Alcoholics Anonymous

As soon as I walked through the door of the old brick church she saw me. “Oh my,” she stammered. “It’s so nice to see a familiar face here; although I never would have expected you!” I didn’t know how to respond, so I just smiled. It was a Saturday afternoon, 3:00. “Is this your first meeting?” She asked, “You look nervous.” I paused with an “Umm, yes, but…” and she cut me off: “Well don’t worry; everyone here accepts everyone. We’re all struggling with the same thing. That’s whole point of AA!” By this time, I didn’t have the heart to tell her I was there on assignment. I was working on my masters in Guidance Counseling, and my professor required each of her students to observe a group meeting and write a paper on our observations. I decided to simply thank my greeter for her kindness, and we were called in so the meeting could get started.

Even though I knew the reality of this fact before I walked in, I could not help being surprised by the variety of people who were seated around the circle of the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. There were definitely all of the stereotypical alcoholics in the room, some were even obviously under the influence, but there were people from every walk of life: a young man right out of high school, a successful businessman, a teacher and even a sweet little old grandmother. Everyone seemed to be in a different place with their recovery, but there was an atmosphere of acceptance and support throughout the whole meeting.

When the meeting started off, however, I found it to be a little dry. The leader, an alcoholic herself, began by reading off AA’s mission statement and purpose, then someone read a summary of the twelve steps, and another volunteered to read something about the need for a higher power, all very formal and non-motivating, but what happened next changed the direction of the whole meeting. The woman leading asked if there were any new comers. I nervously shrunk in my seat because I didn’t want to admit why I was there. Fortunately a woman put up her hand and stated, “This is my first time at any meeting.” What happened next made it clear to me why the Alcoholics Anonymous Program has been so successful for so many people for so long. One at a time someone in the room welcomed her, told her how they understood where she was coming from, shared their experience of their first time, talked about what it took for them to overcome their addiction, and finally how their lives had changed for the better since they’ve made the commitment to stay sober. Their stories were very real, and therefore very touching and inspiring. While individuals were sharing, a list was going around for the ladies in the group to put their phone numbers on so the new member would have someone to call and talk to “whenever you need it, any time of the day or night.”

From my brief perspective, it seemed that the power behind these meetings was not really dependant on the program itself, but on the people in the program, their willingness to be transparent, their ability to accept anyone, regardless of their outward differences, and their determination to help each other stay focused on their goals. They obviously cared for each other and they shared a bond that goes beyond the common experience of addiction; it was a bond that is made through joining together in the struggles to overcome the addiction not just in themselves, but in anyone who is willing to make the change. A bond that reveals what any group of humans can accomplish when there is a willingness to accept one another for who they are, give each other support and encouragement during their weakness and trials, and celebrate together their successes and accomplishments, all while acknowledging a higher power with humility and submission. It was no surprise to me when I found out that the Twelve Steps are originally based on Biblical Principles handed down to us through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter L Richardson
May, 2007

Digging for Truth:

          Thoughts on Evangelism

The Sower, Vincent Van Gogh, 1888

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

Every man and woman will be called to give an account of the life they lived. Each individual person in history is responsible for the choices they each made in life, in particular, the response to God’s call to receive forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus. But how responsible are we who believe for delivering the message? Is it possible that people I have known, and even loved, will experience hell because of something I did or because of something I didn’t say? In the great commission, Jesus has called us to be his witnesses. We are called to go into all the world and proclaim his truth. I tend to think of this calling as something like a courtroom drama: As a witness, I am called to the stand to give my testimony, and I take an oath to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Whether or not the judge, jury, media and public all believe me is up to them. I did my job and gave witness and their fate is now in their own hands. But the question that often haunts me is how reliable is the witness?

Recently, I was thinking about the fruits of the Spirit Paul lists in his letter to the Galatians, and it occurred to me that truth was not mentioned as one. I found this peculiar, and as I began to ponder I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me: “It’s because I AM the truth.” I thought about this, and I believe it goes deeper than Jesus’ statement, “I am the way, and the truth and the life…” (John 14:6). All the fruits of the Spirit are actions, things we should be doing as result of the Holy Spirit living in us and guiding us to the truth. The ebb and flow of life causes us to move in and out of different kinds of action in various degrees; sometimes we are called to love, sometimes we are called to be gentle, sometimes we are called to forbear trials. But the Truth is a constant. It just is or it isn’t. Jesus calls himself “the” truth, and he calls Satan the father of lies (John 8:44). We can choose not to accept the truth; we can choose to believe a lie, but that does not change what, or rather who, the truth is. I can believe water is dry all I want, but that doesn’t change the truth that it’s actually wet. As the scriptures proclaim, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).  And that is where the fruits of Spirit come in. If Christians were actually living by the guidance and the actions of the Holy Spirit; if we were actually doing love, peace, kindness, goodness to others on a consistent basis, would the world trust our testimony as witnesses for the Truth more? Bringing the lost into the kingdom of heaven starts with our testimony, but it doesn’t end there. We are also called to be harvesters.

I think sometimes Christians look at the wickedness of the world and rather than be witnesses of the truth, we instead choose to become the judge and jury. Out of fear of our own corruption, we place judgment on the lost and lock ourselves behind stained glass windows and Christian contemporary t-shirts and CDs. Our lives cease to give witness because they become symbols of judgment to the lost. We use the words of Jesus to justify the reaction of the people who reject us: Well, the word says the path to destruction is wide, but the way to life is narrow, and not too many choose it, but I’m sure glad I did! (Matt7:13-14). But how are we to know who will or will not be among “the few” who find their way? The Apostle Paul was so unlikely to believe in Jesus that after he dramatically found the Truth, most of the believers thought he was trying to trick them so he could persecute them (Acts 9). When Jesus declares himself as the Truth, he also states he is the only way to he Father. Could it be the metaphor of the narrow road and small gate to life simply means that Jesus is the only way? But back to fruit. 

Two chapters later (Matt 9:35-38), Jesus also declares, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few,” and then he tells his disciples to pray to God to send out more workers. This sounds like there’s a plenty big harvest that current workers in the kingdom of heaven need to be bringing in. So what is this harvest? How does it grow? And where does it come from? Think of how farmers get a harvest in the natural world. They till the ground, they plant the seed, they water the seed, God makes it grow into mature plants that produce more fruit with more seed, and in the right time they collect a bountiful harvest fit for a feast. Paul states, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are Gods fellow workers; you are God’s field…” (1 Corinthians 3:6-9).Even though a farmer in the natural can’t make seeds grow into mature plants; it still takes some work on the part of man to produce a good harvest, and when he does so, it even takes work to bring in the bounty. Our job as Christians is to do the same kind of work to bring in the lost.

First, we must till the ground. We till ground by proclaiming the word of our testimony. We speak the Truth, and we speak it boldly and confidently, though also with love and humility. The Truth is the most absolute thing in the universe. It cannot be broken, so it is the tool needed to till the fallow ground of the souls of those who are lost. John Milton says, “Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?”  Jesus is also called the Word of God (John 1). It is essential for a Christian to study the Bible and to know it, and to be in relationship with it, because the Bible is the Word of God which is Jesus, and when read with humility and with intention of communing with God, scripture becomes a source of wisdom, love and life because God is the source of all those things. So we get to know the Truth and we proclaim Him and we till the ground of the community of souls living around us. Tilling the ground is essential for making good soil for seed to grow in, consider the parable of the sower: worry, deceit, and lust for material things keep a soul’s ground fallow, “But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” (Matthew 13:23, italics mine). Later Paul says, “How can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news’” (Romans 10:14-15). However, if the farmer only tills, he will not get any fruit. Sowing must be done.

This brings me back to my original verse: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). We are called to sow the seeds of the fruits of the spirit simply by doing the actions of the fruits of the spirit: We show kindness to others, we bear trials with patience and peace, we show love even to our enemies, when someone strikes out at us, we are gentle in return, we are faithful and trustworthy, we are full joy even in the midst of tragedy because our hope is a real and genuine hope, and it is this fruit that is proof that the Holy Spirit is real and he has joined himself to us. We sow the seeds of the Holy Spirit in others by living our lives in the maturity of character his influence creates in us. Just as an apple seed will grown into an apple tree under the right conditions, so kindness begets kindness, love begets love, joy begets joy. However, just as a farmer needs to do more than till the soil, only sowing random seeds rarely produces mature Christians. Consider the words of William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army: “To get a man soundly saved it is not enough to put on him a pair of new breeches, to give him regular work, or even to give him a University education. These things are all outside a man, and if the inside remains unchanged you have wasted your labor.” The soul must be tilled with the Truth before the fruit of the Spirit can take root. But neither can the seeds grow without sunshine and water.

Consider the conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4). He called himself the living water and declared that if we drink his water, we will never go thirsty. In our modern society, it is hard to imagine what true thirst really is, but consider how amazing a drink of cool water is on a hot and dry day of hard physical labor. Jesus offers us this refreshment to our souls. Jesus also declared that he was the light of the world (John 8:12). His light gives us understanding and it enables us to see clearly his truth verses the lies and corruption of the devil and the world and even the lies that we tell ourselves. His light exposes our sin and allows us to deal with it and get healthy. We can only live in the light of God and only drink from his springs if we live in the presence of Jesus. The only way to live in the presence of Jesus is to know him intimately and invite him into our daily lives. We must seek to have a relationship with him and choose obedience to his way. When souls tilled with Truth and rooted with seeds of the spirit see how living in obedience to God brings blessing to those who do so, they will seek to know the Giver of Life. Think of how important the combination of water and sunlight is for life on our planet! For seed to mature and bear fruit it is essential that it get the proper water and sunlight. In the natural world, farmers cannot control the rain or determine the amount of heat and light from the sun, but they can direct a watercourse within reason, and they can position certain types of plants in the best place to receive the amount of light needed for that specific plant. Likewise, we must choose to be in relationship with Jesus. God provides the light and the water, but we must choose to position ourselves take in the blessing.  

Science can teach us something of the process of photosynthesis, but it does not really help us understand the mystery of a seed becoming an abundance of fruit that feeds the needs of many, and that one of those pieces of fruit produces an abundance of seed to bring forth more fruit. So it should be for the believer and the harvest. A man’s soul hears the Truth, and his fallow ground is broken up; he feeds on the fruit of a believer, and he begins to produce the same fruit and longs for the source of it; Godly men and women share the power of God at work in their lives, they demonstrate the blessings of obedience to God; his soul is refreshed by the living water and the light of understanding comes upon him, and soon the seed that took root grows into maturity. The harvesters accept a new brother into the family of God, and he begins his own sowing and reaping for the kingdom of heaven. It seems to me that the church in our society is in somewhat of a drought. Some of us till and till and break the backs of those who long for the fruit of God, but look for it in other places because they only know a God of wrath and judgment, while others spread their seed all over, but because of fear of offending their fellow man, they never speak of the Truth who is the source of their seed. If the American church was truly living in relationship with God and becoming mature and healthy through the light of understanding and the purifying waters of life, it’s a good bet we would be a whole lot busier with the harvest.

Peter L Richardson
12/31/11-1/1/12

 

Philosophy of Education

The principle art of the teacher is to awaken the joy in creation and knowledge. -Albert Einstein

“Think of why you decided to teach English; wasn’t it because of your love of literature?”  I have heard this question posed by professors, advisors and even the authors of textbooks. I assume they were implying that the genre and its craft is what is most exciting about teaching English. Yet I have to confess, the subject is only a small part of my career choice. I began my journey into the world of literature and writing through comic books, Stephen King and song lyrics. Poetry wasn’t allowed to be cool until I found Jim Morrison. I was a confused, misunderstood teenager trying to make sense of life and searching for some kind of truth. An English teacher showed me I could find some direction in reading; she also showed me an outlet through writing. These days I am as interested in history, philosophy and religion as I am in literature, yet literature was the gateway that helped me define my current beliefs in life.

Literature has inspired me to be a better person and has challenged my perceptions of life. It has provided an escape from the real world and taught me new ways to express myself. It has been a tool to shape and develop my character. I chose to teach because I want to offer this tool to young people. In addition to helping my students become independent, critical readers, writers and thinkers, I also want to reach out and help them find their own way in life. I am not naïve enough to think that all my students will embrace a love for reading and writing as I have done, but I hope to show them its value even if it is not their greatest interest. I tend to be a hands-on, experiential learner, so I plan for a substantial amount of my teaching to involve activity among my students. I believe that students will better understand and retain what they are learning if I am able to turn it into an experience for them. I also realize that genuine learning takes hard work and discipline and cannot (and should not) always be delivered in 90 second sound bites of entertainment. Therefore, I will not neglect my responsibility to offer a well rounded education; however, whenever it is possible, I will try to make my class interesting for students and bring their world into the lesson.

I tend to be discussion oriented, and I plan for group work as often as the subject matter allows. I believe that when students are able to learn from each other and collaborate to find an answer the lesson is more valuable for them. When space allows, I like to set up the desks in a u-shape; when it is time for groups, students can just swing their desks around to face each other. I try to have areas set up in the room with various resources my students may need to do in-class projects. When I do lecture, I use erasable markers and a white board to show students how to work through the process of taking notes. I want my room to be interesting; so in addition to educational and literature based posters, I also have historic, music and art based posters that are thought provoking and inspirational. I hope to create an atmosphere where students feel free to be themselves and feel safe to experiment and push their boundaries in learning.

As a teacher, I want to challenge my students to grow in personhood as much as learn new information. I see myself as a guide in the process of learning rather than a boss handing out assignments to be completed. When problems arise, I want to be able to defuse all situations quickly and calmly before they can escalate; however, I am not afraid to respectfully express my authority when it is needed. I hope to be a man whose authority rests in my students’ respect, not in their fear of punishment. Being a teacher is not about satisfying my ego; rather, it is about what I can give to my students to help make their world better.  

Peter L Richardson

 

Gratitude: A New Perspective

(a personal narrative)

grace=thanksgiving=joy

“There is a way to live the big of giving thanks in all things. It is this: to give thanks in this one small thing. The moments will add up.”  -Ann Voskamp

I gave the wood a good strong knock to show the rot on my shed is only at the very bottom. Bent over, I couldn’t see the baseball sized hornets’ nest that had been built sometime in the spring. The angry mob dropped out of their cocoon like heat seeking missiles and swarmed about my head. I swiftly and calmly backed away allowing them to disperse around me, but one found his way between my glasses and the bridge of my nose. Stung: Right between the eyes!

“What a perfect end to a shitty day!” I half-joked to my dad.

He laughed, but immediately, I felt the Holy Spirit respond in my heart, “Was it, Pete? Was this day so bad? You should consider changing your perspective.”

It was Sunday, the Lord’s Day, a day of rest and fellowship. I spent the morning in worship at a church I was visiting, and I planned to spend the afternoon in food and fellowship with friends, but after a quick stop at home, I turned the key in my Jeep and she groaned deeply and died. I tried again. Same thing. I had a pretty good idea it was the starter, but I’m no mechanic, so I did what I always do in these matters and called my dad for help.

“Yeah, sounds like the starter to me,” he says, “but I can’t be sure unless I check it out, and I’m at least two hours away antique shopping with your mom. Try your brother.”

I give him my thanks and call my brother, who somehow managed to inherit all my dad’s skill and knowledge of home and car repair. “Sounds like the starter to me also, but I’m at work until 3pm. I can stop by after that.”

Nothing bothers me like waiting when I’ve got a task ahead of me. I want to reach into the engine and start tearing things apart, but I know it is wiser to wait for someone more knowledgeable than me to look at the Jeep. Still, I spend the next few hours looking up Jeep manuals on the internet and “how to fix ur starter” videos on Youtube. By the time my brother shows up, I am certain it really is the starter.

He brings his son who is excited about the prospect of playing his older cousin’s PS3 games. While his dad picks out a game he is okay with, I begin removing the starter. Of course, it is in an impossible place that only a contortionist with tiny hands and super-strength can get to, but eventually it’s off, and we are off to the auto parts store. I take the old starter with me because I’ll get a discount with it, and the manager insists on checking it on his bran spanking new “check all parts electrical” machine. It turns out the starter is good. Great. Something else must be wrong with the Jeep. Defeated, dirty and tired, we head back to my place brainstorming what else could be wrong, all of which would be beyond our ability to fix and would dig deep into my wallet, and probably beyond my ability to afford.

While the starter’s still off, we check the flywheel, which looks good, so I set about reinstalling the starter while he calls his wife to tell her he’s going to be much later than expected and to hold off on dinner for now. Just as I’m tightening the last bolt, she shows up with my niece and my parents. They have bags of food with them and they tell me to take a break for dinner. Before I do so, I decide to turn the key over so my dad can hear the dying groan the Jeep makes and get his take on the problem. However, instead of a pitiful moan, she roars like a lion as the engine fires up!! Surprised, I turn her off, and try again in unbelief, but she fires right up again!

“Let me try,” my dad says as he takes the key and pushes me out of the way. He turns the key over three times, and three times the Jeep starts with no problems. I have not had a problem since. I shower as my family prepares dinner, and we eat and fellowship in joy like it was a holiday. After dinner, I show my dad and brother areas in the house that need attention and work and get their opinion and advice on repairs when I get the hornet sting between the eyes.

God is teaching me this: Thanksgiving is all about perspective. It is a choice, an attitude, and a way of life. Unfortunately, I am only at the beginning of my journey on that way, but I am determined to walk it out and I am walking forward day by day. The day before my Jeep died, I went on a beach-trip with my good friend. The Jeep could have cut out when I was two hours away from home; it could have died at the church I was visiting; it could have died at my ex-wife’s house when I was dropping off my kids; it could have died at the gas station I stopped at just before going home, but it conveniently died in my own driveway. I spent my afternoon on my back and elbow high in grease, but I have more knowledge and skill than I did before. The repair could have cost me hundreds of dollars, but somehow it ended up only costing me time. I missed spending time with friends, but the time my family gave to me was more precious than any good time with buddies. Once again, they have confirmed they really do have my back.

The hornet sting put it all in focus. Without it, I might have missed the lesson; I don’t think I would have reflected on the day otherwise.  Life is full of circumstances we cannot control, but we have a faithful Father in heaven who is in control of the big picture. Our task is to learn to trust him in the small tragedies of life, so when the big ones hit hard we are prepared to run to him for comfort, wisdom and guidance. I can choose to look at that day and count up everything that I lost and continue to complain, or I can choose to focus on all that was preserved for me and all that was gained through the experience. It is all a matter of perspective. Is my Jeep fixed? Did God hear my prayers and make a little miracle happen in the insignificant details of my life? Was it just some connection that was loose or dirty and just need to be tightened or cleaned? Or is there a bigger problem lurking that will pop up some place down the road? I don’t know. I’m choosing to be hopeful; after all there is no check engine light, and she runs well at the moment, but if the Jeep breaks down again, one thing I know is that God is good. I can trust him to take care of me the next time anything unexpected happens.

Peter L Richardson
7/5/2011

The spark has dimmed, maybe even gone out completely. I can still see it in others, and I feel, I absorb it into myself. But it is only a momentary light. Just a reflection of someone else’s joy. I used to glow. There used to be a fire raging deep within me. Now my fuel has burnt out. My muse is silent. She sleeps. She sighs. She no longer brings the fuel; she no longer makes the flint crack over oil saturated wood. Not the oil of gladness, nor the oil of sadness. I am numb. My ears are deaf; I can see but all paths look the same. All paths mock me with the same dull gray rain. I want to believe; I ask for help in my unbelief in the rainbow, even in the storm that brings light spectacular and belly roar direction, but I am soaked through wet. cold. gray. numb.

Holy Spirit, bring me new life…

Peter L Richardson
6/26/11

September 5th, 2003: A Day in the Life of Pete’s Reading Habits.

Stack of Books Still Life, PLR '98

“The person who doesn’t read is no better off than the person who can’t read.”  -Stephen R. Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

I work nights until 1:00AM. When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I have to read is my digital alarm clock. I say read because about as much effort goes into understanding whether I should get up now and how much more time can I really spare in bed, as goes into reading any college text book. What day is this? What class? Do I need to pack anything? Can I afford to skip breakfast? If I push the “snooze” button I may get up earlier, but if I reset the alarm I’ll get more restful sleep…. These are only some of the problem solving skills I use to interpret the meaning behind the symbol “8:00AM.” 

Once awake my mind is able to operate on a higher level. I check my e-mail first thing in the morning. Although by now it is a simple routine, I am required to know computer lingo in order to even get to my mail. This is not just a matter of knowing how to write and read letters; this simple communication requires learning a new literacy code. This important tool allows me to efficiently communicate with my friends and take care of simple business with professors and peers.

Eventually I make my way to class. Though varied, college courses usually have some form of taking notes. Professors usually write key terms on overheads or the chalkboard. It is important to learn to understand how these terms guide a lecture in order to write good notes. This aspect of learning requires more than just reading and writing; it is a developed skill. You need to learn the balance; you can’t write everything said, nor do you want to overburden yourself when it comes to studying, but if you want to do well in the class, you must write down the essential information. This literacy activity is not just copying a literal list of facts; it requires interpretive and critical thinking,

At some point during the day I have to eat, and often I’m forced to buy food at a restaurant. On this particular day, I was invited out to dinner with my family, including my Spanish speaking sister-in-law who is still learning our language; I was impressed with how difficult ordering her meal was. She was dependent upon the rest of the family to get what she really wanted. Although ordering a meal doesn’t require much thought (unless the food is great!), not knowing how to read the language brings a dimension of difficulty to it that we often take for granted. I imagine how difficult life must be for those who missed the opportunity to learn how to read. It is not just a world of books and ideas nonreaders are missing, but simple tasks we take for granted, like ordering food, become difficult burdens that can often be dangerous, like understanding the instructions for medications.

Before I begin my studying for the evening, I try to put God first and read a chapter from the Bible. These are words I am familiar with by now, and more often this exercise is less a study and more of a reminder of God’s truth and the comfort he brings to my life. Having this time of reflection and self-evaluation in God gives me strength to handle the struggles of the day. Though many do not choose this path, I don’t know where I would be with the ability to study God’s Word. It is the bread for my soul, the living water for my spirit. It is the Word who was made flesh; the Truth in parable, poetry and law giving me inspiration to persevere and live as righteously as I can.

Later I give myself over to my homework. Being an English Education major, I read a little bit of everything on any given night. Poetry is something to be felt as well as read. It is often a mystery to be solved by close reading and looking between the lines. There is definitely creative thinking needed when reading any type of verse, but often poetry is best when it is just absorbed. Likewise, when I’m reading a story, I find I am better able to understand and evaluate it if I simply let myself indulge in it as the characters carry me through the plot with their speech and actions. Typically, I don’t do much conscious analysis of fiction until the experience is over, but that is my style. Reading text books and scholarly journals, however, requires a lot of effort on my part. This is when sight words and contextual analysis become important for me. I find in order to understand the text fully, I need to look ahead in each chapter and read subtitles and glance at bold faced words and think about any quotes emphasized to get a sense of the topic and main idea I’m reading about before I dive in. Also, if there are pictures or graphs, I usually read them before I begin the swim through the letters and ideas of the text. It is easy for me to drift when I’m reading texts, so getting the preview and knowing the direction the author is going in helps me stay focused and increases my comprehension. 

I work the night shift as a security guard. At my site, we joke that the only skills you need to do the job is to have a warm body and a pulse, but literacy is a requirement. We receive written orders, the dayshift supervisor communicates with us by writing notes, and we are required to write out a Daily Activity Report. Because of college, I am required to study texts in depth, so it is easy for me to take for granted the simple things in life that require literacy and to lose touch with how necessary the basic skills of reading comprehension really are. Literacy is essential for success in our modern society. Children who are read to at a young age and encouraged to read throughout their lives will gain opportunities that their peers who are neglected will have to work twice as hard to achieve. Teaching kids how to approach a text book or a novel or a poem, teaching them how to evaluate and receive knowledge, meaning and experience from words, will ultimately give them the skills they need to approach life with better understanding and therefore receive a greater knowledge and deeper meaning from their own experiences, and that is wisdom. Education is not required to gain wisdom, but the ability to read gives one access to the wisdom and experience of all the ancients who have gone before.

Peter L Richardson
(updated 7/14/11)

 

 “Wordplay”  

 

What’s in a word? What’s in a rhyme?
Is it the silent tick-tick of time?
Are they definition, description or meaning?
Are they truth, fact or seeming?
A word is empty without sight.
The sun is darkness without light.

Peter L Richardson
spring 1997

FIRE AND APPLES:

The Use of Myth in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. 

Frankenstein Cover, by Barry Moser

“Nail in my hand from my creator, you gave me life, now Show Me How to Live!” -Chris Cornell 

It was a rainy and cold summer day when Mary Shelley first conceived the idea of her now famous story, Frankenstein. She and her future husband Percy Shelly were visiting Lord Byron at his summer home in Geneva. Because of the temperamental weather, the group of writer-poets was spending most of the time inside reading, writing, and telling ghost stories. Mary was having a hard time coming up with a good ghost story, but after she heard Percy and Byron discuss recent theories from the botanist Dr. Erasmus Darwin about the scientific possibility of reanimation, Mary had a sleepless night when she “saw–with shut eyes, but acute mental vision,–I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together” (Shelley 170). However, the work Mary was about to create became much more than a simple ghost story. Frankenstein has become a modern myth which has held a significant influence over our culture to this day. Through her letters and journals we know that during the year previous to that fateful summer, Mary had been reading many biblical and classical works which had a profound influence on her own work (Harper 11-12).One needs only to look at the title page to discover the myths that lent themselves most significantly to Mary’s creation: the subtitle is The Modern Prometheus, and the epigraph is from Milton’s Paradise Lost, “Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay to mould me man? Did I solicit thee from darkness to promote me?” Of the Greek myth of Prometheus and the Biblical creation story with the fall of man from paradise, philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche has said, “there exists between the two myths a degree of relationship like that between brother and sister” (Ziolowszki 25). It is no wonder that these two myths emerged to dominate the symbolism in Frankenstein. In a way, much like her tragic hero, Victor, pieces together existing body parts for his creation, Mary pieces together these myths of creation and rebellion in order to create her own modern myth, her own “hideous progeny” (Shelley 171). The story of Frankenstein is one of horror and the supernatural, a story that reveals the consequences of man’s obsession with knowledge and ambition–and, in essence, this new myth and legend, which has gone forth and prospered, upholds the Romantic traditions that paradise can only be obtained through embracing nature, brotherhood, and the imagination.

Most Romantics believed in a divinity of nature that could help mankind find his way back to paradise. According to the Romantics, there exists a higher power within and throughout nature that mankind has lost touch with because of ambitions caused by the established orders of government and religion in society. Government and religion are based on reason, which is opposed to the imagination. Too much reason and analytical thinking rips the world apart, whereas imagination holds all things together. Imagination makes man psychologically and socially whole; therefore, mankind could restore Eden with imagination. Both Prometheus and Adam possess elements of ambition and rebellion in a reach for knowledge (or reason) which result in bringing misery and destruction to mankind. Likewise, Victor Frankenstein’s ambition, his preference for reason over the imagination, and his separation from humanity ultimately cause his downfall.

The most well know story of Prometheus is from the tragedies of Aeschylus. Writing at the height of Greek culture in Athens, Aeschylus portrays Prometheus, a Titan, as a benevolent hero of mankind. He rebels against the tyrant Zeus by stealing fire from the gods and he bestows his gift of fire, which is equivalent to knowledge, to the human race. Prometheus is punished by being chained to a rock where an eagle comes to feed off his liver every day, but this noble image of Prometheus is problematic. When we first encounter him in Greek mythology through Hesiod, who was a contemporary of Homer, he is portrayed as a trickster who steals from Zeus simply to spite him, and his gift to man is seen not as a benefit but as a curse that has brought misery to humanity.

Victor Frankenstein, Mary’s “modern Prometheus,” is just as problematic as his forbearer. Victor has many good and noble qualities in himself. He is a lover of nature, and before he became obsessed with his work, he was deeply connected to family. It can be argued that the loss of his mother partly inspired his creation. At least the idea of the protection of humanity was a part of his ambition to “banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!” But unfortunately he prefaced his declaration with “what glory would attend the discovery” (Shelley 30). So while Victor wished to bestow on humanity the gift of a disease free world, it was mainly the desire for personal glory that drove him on. At the end when Walton, the captain who drug him out of the frozen sea of the North Pole, wished to know the formula which sparked his creation, Victor refused to give it to him saying “learn [from] my miseries, and do not seek to increase your own” (Shelley 155), but later on his deathbed, while Victor is once again coaching Walton to “avoid ambition” he reneged at the end and blurted out: “Yet why do I say this? I have myself been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeed.” Despite all the misery he has experiences and all the misery he has caused others, Victor still cannot fully reject his over ambitious desire for knowledge.

In the Prometheus myth, fire is a tool that benefits mankind, yet left unchecked, it erupts into a destroyer. Mary consistently uses the image of fire to show how the increase of knowledge unchecked with wisdom and imagination can also lead to destruction. When Victor was fifteen years old, during a thunder storm he “beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and beautiful oak…so soon as the dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained but a blasted stump…I never beheld any thing so utterly destroyed” (Shelley 31). And so, through lightning, Victor was introduced to the power of electricity, and the power of knowledge. Years later, after his promise to create a mate for his creation, Victor was unable to be lifted up even by nature. He had become the victim of his ambition, the slave to his creation. It was as if he were chained to a rock with an eagle gnawing at his insides: “I am a blasted tree; the bolt has entered my soul; and I felt then that I should survive to exhibit, what I shall soon cease to be–a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity, pitiable to others, and abhorrent to myself” (Shelley 119).

Fire and the increase of knowledge have the same destructive result for Victor’s creation, who is never bequeathed with a name or identity from his creator. When the creature was still in his innocent state, the only light he had or needed was “a gentle light that stole over the heavens, and gave me a sensation of pleasure.” Knowledge is not in itself evil. At a distance from man it is not destructive; it gives us enough understanding to “enlighten [our] path.” However, man’s ambition to use knowledge to gain control and power only serves to corrupt and destroy him. When Victor’s creation stumbles upon a lit fire left by some wandering beggars, it is the beginning of his destruction. He learns the benefits of warmth by the fire, but just as quickly he learns of its destructive nature when he puts his hand too close: “How strange, I thought, that the same cause should produce such opposite affects!” The first thing the creature did was to go about collecting wood to increase his fire; thus his ambition for knowledge began, “I was in the greatest fear lest my fire should be extinguished” (Shelley 76-77). Later Victor’s creation literally increased his knowledge; as he hid out and observed the De Lacey family, he learned to read, and he studied from the books he had found. Like creator, like creature, he lamented to Victor that “Increase of knowledge only discovered to me more clearly what a wretched outcast I was” (Shelley 97), and when he was rejected by the family he had grown to love in secret, he became overcome by rage and used his new tool of fire to utterly destroy their cottage. Desire for revenge consumed him, and he sought to rebel against and overpower his creator, but in the end his rebellion and revenge only created an increase of misery for himself, and he conceded that the only way to end his torment was through self-destruction: “Soon these burning miseries will be extinct. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly, and exult in the agony of these torturing flames” (Shelley 164). The result of both Victor and his creation’s ambitious increase of knowledge was utter destruction for each.

It is no coincidence that Milton’s Paradise Lost is explicitly referred to so much in Frankenstein; Mary had Percy read it aloud to her a few months after she began her novel (Ketterer 23). In this story man is still the victim of the crimes of a higher spiritual being, Satan, but he also has his own share in the blame. Adam has been specifically told by God not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, yet when prompted by Satan (through Eve) to eat and “become like God,” he takes the Fall. This interpretation of the Biblical creation story is in agreement with the Romantic notion that humanity was once in a state of perfection and unity with the earth and nature, but when knowledge, or reason, entered the world, man became separated from God and from nature. But it is not simply knowledge that corrupts man; it is his motivation to acquire that knowledge. Satan had rebelled against God and tried to usurp the throne of the Almighty, and at his advice Adam disobeyed his benevolent Creator with the ambition to be “like God.” 

Milton’s epic is based on the Bible, the Holy Scriptures of Christianity, and his work ironically becomes like Scripture to Victor’s creation. Paradise Lost becomes the monster’s guide, the one work by which he judges himself and those around him (Shelley 95); for example, he appeals to his creator with “Remember, that I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed” (Shelley 74). While Victor alone play the role as an unjust, unmerciful and imperfect creator who creates a flawed being in his own corrupted image, both he and his creation share the dual role of Adam and Satan in this story of the fall from Eden.

In Victor’s Eden, his childhood in Geneva, he is surrounded by those whom he loves and is loved by, and in his company are those who embrace a love and passion for nature and the poetic imagination. When he leaves for the university to pursue knowledge, his fall from grace begins. Victor reaches for the apple in his attempt to be “like God” and “render man invulnerable to any but a violent death” (Shelley 30); the result is ban from Eden. As stated earlier, he is unable to be affected by nature, and he is disconnected from love. After denying his own “fallen angel’s” demands for a mate, Victor longs for a life with his betrothed: “I…dared to whisper paradisiacal dreams of love and joy; but the apple was already eaten, and the angel’s arm bared to drive me from all hope” (Shelley 139). Victor had a few opportunities for redemption; had he stayed in touch with his family and friends he may not have committed his unnatural act, but as he said himself, “my imagination was too much exulted…to doubt my ability to give life.” Here Victor took the role of Satan as his ambitions drove him to be just like God: “A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me” (Shelley 39-40). But like Satan in Milton’s epic, he took a hard fall: “like the archangel who aspired to omnipotence, I am chained to an eternal hell…I trod heaven in my thoughts…until I fell, never, never again to rise” (Shelley 155-156). 

Victor created a deformed being in his imperfect image; Victor was psychologically disfigured, and his creation became the physical image of his mind. Even though Victor abandoned and rejected his “Adam,” the creature still had his own Eden in a forest where he lived in unity with nature, until he stumbled upon fire and began his own search for knowledge. This “monster” is at first portrayed as the ideal Romantic; he was a lover of nature, and his only ambition was “to be known and loved by…amiable creatures” (Shelley 97). However, simply because of his deformity, he was rejected by all of humanity, and in his isolation and loneliness he vowed revenge on his creator, but instead of going straight after Victor, he followed the role of Satan in Paradise Lost (IV.381-392); he set himself to destroying everything that Victor loved: “from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me, and sent me forth to insupportable misery.” The creature set out to overpower his creator, and he more or less succeeded, but in his ambition to make Victor his slave, he became a slave to his own depravity. By acting on the threat that barred Victor from returning Eden (killing Victor’s love, Elizabeth, on their wedding night), the creature “was the slave, not the master of an impulse, which I detested, yet could not disobey…Evil thenceforth became my good” (Shelley 162).

Both Prometheus and Adam are promised a day of salvation: Prometheus will eventually be freed by Hercules, and Adam and his descendents have the promise of Christ’s redemption. There is no Savior waiting in the future for either Victor or his creation, but Mary points the way to paradise through the Romantic ideology of the supporting characters, who show the reader how to avoid the destruction wrought and suffered by Victor and his creation. For Victor there was his best friend, Henry Clerval, who sought to bring Victor out of isolation: “Study had before secluded me from the intercourse of my fellow-creatures, and rendered me unsocial; but Clerval called forth the better feelings of my heart; he again taught me to love the aspect of nature, and the cheerful faces of children. Excellent friend! How sincerely did you love me, and endeavor to elevate my mind, until it was on a level with your own” (Shelley 52). But it was too late; Victor had already condemned himself. For the creature it was the old, blind man De Lacey. Unable to see his bulk and disfigurement, De Lacey gave the monster his only taste of acceptance an invited him in his cottage.  Victor’s creation declared, “You raise me from the dust by this kindness; and I trust that, by your aid, I shall not be driven from the society and sympathy of your fellow creatures” (Shelley 99), but it was not meant to be. De Lacey’s family returned, and fearing Victor’s creation on sight, drove him out and therefore ignited his wrath. In the end, both Victor and his creation lament their ambition for knowledge and long for a simpler time and place, a return to Eden, in almost parallel statements. Victor states, “how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow” (Shelley 39), and his creation states, “sorrow only increased with knowledge. Oh, that I had for ever remained in my native wood, nor known or felt beyond the sensations of hunger, thirst, and heat!”   

Mary Shelley uses her Romantic Tragedy to teach us that if we can curb our ambitions of power and conquest, and if we can embrace the divinity of nature and treat all men as brothers in loving kindness, we might be able to achieve the unity and paradise expressed through poetic imagination. In so doing, she has created her own myth that has become as timeless as the works she used to create it. Mary’s “hideous progeny” has gone forth and prospered and is still inspiring us today in many new ways and through many new media and genres. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein stands as a warning to modern man: As we ever more speedily increase our consumption of information and ever more embrace personal ambition and glory as positive traits for our heroes, we neglect to nurture the Spirit and the brotherhood of man, the very places through which Wisdom calls out to the soul.

Peter L Richardson
February, 14 2005

Harper, Henry H. Letters of Mary W. Shelley. Boston: The Bibliophile Society, 1871.

Ketterer, John. Frankenstein’s Creation: The Book, The Monster, and Human Reality. University of Victoria, 1979.

Milton, John. “Paradise Lost.” From The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Seventh Edition. ed. M.H. Abrams. New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001.

Shelley, Mary. The Mary Shelly Reader, containing Frankenstein… (1818 edition). ed. Betty T. Bennett & Charles Robinson. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Ziolkowski, Theodore. The Sin of Knowledge, Ancient Themes and Modern Variations. Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2000.

Exercising Your Demons

Up For The Challenge, PLR '99

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4

I remember when the movie, The Blair Witch Project, first came out and rumors perpetuated that not only was it a true story, but the movie was, in fact, the actual footage found of campers who were oppressed by some demonic force in the woods. My brother saw it and it freaked him out. He drug me to the theater and when it was finished he asked, “So? What do you think?” My response angered him: “I don’t know. It was kind of boring.” “What?!” he exclaimed, “What if that’s real? What would you do if you were in the woods and something like that happened?” My reply only made him more upset: “Dude, if it’s real, they are only demons, I would just pray to Jesus, and that would be the end of it.” God has made it clear in the Bible that Christians have authority over demons. Not by any merit of our own doing, but if we pray in faith in the name of Jesus, then He will be faithful to respond. 

Are demons even real? If you claim to believe in the Bible, then you believe in demons, and you believe that they can possess people. You just can’t get around the fact that demon possession is in the Bible and that Jesus and his followers cast out demons. Much of the Church now days seems to fall into two extremes; the first is that demons are no longer an issue, or that Jesus and his disciples simply misunderstood demonic possession for mental illnesses. If they are no longer an issue; why not? What happened between the time of the Acts of the Apostles and now? Did the Church somewhere along the line exterminate all demons? That is not likely. When Jesus himself was casting out a group of demons, they begged him not to torture them before the appointed time and not to send them into the abyss. Jesus granted their request by sending them into a herd of pigs (Matthew 8:28-34, Mark 5:1-17, Luke 8:26-37). They ran the pigs off a cliff into the sea to drown, presumably to be set free to bother some other unlucky humans. While no one on earth knows when “the appointed time” is, it makes sense to assume that this is the same appointed time of the end of the age when Jesus returns to judge all mankind and the fallen angels, i.e. demons. It’s safe to say that this time has not yet come.

Some in the Church claim that all demonic possession was just different types of mental illness that Jesus and his followers misunderstood to be demons, but what does that say about the God you worship? If Jesus is the Son of God, shouldn’t he be a little savvier in determining a diagnosis? The reason why demonic possession and mental illness go hand in hand is that both make the other more likely. Demons can more easily manipulate and corrupt someone who is suffering from a mental illness, and likewise, if someone allows a demon a foothold into their emotions and mental state, the demon will likely cause a mental illness as it gains more power and influence over the individual.

The other extreme is to sensationalize demonic possession. Stories from the Church have given plenty of fodder to Hollywood for decades and they don’t seem to be waning in popularity. America loves a good demon movie, and we even want it to be based on a true story as long as we can leave the theater thinking it will never happen to us. If you aren’t a Christian, chances are you would have no clue if a demon has attached itself to you; at least at first. Rarely does anything happen as dramatically as Hollywood celebrates. Usually it all starts with a deep emotional wound from childhood, or an obsession with some kind of sin like greed or lust, etc. Emotional pain and unrepentant sin is the demons’ foothold. It is how a person responds that determines how much power and influence a demon can have over the individual. Needless to say, the more you give into demonic “thoughts” the more it will control you, but it’s unlikely you’ll gain supernatural powers or have to worry about your family finding you crawling on the ceiling. Giving in to the demon might make you feel powerful and give you sense of superiority over some innocent victim, whether it be a person you abused or just a coworker you screwed over, but more than likely you’ll either end up clinically insane or just extremely selfish, depressed and lonely. Demons don’t want to use you to take over the world, they just want to hurt you because they lost the war when they rebelled against their Creator, and they know hurting you is the only way they can really hurt Him.

Following the example of Jesus and the early disciples, the Church continued to perform exorcisms on anyone who seemed to be demonically possessed and oppressed. Like with everything else concerning the gospel, the Catholic Church created a lot of needless formality and procedure around exorcism, which has led to a lot of misunderstanding and mysticism from those outside the priesthood. Realizing this stigma, protestant churches either gave up the practice altogether, or they changed the name to deliverance and now keep things more simple, but deliverance can still be pretty messy. If you’ve got a bona fide demon in there, it won’t let go too lightly.*  

Whispering Eve, PLR '99

The problem, in my opinion, is that churches today seem to either place too much emphasis on deliverance from demons or just ignore the reality of them altogether. I once flirted with attending a church that was deliverance focused, and they spent most of the teaching time on how to rebuke demons, and then most of the service delivering the same people from the same demons week after week. After a couple of weeks there, you would think there was a demon hiding under every rock, and every time something uncomfortable happened it was the devil attacking you! Of course, your problems had little to do with the poor choices you might have made that week, or that we live in a fallen world with a lot of selfish people in it. We are instructed to be aware of the devil’s schemes, but we are told this so that we can avoid continually falling into his traps and snares. Spiritual warfare is an important skill for every Christian to develop, the Apostle Paul says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12), and our most important weapon is prayer. However, too many Christians become dependant on deliverance ministry from others who claim to have the faith and power. They get all “cleaned up” in a hyped up and emotional prayer, and then jump right back into the mud. The Apostle Peter reminds us of the proverb, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud” (2 Peter 2:22).

The focus of every believer needs to be Jesus. He is our Savoir, he is our deliverer, and he is our example of how to live a righteous life. If Christians spent more time trying to live like Christ and developing their characters according to his teaching, there would be less need for deliverance. In speaking of his power over demons, Jesus teaches us, “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first” (Luke 11:24-26). The lesson is that if you get deliverance from demonic oppression, you need to then follow through and fill up the empty space with something new, specifically the Holy Spirit. Jesus told his disciples at the last supper that after he goes, he will send a helper, a Counselor, to teach us how to live righteously and to lead us into obedience to God. We 21^st century Christians also have the benefit of the Bible to keep us in check and from being deceived by the very demons we have authority over.  It is this same Holy Spirit that gives the common believer the power through prayer to heal and to cast out demons when s/he prays in the name and authority of Jesus. The natural progression of a believer should be to become more and more like Jesus in character through following his example in the Bible and learning to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. The more a believer becomes like Jesus in character, the more intimidating s/he will be to our common enemy, Satan, and all his followers. Of course the enemy will do whatever it can to keep your faith from growing, but the more righteous choices a believer makes, the less ground any demons will have to stand on. Speaking of their public ministries, John the Baptist proclaimed of Jesus, “He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:30). In the same way, the more of Jesus we have growing in us, the less likely a demon will be able to manipulate your emotions and thoughts and bring you down from the inside. 

The Outcome, PLR '99

The art of spiritual warfare, including deliverance, should be an active and strong ministry in any church that is gaining ground for the Kingdom of God.  It should be expected that new believers (and even mature believers who are often called to go through deep personal struggles) to have a few demons plaguing them and not wanting to let go, but once the individual believer experiences deliverance and is free from the demonic oppression, s/he should use that freedom to grow stronger in faith and in following Jesus. If church leaders deny or ignore the possibility of demonic oppression, they are ignoring the mandate to be aware of the schemes of the devil and leaving the congregation open to spiritual attack. There are some problems that counseling and Prozac simply can’t handle. Likewise, someone who has gone through experiences that make them susceptible to demonic oppression will also more than likely need some kind of counseling in addition to deliverance, and it is not unusual for the counseling to take some time. In order for all believers to grow strong in faith, we need to have discipleship with someone who is more mature. If believers spent more time in fellowship with the Lord through prayer and worship and Bible study, and in fellowship with each other for support and accountability, the need for deliverance would be few and far between and focused mostly on new believers because there simply will be no place for the demons to take hold of. The Apostle James exhorts, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

Peter L Richardson
4/28/11

*The purpose of this essay is not to discuss what deliverance from demons should look like, but rather to help Christians understand how to prevent the need for personal deliverance in the first place. If you believe that you or someone you know is in need of deliverance, and you are not involved in a church experienced with deliverance ministry, I suggest starting with the book It’s Only a Demon, A Model of Christian Deliverance by David Appleby.

POST WORLD WAR II COMIC BOOKS: An Imitation of Life?

“I always felt that if I had super-power, I wouldn’t immediately run out to the store and buy a costume.” –Stan Lee

Many generations have asked the question; does art imitate life, or does life imitate art? During World War II a relatively new American art form gained considerable popularity. The first postwar decade, 1945 – 1954, brought what is considered to be the comic book’s Golden Age. Comic books grew out of the comic strips of the newspapers; they were a more complex and longer version of the stories in “the funnies” and for the most part had lost their comedic aspect; their plots consisted largely of war stories, detective stories, westerns and superhero folklore. Though comic books had been around since the 1930’s, they reached the height of their popularity during World War II, and it lasted almost a decade after the war had ended. Their demise could be attributed to a combination of the rise of television and campaigns led by concerned moralists criticizing the content; they claimed comics were too violent and too sexual for the targeted age group of children. It is easy to attribute this moral campaign to the hypersensitive atmosphere of the 1950s, but there was obviously something appealing to the public about comics. With sales as high as 60 million comics per month, it is apparent that more than just children and adolescents were buying them. If the content of these comics struck such a cord with the American public, it is safe to say that they were speaking to that generation. Could it also be said that comics are a reflection, an imitation, of 1950s American thought and perception of life? William Savage, Jr., author of Commies, Cowboys, and Jungle Queens; Comic Books and America, 1945-1954, thinks so.

According to Savage, historians have, for the most part, ignored the impact of comic books on the postwar generation. Savage believes that the content of comics provide important insight into American cultural views of that time (ix). During the late forties and early fifties there were three major issues that loomed over and seemed to threaten the very fabric of American society; the atom bomb, communism and war; Americans particularly sought ways to understand and rationalize World War II and the Korean War. Savage explores how comics responded to these issues and attempts to understand the culture of the time through the comic-book response.

It is no question that the atomic bomb was heaviest on everyone’s mind after Hiroshima. At first for Americans it was a source of joy. The War had been successfully ended, and God had given the most powerful weapon on Earth to America; there was no question to her superiority now. Comic books consistently echoed the sentiment. Savage explains that “the comic book contribution to the folklore centered on the idea of a benign Bomb, a friendly Bomb, a Bomb that would never hurt anybody unless we willed it–and certainly it would never hurt us” (17). When the government and other advocates of atomic energy sought ways to minimize the dangers presented by an atomic age and emphasize the positives aspects, one medium they turned to was the comic book. Comic books were used to explain the concept of fusion and to talk about the benefits of atomic energy (Boyer 296). Apart from any governmental influence, superheroes in comics were able to use atomic bombs for very frivolous means such as traveling the blast wave to get to a far away destination. In short, “comic-book[‘s]…reinforced the idea that atomic explosions could mean fun for kids” (Savage 17).

Comic books had long been preaching American patriotism, yet even after the Russians had developed an atomic bomb of their own, it didn’t seem to affect the comic book response that we were still the best and most powerful nation. By this time war comics presented both American militaries and her enemies as well equipped with outrageous atomic weapons, ranging from bombs to rifles. When America used her atomic power, it would always wipe out their enemies, yet when Americans were subjected to atomic explosions, they seemed strangely ineffective. In one story that Savage cites, two Americans are protected by a large tree from an atomic blast (18). Sometimes comics would take a more realistic approach and superheroes would counsel the bad guys and, by default, the reader against the use of atomic warfare; “neither Wonder Woman nor any other World War II survivor could come around to advocating its use, since a second employment of such a horrible weapon would weaken our moral posture.” It showed the growing concerns of our ability for world destruction; “the comic-book response to the unthinkable…indicated the extent to which lots of people were indeed thinking about the unthinkable” (Savage 20&21). Savage also comments, however, that these little lessons were “infrequent” in comics “because, on the whole, American culture simply refused to make the Bomb an unhappy, unpleasant, or unappealing thing” (23).

If comics refused to express much concern over atomic warfare, one thing they did seem to perceive as a threat was world domination of the communists. That is not to say that the Commies had any chance of beating us; as Savage explains; “Comic books were…consistently assuming the swift and inevitable downfall of all Communist states, cells, and individuals…[they] boldly stated that our people, being bigger, smarter, and tougher to start with, subdued their people every time” (37). Yet comic books did not completely escape the atmosphere of McCarthyism. Just about anybody could turn out to be a communist traitor. One series followed the actions of T-Man, a group of secret agents who investigated and foiled the attempts of communist domination. Displayed on the first page of the “Red Murder Incorporated” issue is the statement “For as world domination is the Communist goal, so wholesale slaughter is their means of reaching it!” Clearly no communist was capable of any good intentions. In T-Man anyone could turn out to be a communist spy. In one story, “Ring of Doom,” their own double agents were actually spies for the Soviets who were systematically killing the agents of T-Man. In another, “The Code of Death,” a lyricist who translated American songs into Chinese was planting communist code into the songs which were broadcast over the radio.

Though superheroes moved to the background in the communist struggle, cowboys were still called upon to unearth communist plots on American soil at times; however, for the most part the plight of communism was left to the military, the FBI or various secret agent groups. With heroes who were simply normal men doing their patriotic duty, comics began to restrain themselves to plots that were more realistic and more dependant on historical fact. They attempted to explain current events and even the origins of the conditions of the world. They therefore began to have an opinion of current world issues. Comics taught that the Russian people were not bad, but were themselves victims of the minority group running the government. Savage explains that “Such interpretations indicated that comic books were trying harder than ever before to inform American readers about the origins of current problems;” however, “comic books oversimplified for the sake of the argument no less than for the preferences of the market. Comic-book interpretations ignored vast swatches of inconvenient history” (39). Comic books still gave the American public the heroes and the hope they were looking for in the beginnings of a Cold War, but this drift towards realism went full current once the Korean War broke out.

During World War II, comic book plots were still very black and white. It was good verses evil and good always prevailed triumphantly. Though few superheroes made it overseas, there were some who were allowed to fight for the Allies. Captain America, in particular, was a super soldier created for the War. The enemy was inherently evil, Germans and Japanese were made to look like devils (Savage 10). By the time of the Korean War the rules had changed dramatically. Comic books, explains Savage, “in [their] comparison to their accounts of World War II, what they presented about Korea was awash in ambiguity and uncertainty” (51). Political issues were now much more complex and the darker side of war was revealed psychologically and graphically.

Superheroes did not venture into this war. It was left up to the common soldier in all of his frailty and weaknesses. “Comic books portrayed the American fighting man in a new and troubling light. He was frequently brave and sometimes cowardly…his character was probably not without serious flaw…he had a better than even chance to wind up dead” (Savage 52). Though it was the Commies who usually fought with cruel and cold tactics, sometimes you had to fight fire with fire, and our men would be forced to be just as cruel and unfeeling. Comics spoke frankly about the stress war put on a man and graphically portrayed our men dying in full color as frequently as the enemy; “Death was the thing that separated comic books of the Korean era from those of World War II” (Savage 53). In one story call “Ambush,” a group of soldiers walk into a trap and they all end up dead. The story ends with the quote: “No, not a happy story…but it happens just that way sometimes…no wonder Gen. Sherman said ‘War is Hell!’” 

Not a happy story indeed. Children were writing and complaining that the stories were too sad, however; the editors simply replied that they were representing the reality of the war. Apparently the servicemen agreed; they were writing and praising the comics for being so realistic (Savage 57). This, and the addition of “’pinup’ pages of girly art, suggest[ed] something about the intended audience for the books” (Savage 59). Savage sums it up for us:

From the perspective of the mid-1950s, World War II was a safer place for comic books to be–and perhaps a safer place for their readers. World War II was more satisfying to contemplate than Korea, because it had been a declared war that ended in clear victory. In the popular mind, ambiguity had not characterized the American response to World War II. An evil enemy had been decisively defeated. None of that could be said about Korea… (Savage 59).

And since comics were now trying to give the real story, they simply could not give us a safer, happier ending.

By their very nature, however, comic books could not be completely realistic. A comic is a medium of entertainment, and real life is simply not entertaining without some sort of embellishment. Savage says that “comic books took cues from reality, and then engaged in necessary acts of distortion. Thus,” he adds, “comic books tended to define America as much by what they did not present as by what they consistently offered to their audiences” (75). In other words, the truth, justice and American way that comic book heroes fought for was not necessarily truly just for everyone in America. Just as those who were comfortable in the postwar decade tended to overlook this little piece of hypocrisy, so did the comic books that they bought and read. Two particular groups who did not share equal rights were African Americans and women. The fact that comic books were lacking any black heroes and rarely had any female heroes gives us insight into their second class status in 1950s American society. Savage explains that “to judge by comic-book representations of the period, there was no civil rights movement, nascent or otherwise, because there were hardly any black people in America, and the few in residence were perfectly content with bowing and scraping to the white folks who employed them as menials” (75). Women had a few exceptions to the rule, like Little Lulu, who was very much a feminist (Savage 79), and Wonder Woman, who was “invented by a psychologist to serve as role model for little girls” (Savage 77). But for the most part, women were simply minor characters falling for the male hero who consistently saved them from trouble. When women were the main heroine, they were usually scantily clad “Jungle Queens” whose looks were their main assets; if they possessed any authority or higher capacity over men, it was only men of the appropriate race or the bad guys. Again Savage explains; “Criteria for male conduct in comic books were established…by men–the same ones who established criteria for the appearance and behavior of comic-book women” (78). 

Savage concludes his book by reviewing the many aspects in which comic books reflect and reveal the culture of the postwar decade in America. There can be no denying that comics give us considerable insight into the nature of American thought at the time, but it is important to remember that they at best only represent the ideas of a portion of society. They are only a piece of the puzzle; we need to look at other productions of society as well to get the whole picture. Asking about art imitating life is like asking about the chicken and the egg. We know that a society is defined by its culture and the culture produces art which in turn influences the society and promotes some kind of change. It is an endless cycle, but it is well worth looking at what societies produced at particular moments in time in order to gain a better understanding of the culture.

Peter Richardson
8/10/2004

Boyer, Paul. “Dagwood to the Rescue: The Campaign to Promote the ‘Peaceful Atom’” By the Bomb’s Early Light – American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age. New York: Pantheon, 1985.

Savage, Jr., William W. Commies, Cowboys, and Jungle Queens – Comic Books and America, 1945-1954. Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1998.

One for the “Moms”…

Children’s needs should come before our rights.

from the 1983 movie, Mr. Mom:
Jack Butler: My brain is like oatmeal. I yelled at Kenny today for coloring outside the lines! Megan and I are starting to watch the same TV shows, and I’m liking them! I’m losing it.
Caroline: Honey, I know what you’re talking about. I’ve been there myself, alright?
Jack Butler: Well, if you’re so unhappy, why don’t you say something about it?
Caroline: Because I wasn’t unhappy! Look, maybe I was a little confused, maybe I was a little frustrated, but I knew what I was doing was important, because it means something to raise human beings. What saw me through was pride.

Before the Feminist Movement was in full swing there were many unrealistic expectations for women, some that forced them to try to achieve impossible standards and some that denied their abilities, particularly in the areas of work, fashion, homemaking and marriage. In Nancy A. Walker’s book Women’s Magazines 1940-1960 she has reprinted many articles from and about women of the time. One from Ladies Home Journal in 1944 is entitled “You Can’t Have a Career and Be a Good Wife.”  The author laments that it is no wonder that couples get divorced when the wife goes off to work. Women were expected to stay home, and if they wanted a career, they were selfish. Of course, ideally, it is best for children to have a parent in the house; especially during their youngest years, but we don’t live in an ideal world. Women were always expected to look and smell their best no matter what the circumstances, perhaps the best expression of this is Elinor Goulding Smith’s mocking article “How to Look Halfway Decent,” in which she uses humor to counter the ridiculous expectation that a woman’s best asset is her looks. Our modern perspective of these articles makes many of them seem humorous (or maybe horrifying if you’re a woman); however, there is some real wisdom we can glean from a time when strong families were still the norm in America. Apart from some radical opinions, many articles on marriage had good advice for women. Most spoke about how to reach the ideal for trying to please your husband while acknowledging that women simply can’t always achieve that ideal, but they should at least hold it in mind and make the effort. The problem, like a California resident complained to Redbook in the 1945 column, “What’s on Your Mind?,” is that no one focuses on the woman’s needs and what the man can do to please her. Even in the article, “What Makes Wives Dissatisfied?,” women are given validation for their frustrations, but then the burden of change is still on them to fix their man; only submissively of course (in other words manipulatively). In my opinion, a husband and wife should look at their marriage as a partnership, each valuing the strengths of the other, while forgiving the weaknesses of the other, and mutually submitting to each other’s needs. When technology advanced with the mass production of new appliances, women began to have it easier, as Robert J. Knowlton testified in “Your Wife Has an Easy Racket!” This gave women the ability to move out in the world and experience new things, but it is ironic that the more toys we get to make life easier, the busier Americans become and the less time we have for our families. It still takes parents who are present to raise children. Two career families put more strain on the family, but they are possible if both spouses are willing to share the burden of the household and both are consistently putting their family’s needs before their own. My favorite article on homemaking was Dorothy Thompson’s, “Occupation–Housewife.” It is a real job, she argues, and a real testament to the women who do it well. There are many women who find complete satisfaction in simply raising a family, and they should not be mocked. Families who produce kids and then ignore them are not families.

Make no mistake. I am fully supportive of equal rights and opportunity for all women. As a man, I have, and will continue to if placed under their authority, submitted to women in higher positions with absolutely no reservations. So I feel women’s liberation has been good for America in many ways. But many feminists take their gripe too far. Some make staying home and raising kids sound like a jail sentence. I have kids, and I am divorced, so when my kids are over, I have had to be mom and dad at the same time. When my sons were younger and woke up in the middle of the night with nightmares, I had to comfort them; I had to cook and clean for them and clean up their puke; I had to teach them how to be men while at the same time learn how to be sensitive to their needs and understanding of their boo-boos. Taking care of the house and the family can be monotonous and boring work, but my boys are also the most wonderful aspect of my life. They still have years to grow, but I am proud of the men they are becoming. I can testify that being involved and raising them despite my divorce held me back in my career goals and dreams; I did not achieve my BA until I was in my thirties, and I simply still do not have the time to prove myself as a writer to anyone who might pay me. But these are just some of the many sacrifices I gladly make to put my sons’ needs before my own. Hopefully they won’t make the same mistakes I’ve made in life, but I know I have done all I am able to help them succeed. And that is a great satisfaction in my life. 1950s society was too restrictive for women, of that there is no doubt, and the effort to make the job of a housewife seem glamorous seems pretty ridiculous to me; no job is without weaknesses, and no job can bring complete satisfaction. However, some feminists make the job of raising children out to be a meaningless and pointless existence. What a blasphemy to the value of human life! The issue here is not the role of a woman, but the role of a parent. I am friends with a couple who have chosen for dad to stay home with the kids, and he is a man in all respects, and he has a great relationship with both his wife and his kids. And as I said earlier, if a man and woman can cooperate with each other and raise a family with two careers, more power to them. In our economy, many families are forced to do so, but if you’re going to neglect your kids’ emotional needs simply to climb up the ladder of status and smug self satisfaction (whether you are a man or a woman): don’t have them, and don’t mock parents who seek to raise well adjusted children into successful, well adjusted adults. It seems to me, there is nothing more important for the future of our society than that.

Peter L Richardson
original essay: 8/12/04