- The Bishop is "good" because he is forgiving, generous, accepting - almost too much so.
- Javert is "good" because he enforces society's rules; innocent or guilty with no in-between.
- Valjean is "good" because he responds to the needs of others, often casting aside the laws or norms of society.
Most of us accept that we cannot be good like the Bishop. We'd like to believe that we're more like Valjean - a champion for those who cannot rise up themselves. But honestly, we mostly behave as Javert... conforming and judging, trusting in the government structures and other protectors of status quo.
After watching Spike Lee's docu-drama on HBO, WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE: A REQUIEM IN FOUR ACTS, I'm again reminded of this pattern of docile obedience supplanting irritating activism. Years from now, history will be taught in classrooms that revises the devastation of Katrina, not as a natural disaster, but as a failure of government to serve its people. But, the history lesson will not stop there, instead it will continue on to point out how the rest of us stood by and watched it happen - satisfied that enough had changed, when in fact, nothing really has. Where is the outrage, the irritating activism that pushes us forward?
In Pennsylvania the lawmakers gave themselves a raise. The result was a tremendous burst of irritating activism that drove the electorate to vote for change. Most analysts will say that the results of the election following these events, were shaped by this force of change - out with the old, in with the new... and by the way, we're watching you!
AND YET, it seems as if two years after Katrina, little has changed for the better - especially at the federal level.
Javert, upon realizing that all of his years of judging and conforming had left him on the wrong side of being right, takes his life, having "fallen from grace". Let us work now to see the wisdom and power of irritating activism - before its too late.
http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/whentheleveesbroke/
http://www.teachingthelevees.org/