Blogging on The Road

Frequently, a blogger will put up a post questioning the value of spending so much time and passion fighting for change in a world that often seems incredibly hostile to progressive actions and ideas, or at the very least a species that is disinterested and apathetic in the face of its own impending destruction.  Some get over it in a week or two, some take a break, other shut down completely vowing never, ever to get caught up in such a frustrating, seemingly pointless endeavour again - only to return because something, some nebulous thing will not let them remain silent.

I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy awhile ago and recently watched the film directed by John Hillcoat and written by Joe Penhall.  Without giving away the story for those who haven’t seen it: the film, on the surface, is about a father and son in a post-apocalyptic world where some undefined disaster has pretty much destroyed every living thing on the planet except the odd dog and a few humans.  The duo travel a road, heading south in the hopes of finding a less hostile environment.

Some people I’ve spoken with found the film depressing.  Not me.  McCarthy uses a tactic Hemingway was known for: take a character or two, expose them to some real bad shit, strip them of nearly everything they need or value, torture them a little more with real bad shit, then pull  back to see what’s left.

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.”  That quote by Hemingway is the central theme to many of his novels, and McCarthy is offering us a similar view, among other things.  Both Hemingway and McCarthy know they need to expose the horrible, dark aspects of human beings and the worlds they are exposed to - without the slightest embellishment, before they can move on to lift us to a place where we can hope, and more importantly, where we can believe in the viability of those hopes.  They do this not to bring us down, but because they know we either suspect or will eventually learn that the obscene bird of night does in fact exist.

Many of us know real bad shit happens, that it is going to get worse, and there may not be a whole hell of a lot we can do to stop it.  Others suspect the real bad shit is there, but would rather not acknowledge it, at least not in its entirety.  What can be depressing is wondering why we should keep fighting if the chances of diverting the bad shit are vanishingly slight.

All of that, and back to why do we keep blogging.

At one point in the film/book, the father tells his son that they are the good guys and must carry the fire.  The boy tries to learn from his father what makes a person a good guy, but eventually, he, through his own innate being and despite all of his horrible experiences along the road reveals to his father what aspects of being human really must be preserved in carrying the fire.

That the boy shows us these finer aspects of humanity are inborn in some and can survive against all odds, and that they are worth keeping alive for future generations in view of a time when people will be ready to ready to build a better world - that is uplifting.

And that, I think, is why some of us keep blogging despite the apathy of others, despite the opposition put forth by greed and ignorance, and irrespective of the knowledge that great suffering and loss lies ahead for our species.

I have the greatest respect and fondness for my fellow bloggers who carry the fire.  I admire their honesty, their burning passion to expose and preserve truth.  Films such as The Road remind me of that fragile, infinitely precious flame that is the best of being human: the driving need to help shape and guard a world where all human beings are equal and valued equally by each other, a world where this belief is never compromised for the exclusive benefit of a few.