Where's the Line?

Who gets to say when enough is enough? Who has the right to draw the line that communicates stop right here? We humans have a good bit of freedom to exercise our agency both individually and collectively. But sometimes it seems that there are forces beyond our control at work in the world that impact us in detrimental ways. Be they environmental or economic, governmental or otherwise, they have a negative effect on our daily lives and we may feel helpless. We long for something to change, for counter forces to alter the direction, for someone to stop what feels like a tidal wave of crushing cruelty, but we don’t know what to do. In our distress, we wonder when the line disappeared.

In an astonishing article published in the fall of 2012, ethics professor Dr. Christine D. Pohl began by stating, “I spend quite a lot of time reflecting on the human capacity for evil.” She goes on to describe her mental exercise of contemplating opposites for the sake of her own self-preservation. She writes, “In thinking about betrayal, I begin to think also about fidelity. A hard look at deception gradually gives way to exploring truthfulness, and accounts of cruelty eventually provoke reflections on hospitality.” A noble practice indeed. Dr. Pohl continues in the article with her wondering about what stands in contrast to wickedness which she tags specifically as ruthlessness. She landed on kindness as an antidote and advocates for its recovery in our daily living.

We might balk at the notion that kindness could make much difference in the face of evil. Tucked away in our heads and hearts is the belief that only something stronger than wickedness would be required to overcome it, outdo it, undo it. It may well be an indication of our complicity that we excuse ourselves from attempting to employ kindness when we encounter meanness. Dr. Pohl insightfully names our “strong task orientation” as a culprit saying, “We who value getting things done as quickly as possible and are willing to do whatever it takes are at risk of trampling anyone and anything that gets in our way. Ruthlessness involves a strategic form of self-centered heartlessness, a total disregard for persons who block our personal goals or broader commitments. It is a choice not to see the impact of our actions on others because our goals, purposes and opinions are too important to fail.” Ouch.

Yet clearly, it is well within our wheelhouse to draw the line in our own personal interactions and choose kindness as, in Dr. Pohl’s words, “a posture of life… sufficiently disarming.” Is anyone else ready for a counterattack that draws the line afresh?