I read recently that many bird species now sing at night in our cities. The day is so filled with the noise of people coming and going, with the sounds of shops and shoppers, that the birds must sing at night in order to be heard. The honest songs of nature are drowned out by the din of our commerce.
In a world full of salesmen, where everything seems to be an advertisement for one thing or another, the interrelated questions of sincerity and character often seem to be fading in significance. We are a people who have forgotten who we really are behind our own sales-pitches.
The film “The Big Kahuna” makes my list for its focus on the question of sincerity and character, as shown in the following clip alone. The story follows three salesman who are on the road, waiting to make a sales pitch to the CEO of a large company. Tension builds as the young, pious baptist unknowingly befriends the CEO, but rather than talking business, asks the CEO about his faith before sharing his own belief in Jesus.
I’ll let the clip speak for itself, but it makes me wonder how often the church is guilty of adding to the noise, as the young, baptist salesman is accused of doing. In a world so full of people just waiting for their turn to speak, and usually speaking in order to sell you something, I wonder whether the church might better witness to Christ by simply taking a step back and listening. Or perhaps listening and asking the right questions, questions that give people space to think about what is going on in their life, what is truly important, and who they are. That moment of silent receptivity may be what people need in order to then hear what is being said. I’m beginning to think the most “prophetic” possible act in our culture may be to simply slow down and listen to the voices usually drowned out by the noise, including the honest songs of birds.
I also think the film is brilliant for connecting sincerity to character. Our culture tries to produce artificial character instantaneously like we would a twinkie. As a consequence, one usually gets a reputation for being of good character more often than not by just hiding their s@%& better than average. One of my favorite line from the film is when Phil tells Bob, “I’m saying you’ve already done plenty of things to regret, you just don’t know what they are. [Character] is when you discover them, when you see the folly in something you’ve done, and you wish that you had it to do over, but you know you can’t, because it’s too late.”
The more years I have under my belt, the more I screw up and the less excuses I have. At the same time, the more I realize what true wisdom means, what character means. If such a simplistic division can be made by someone as young as myself, I think the first half of your life is spent learning to be honest with yourself about who you are, and the second half is spent learning to be okay enough about it to open yourself to God and a community. Character, then, is the honesty that comes from humility, the humility that comes from honesty.
I decided not to take the time to organize my thoughts better, hopefully the big picture behind the disconnected thoughts makes sense. Go rent the movie, whoever produced it deserves a little of your money.
Love the post – I’d like to respond to some of the quotes.
Movie Quote: “You preaching Jesus is no different than Larry preaching ‘lubricants’ . . . or how to make money in real estate with no money down. As soon as you lay your hands on a conversation to steer it, you’re no longer a human being, you’re a marketing rep.”
Wow, is it that easy to revert to “selling” our religious wares? And to think we get pissed off when all those heathens aren’t interested in “buying” our Jesus.
Movie quote: “I’m saying that you’ve already done plenty of things to regret, you just don’t know it yet.”
Regarding the church, and society in general, you are spot on to say, “One usually gets a reputation for being of good character more often than not by just hiding his or her s#!+ better than others.”
I think the only cure to “salesmanship” Christianity and “s#!+ hiding” is the kind of humility and honesty that you and Devito’s character propose. I love your quote, “Character, then, is the honesty that comes from humility, the humility that comes from honesty.” Another possible translation:
“Character is the humility that comes from brokeness, the brokeness that comes from a life of repentance.”
Unfortunately, a word like “repentance” doesn’t get a fair trial in our day – it seems too rigorous and archaic when the truth is, it’s as relevant and critical to our lives as clean air and water (arguably more relevant in light of eternity). Repentance is a practice like breathing (in with the pure life-giving oxygen, out with the CO2 waste); it is not occasional event, but an ongoing, life-long process of healing and rehabilitation. Repentance means taking seriously our capacity for sin, but taking more seriously God’s capacity to forgive, heal, and restore.