With a concept of justice in hand, we step back to consider suffering, the bane of our existence as living beings. We have identified our aim, to seek, promote and realize the well-being of living beings. Yet suffering persists, and characterizes much of the human condition. Our understanding of it is an important weapon in our struggle against it. As…
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Value for Wednesday of Week 26 in the season of Ripening
Serving
Living in service to others reflects a high state of ethical attainment.
- Every minute of every hour of every day you are making the world, just as you are making yourself, and you might as well do it with generosity and kindness and style. [Rebecca Solnit]
- True generosity is an offering; given freely and out of pure love. No strings attached. No expectations. Time and love are the most valuable possession you can share. [Suze Orman]
- In the sphere of material things giving means being rich. Not he who has much but he who gives much. [Erich Fromm]
- The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. [attributed to Mahatma Gandhi]
- I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary to the public good becomes honorable by being necessary. [Nathan Hale]
You may be tempted to think of service along the lines of a maid or butler, or a food server in a restaurant. If so, you may be put off by the economic inequality that often accompanies and gives rise to such work. But for some people, service to others is a constant and joyful act and not subservient at all. The Kennedy family comes to mind in its ethic of political service to country. The family matriarch, Rose Kennedy, often expressed that view. There are many other examples, some of which are highlighted in the narratives on this page.
Real
True Narratives
Narratives on military and other public service:
- James Wright, Those Who Have Borne the Battle: A History of America’s Wars and Those Who Fought Them (PublicAffairs, 2012), exploring “how the United States has raised forces with which it wages war; and how, in the aftermath of battle, it cares for and remembers those who fought.”
- Marcus Luttrell, Service: A Navy SEAL at War (Little, Brown & Company, 2012).
- Harold C. Dethloff and Gerald E. Shenk, Citizen and Soldier: A Sourcebook on Military Service and National Defense from Colonial America to the Present (Routledge, 2011).
- John O. Brennan, Undaunted: My Fight Against America's Enemies, at Home and Abroad (Celadon, 2020): a former C.I.A. director chronicles his life of service, and offers some timely opinions.
Technical and Analytical Readings
Photographs
Documentary and Educational Films
Imaginary
Fictional Narratives
Novels:
- Alice McDermott, The Ninth Hour: A Novel (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2017): “. . . what McDermott achieves most splendidly is the hyper-realistic portrayal of the grim, often disgusting aspects of illness and death among the poor: the boils and pustules, the grotesquely swollen or missing limbs, the ubiquitous stink of human waste. This achievement situates the life of a nun where it ideally belongs, in the difficult, often conflicting world that embraces practical competence, a commitment to giving more than could reasonably be asked and a lived belief not only in the goodness but, in Sister Jeanne’s words, the “fairness” of God, which demands ‘that grief should find succor, that wounds should heal, insult and confusion find recompense and certainty . . .’”
- Meg Waite Clayton, The Postmistress of Paris: A Novel (Harper, 2021): “As a ‘postmistress,’ Nanée does deliver messages to those in hiding from the Nazis, but she also strikes out on her own, plotting daring rescue attempts that will take her to a notorious internment camp, then deep into occupied territory.”
Poetry
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
Although Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Bohème (The Bohemians) (1895) (approx. 99-112’) (libretto) (list of recorded performances) is superficially about romantic love and tragedy, the young seamstress-protagonist Mimì displays moving generosity toward her friends, though she is gravely ill. Rodolfo, who falls in love with her, “cannot provide for her”. Thus, the theme wraps back to powerlessness amid the will to serve. Recorded performances with video feature Freni & Raimondi (Karajan) in 1965; Freni & Pavarotti (Oren); Gheorghiu & Alagna (López-Cobos); and Netrebko & Villazón (de Billy). Top audio-recorded performances are by: de los Angeles & Björling (Beecham) in 1956 ***; Freni & Gedda (Schippers) in 1962; Freni & Pavarotti (Karajan) in 1973; Ricciarelli & Carreras (Colin Davis) in 1979; and Vaduva & Alagna (Pappano) in 1996.
In Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata (The Fallen Woman) (1853) (approx. 124-151’) (libretto) (list of recorded performances), Violetta sacrifices her own happiness for the sake of others. The opera “. . . tells the story of the tragic love between the courtesan Violetta and the romantic Alfredo Germont. Played out against the hypocrisy of upper-class fashionable society, Alfredo and Violetta’s love threatens to shame his family. When his father directly appeals to Violetta to relinquish her one chance of happiness, Violetta submits and her act of self-sacrifice leads to her paying the ultimate price.” Verdi drew the story from Alexandre Dumas’ novel La Dame aux camélias (The Lady of the Camellias) (1852). Video-recorded performances feature Moffo & Bonisolli (Patanè) in 1968; Freni & Bonisolli (Gardelli) in 1973, part 1, part 2, part 3; Fleming, Burson & Villazón (Carlos Kleiber); and Fleming & Villazón (Conlon) in 2006. Top audio-recorded performances are by Ponselle & Jagel (Panizza) in 1935; Sayão, Kullman & Warren (Sodero) in 1943; Albanese & Peerce (Toscanini) in 1946; Steber & di Stefano (Antonicelli) in 1949; Callas & di Stefano (Giulini) in 1955; Callas & Kraus (Ghione) in 1958; Callas & Valletti (Rescigno) in 1958 ***; Moffo & Tucker (Previtali) in 1960; Lorengar & Aragall (Maazel) in 1968; Masterson & Brecknock (Mackerras) in 1980; and Sutherland & Pavarotti (Bonynge) in 1980.
Other compositions:
- Raga Adana (Adana Kanada) is a Hindustani classical raag for late evening. Performances are by Ulhas Kashalkar, Shafqat Ali Khan, Fateh Ali Khan, S.N. Ratanjankar, Rashid Khan, Jay Thakkar (Teental) and Ram Marathe.
- Charles Ives, String Quartet No. 1, "From the Salvation Army" (1900) (approx. 21-24’) (list of recorded performances) “is based on a series of compositions that Ives had written for church services.” “Throughout his life, Ives attended church, was passionate about baseball and football, studied the New England transcendental writers and sustained a deep, nostalgic love for American culture while remaining a fierce, rugged individual.”
- Sergey Taneyev, Piano Quartet in E Major, Op. 20 (1906) (approx. 36-39’) (list of recorded performances): all the instruments acting in service to each other, and their common cause
Artists who have exhibited generous service in their lives include:
- Bono (U2), with their releases;
- Bob Geldof, with his releases;
- Alicia Keys, with her releases;
- John Legend, with his releases;
- Lady Gaga, with her releases.
Music: songs and other short pieces
- The Hollies, “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” (lyrics)
- Michael Jackson, “Man in the Mirror” (lyrics)
Visual Arts
Film and Stage
- Going My Way, a filmwith a classic ending about the virtue of doing for others
- Kramer vs. Kramer: a father sacrifices his careerfor his young son after the mother abandons them
