Sensibility

Sensibility

One of the last lessons of vocabulary for this school year.

Other than a vague recollection of being forced to read Austen, the word is not so much used as avoided in fear of seeming too snobbish. Perhaps due to our defiant roots as a rebellious British colony and in rejection of a European dominance, the pride in the individual hardworking pioneer as opposed to the refined well-educated specialist is a common American preference.

There is culture, too, in the United States. There are movements in art and literature and dance and music unrivalled anywhere else. We certainly know how to play, to entertain ourselves and others. There is, too, a fear that the average person feels of seeming to be a snob. The banter of the term “elitist” in this current political election has been great thought-fuel for those who have a higher education.

I want a President who has this kind of sensitivity. Not in a touchy-feeley tell me about your feelings sort of way, but an intellectual streak, one who can understand the lives of different people instead of just making a show of being like them – the president first mentioned as “the kind of guy you could sit down and have a beer with” (despite his former alcoholism, yale education, old money, trust fund, and complete lack of real sympathy or understanding for the avereage american) made a reputation for himself of being a poorly-spoken idiot, the kind of person who you wouldn’t want owning a gun nevermind commanding an army. I want a president who I actually think is smarter than me, who can make better choices than I can not because of connections but because of understanding.

Our system is supposed to work on well-informed choices, not sensationalism and sentiment. Our system is much more about people who do not have the ability to make the choices they need to make being given an incredibly powerful tool for world change, and these lucky individuals dismissively turning it into garnering for self-interest or allowing others to do so for them. Most predominantly, we have become convinced (to paraphrase Vonnegut) that anyone can become president, regardless of income, social standing, family power, allegiances, or intelligence. That last bit is perhaps the biggest difficulty -- our current president is not as dumb as he pretends to be, and yet few would have voted in his favor if he sounded like the rest of the Ivy Leaguers.

Obama is a published author, and the mythology states that he writes his own speeches. He has a great deal of personal charisma. Like Bush, he has an Ivy League degree, but we get the sense that he would feel embarrassment over even one C instead of bragging about it. Our biggest criticism of him, if the media did in fact speak for every American instead of being that nettling buzz in our ears, is that he is too smart, too intellectual.

Every time I hear that, I hang my head for us as a country. Why do we not want someone smart for that job? Because we. who would have no chance of either attaining that job or at doing it well without the connections and power necessary, would then have to admit that we cannot do everything we set our mind to? I for one know that I will never be qualified for such a job.

What are the actual qualifications, though? Personally, I would rather a philosopher in control of a sizeable portion of the world’s deadliest weapons than a class clown, a cowboy, a routine soldier, or a businessman. Military ethics, business ethics, and jackassery all have different standards than conventional morality. One who is already used to thinking of matters in those regards would have no dilemma doing what we as average people would shudder at – hostile takeovers are routine for both, but would be traumatic and destructive if they happened to me personally. I would rather an idealist, unbroken by time and disappointment, still able to hold on to his beliefs, to be an economic and military leader than a businessman or a soldier.

Sensibility. The ability to sense, I am counting on seeing at least once on this week’s vocabulary quizzes. Woe is the English language. Sensibility in science is just that, though – the capacity to in some way pick up on external stimuli. In the arts, it is a necessity to understand what the artist is doing. This takes study, practice, and effort. In the life of a citizen, it is manifested in the act of simply paying attention, and making well-informed judgment calls.

When half of my students cannot even remember ten vocab words over the span of a week, or even get half of them remotely right, it makes me wonder how attainable that goal of a sensible – in both senses of the word – constituency or citizenry actually is.