If I Can’t See You, You Can’t See Me
In W. H. Auden’s poem “Museé des Beaux Arts,” the speaker points out that suffering and death are personal: we don’t react unless it affects us individually. Near the end of this poem,. Auden presents a reevaluation of the story of Icarus from the perspective of a commoner:
“Quite leisurely from the disaster; the plowman may / Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, / But for him it was not an important failure” (p. 1055 lines 15-17).
We can see this same attitude in our own hearts today. Our neighbor might be experiencing abuse this very minute, but ignorance renders us calloused. From the poem’s perspective, people currently don’t react to death when it doesn’t impact their own routines. In light of this horror, the author moves us to broaden our reaction to death to include other people beside ourselves.
Reflecting on how this poem reveals the failure of humanity to share in one another’s suffering leads me to examine my selfishness and try to cultivate a spirit of humble awareness.
“Quite leisurely from the disaster; the plowman may / Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, / But for him it was not an important failure” (p. 1055 lines 15-17).
We can see this same attitude in our own hearts today. Our neighbor might be experiencing abuse this very minute, but ignorance renders us calloused. From the poem’s perspective, people currently don’t react to death when it doesn’t impact their own routines. In light of this horror, the author moves us to broaden our reaction to death to include other people beside ourselves.
Reflecting on how this poem reveals the failure of humanity to share in one another’s suffering leads me to examine my selfishness and try to cultivate a spirit of humble awareness.
I want to feel something for the sorrows of others, yet I cannot by sheer willpower manufacture that kind of response, nor can I fully understand and know all the suffering that’s going on in the world.
In this sense, there is always suffering going on that I am ignorant of; suffering that I slough off in lieu of my personal agenda.
Comments
Post a Comment