The limits of my imperative
It took an outstanding philosopher like the German Immanuel Kant to introduce, in his milestone 1785 "Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals", the concept of categorical imperative:
Act as if the maxims of your action were to become through your will a universal law of nature.
My philosophical aspirations as an amateur are significantly more modest, so my formulation is strongly contingent on your circumstances. My pedagogical imperative states that, within your capacities, you should never let an error or inaccuracy go uncontested. As you can see, my postulate is neither eternal nor universal, with a very limited applicability (within your capacities) and an even more limited time window (as Elvis Presley would say "It's now or never").
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| Photo: Matthew Pierce |
This reflection came to me this afternoon as a friend of Karen's gave her a call to get up to date and they spent the better part of an hour chatting about every possible subject, and in a given moment he pointed out that Trump had not presided over any external conflict (Karen correctly indicated that the trade wars with China had been Trump's doing, as well as the maneuvers in the South China Sea), and it was to be seen how long it would take Biden, and his orchestra of Soros's puppets to set up a war somewhere. This strongly biased opinion had two effects on me: first it made me roll my eyes so far that I could see through the back of my head, and second it showcased how little patience I have this days for pointless efforts.
After she was done with the call, I talked to Karen and praised her patience and diligence with her friend, because I would not have been able to maintain a conversation on those terms. I would simply have changed course pointing out that, in my opinion, he was wrong and tried to find a different subject, because in this case my pedagogical imperative was weakened enough by the distant relationship that I did not feel compelled to help him out of his error.
Looking at my own response from a certain distance, I realized that it was uncharacteristic of me. Under normal circumstances I would have made any effort necessary to try to convince him that he was wrong, but it is obvious that these are not normal circumstances: the daily grind of working from home, not meeting with the colleagues, staying in the house, is starting to show some lasting effect. The fact that the kids are being home-schooled (hopefully only ten more days) adds to the pressure because I am sometimes needed during my regular working hours to help them with a question that would otherwise have to be postponed into the late afternoon. I have the impression that I am dying by a thousand cuts, where each interruption, each nuisance, is not significant enough that I should make a big fuss out of it. Instead, I suppress my annoyance, keep calm and carry on.
While this might be the natural mature way to react to such a situation, this response has the problem of not being tenable in the long term. As the discomfort accumulates over an extended period of time, it can start to show psychological consequences, in particular stress responses, and I am afraid that this is happening to me right now. I am not in a particularly dark mood, irate, hyper-senstive or anything of the sort. Quite on the contrary, I am fairly jolly, enjoying many of the unexpected gifts of the shelter-in-place situation, it is just that, in many cases, I do not feel like doing the effort. Somehow the threshold of the endeavors that are worth undertaking has shrunk dramatically, so I focus on taking one day at a time, making the best out of it, helping the (few) people around me the best I can and just keep plowing.
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