A point which started me thinking — our world is filled with toe-stepping grays, all too afraid to make a move that would label them “radical” or “extreme.” But since when has it become a bad thing to be extreme about a cause? Even our politicians have stopped standing for anything concrete, and now they all agree in a race for who can attain the most “moderate” position. This turn in our world throws us into upheaval; if there is no controversy, then there is no spark and no spice to life.
I can see two solutions to this growing problem. If we were able, as a nation or as a world, to unite in a common cause, it could halt our apathetic views toward anything substantial. Unfortunately, our world shrinks smaller and smaller every day. Choices for this great unifying cause are dwindling. There is no more West that awaits our manifest destiny; no more conquerable governments, at least in today’s society. Therefore, there is no option but to turn out of ourselves, out of this earth, and reach, quite literally, for space.
The 30-plus years our government has sat, stalling, on a move like this convinces me that this first option will not be the solution, at least not while our nation sits listlessly staring at televisions and muttering curses about the size of NASA’s budget. Therefore, I believe our world needs an enemy.
Too long has our world sat, inactive, attempting the fight against nebulous enemies hatching vague plots in cramped, stale caverns. But if we have become unsure about our role as the valiant, brave, and righteous folk, the bad guys have become even less sure about their evil ways. Gray abounds unfettered; neither side chooses to attempt the purity of white or the malevolence of black. Where does this leave us? We are unable to fight against anything and unwilling to fight for anything. Some will argue that our fathers and our fathers’ fathers earned this peace of mind for us; it is our duty to accept and enjoy it while it lasts. But who among us truly possesses peace of mind? It is human nature to fight, to argue, to desire, above all else, to win. Our society, left with nothing over which to triumph, simply sits idly making nice with those surrounding us. We need an enemy. We are lapsing, and we want this fight, any fight, a chance to overcome evil and prove ourselves honorable. This urge can be seen in our culture: our films more and more portray the lives of comic book heroes. No one remembers, however, that without the Green Goblin, there would be no Spiderman.
No one wishes for another Holocaust. But our society needs something provoking, something about which we can all get excited. Even if that excitement entails jumping up and screaming at the injustice, it is better than leaning back and watching, indifferently, as our society turns grayer and grayer.
Claire Sellers is a freshman chemistry major from Idaho Falls, Idaho.
