What can change the nature of a
man? The thought reverberates through and through my skull.
Sometimes I think there are only
good men and
bad men. The good men are those who try to make man greater than he was before. The bad are everyone else. (I am a bad man)
What can change the nature of a man? How may a man go from
bad to
good? How may a man stop being a
fool, a
dog, a
coward, and cast off the wretched nets that hold him back? How may a man get out of the
rut so many are stuck in, drag himself out of the chasm, and become new, better, and greater?
There is a long tradition of characters who have struggled to reinvent themselves.
Dr. Faustus grew weary of the study of divinity, and turned to the
black arts so that he might gain
power and
change the world. Benjamin of
Graduate fame thought he could escape his parents, toss off the
monotony, and make something new.
Stephen Dedalus shed perceived traps like
religion,
home, and
country, thinking he could remake himself into a true
artist. But reinvention does not come so easy.
It takes more than that to change the nature of a man. Quick, dramatic change is both tempting and likely ineffectual. Those "nets" these people were casting off
were a part of them. Those "traps" they so struggled to elude were what made them and their aspirations. The old cannot be so easily jettisoned. The new cannot be so quickly embraced. A spark, a chunk, a portion of their old world will simply splinter off and cut at them no matter what they do. One cannot simply cast off the old without thought or conscent of others. One cannot simply dive headlong into the
unknown with the hopes of reinvention, for, when presented with the new, one will inevitably revert to the old in order to understand and interact with it.
What can change the nature of a man? Blood. Sweat. Tears. Time. Aspiration. Experience. I think--I pray--they are enough, and may we all have enough tears for salvation.