An apologetic message to a preacher on Bruin Walk
By David Fleck
Yesterday I heard you shouting your message to the world. A
crowd encircled you, some attentively absorbing your message,
others ridiculing your temerity, still others learning. You opened
your soul to me and the world, and I saw the opportunity for a
sparring match of wits.
I challenged you. I didn’t take you or your words seriously and
I wrongly assumed other students also did not take you seriously. I
mocked you and, regrettably, I grossly disparaged your beliefs.
With the deepest sincerity, I apologize.
My best friend, my fiancée, showed me the error of my ways.
I had felt anger because you stood in my path, telling me about
your Truth vs. my truth. You had looked upon us non-believers with
compassion, believing fiercely that your god offered the road to
salvation, but the message that came across to me was one of spite
and judgment.
Maybe I misunderstood you. I responded impulsively by, in
effect, declaring you were wrong. Wrong. I really don’t believe you
were wrong. Nor do I believe you were right. In this vast and
complicated universe of ours, your belief system is no less
legitimate than mine. Again, I apologize.
I admire your courage and conviction. I can and do respect what
you believe. I commend the dedication with which you worship your
god. And I find laudable your desire to help others in your own
personal way. (Although I wonder if you would help others if your
god did not tell you that you should?)
I thank you for the hand you offer, but because I am the
incantation of my own experiences, I have no need for your god in
my life. I have found different answers, which consist mainly of an
acquiescence in the unanswerable. Yes, I have searched for peace,
for answers, just as you have because this life can be hard and
cold. But by fully embracing an existentialist reality, my heart
knows peace.
Furthermore, I have discovered that unadulterated happiness
comes from acts of goodness toward others rather than through the
immediate and temporary gratification of the pleasures of the flesh
and selfish ambition. (Although, in moderation, both are spices for
life.) The small sparrow has a choice: She can either devour the
sweet young sprout for instantaneous and limited satisfaction or
she can patiently nurture that sprout, eating the parasites from
its limbs, until it becomes a tree which bears savory fruits day
after day.
Again, I offer you my heartfelt apology for rashly naming your
beliefs illegitimate. Some people smoke. Others bite their
fingernails. My former vice was a reckless condemnation of ideas I
believed to be ludicrous. We have both found our answers and I
shall no longer stand in your way as you try to show others your
road to peace. I would not want to deny them any opportunity to
find the answers they seek.
Fleck, a law student, is Minister of Harmony and editor in chief
of the Ultra Cool Law Review.