“Look down, look down,
don’t look them in the eye.
Look down, look down,
you’re here until you die.”
One of the themes of the musical Les Miserables is this
refrain – “Look down.” These are in fact the first words sung, by the prisoners
on the chain gang. They are words of caution spoken among them, since to make eye
contact with the guards would invite a harsh response. And metaphorically, to
“look up” and express any hope for the future was dangerous. Hence:
“I know she’ll wait; I
know that she’ll be true.
Look down, look down,
they’ve all forgotten you.”
Later, the refrain is sung by the people of Paris.
“Look down and see the
beggars at your feet.
Look down and show
some mercy if you can.
Look down and see the
sweepings of the street.
Look down, look down,
upon your fellow man.”
This time around, the words “look down” are spoken by the
poorest in the streets as a plea to the people of the upper class, asking them
to “look down” with mercy and pity. To “look down” on another person
metaphorically is to think they are “less than,” to consider oneself superior
to them. And if superior, then disconnected.
Herein lies the ethical problem of arrogance. When one
person or group of people think they are inherently superior to another, they
are assuming a disconnect that does not in fact exist. The person or group that
has self-identified as superior will likely not see it as such, but in fact the
separation they assume is mythical.
Because of course, we are not in the slightest bit
disconnected from one another. In fact, we are more intimately woven together
than we realize. The Bible expresses this truth in many ways, including in the
creation story itself. Human beings are connected to one another and to the
rest of creation from the very beginning, even receiving divine instruction to
watch over the other living creatures in the same manner and with the same care
as the Creator would.
In the Christian Scriptures this profoundly
interconnected unity is one of the most significant themes. The people are
described as individual parts of one body. When one suffers, all suffer. When
one rejoices, all rejoice. “You are one in Christ” is not a word of
instruction; it is a description of reality. Over and over again, the Christian
religion affirms our fundamental connectedness to one another, and to the world
around us.
In stark contrast, so much of what we experience in the
world encourages us to separate from one another. Backyard decks with six-foot
privacy fences have replaced front porches. Fear and suspicion are our initial
reactions to strangers, rather than friendly hospitality. Public interactions
are defined by video screens and earbuds rather than eye contact, handshakes,
and real-time conversations. “Look down” takes on a whole new meaning for
people messing around on their phones instead of interacting with the world
around them.
Beyond that, the ones we do connect with tend to be very,
very similar to our selves, and thus very, very familiar. We live inside of
bubbles we have created for ourselves. We only watch news channels we “agree”
with. We know which people we can talk with and which we can’t, and know which
topics to avoid altogether. We rarely read anything that is dramatically
different from our own perspective on life.
We even tend to drive by the same routes to the same places
over and over again!
To live isolated lives is incompatible with Christian
teaching. Jesus is the ultimate barrier buster (as I've mentioned before) and those of us who follow him are supposed to be the same. Rather than exist
in our familiar bubbles, fearful of and reticent to encounter anything outside
of our own comfortable echo chambers, Jesus asks his followers to lovingly
eliminate the barriers we so expertly place among ourselves.
Simply put, one cannot follow Jesus by “looking down.” We
need to look up, look out, make eye contact, be aware of one another, truly see
each other. And who knows, maybe we’ll see something new, maybe we’ll learn
something, and maybe we’ll make a new friend or two in the process!
If the religion you practice allows you to “look down” on
another, I don’t know what it is but it is not Christianity. If the teacher you
follow is making you feel superior to another person or another group of
people, I don’t know who it is but it is clearly not Jesus. If the group of people
you belong to is comprised only of people who are exactly like you in every
way, I don’t know what it is but it is definitely not the church.
