http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001062.cfmWhatever!
by Dennis E. Neville
“Sex. Clothes. Popularity. … Whatever!” So read the ads for the 1995 movie Clueless. Words have a way of reflecting a culture’s prevailing ideas. In the 1960s, popular phrases expressed an increased spirituality and a challenge to the status quo: “heavy,” “out of sight,” “far out” and “funky” mirrored the dominant ideas of the day. The 1970s and ‘80s showcased phrases like “to the max,” “cool,” “hot,” “go for it” and “gotcha” that reflected the material abundance of the times.
Clueless colored the vernacular of the ‘90s, a decade marked by new voices exclaiming “Duh,” “Hello?” “As if,” “Don’t go there,” “Not!” “talk to the hand” and of course, “whatever.” Whatever, in the context of popular culture, in essence means “I will go along with what you say, simply because I don’t have the time, energy or inclination to argue about it. It is not important to me; I am indifferent to what the outcome is. I am impatient with this whole discussion and it makes no difference to me.”
What does the use of words like whatever tell us about our world? Whatever echoes through our schools and colleges, reverberates through our conversations with friends, bounces at us from the pulpit and virtually screams at us through television and film. The entertainment we feed on blasts this situational message. Watching reality television from Big Brother, to Pop Idol, to Survivor, to Fear Factor, we witness shifting boundaries, often determined in the moment based on circumstances. Having no absolute standards of right and wrong means we go with what feels or works best for now. Life, like “Survivor,” becomes a game where experience equals meaning and success requires pushing the envelope of morality and truth to win.
We have become skeptical of everything and take little time to wonder at the true splendor of anything. No new technology, no amazing invention, no disastrous story or earth-shattering news astounds us. With a shrug of “whatever,” we move on forward – qua sera sera - whatever will be will be. The doors of our hearts remain shut, because if we had to face reality rather than watch it, we would not be able to hold back the floodgates of fear, anguish and loneliness we have repressed for so long. It is much easier to put on a tough face, to shrug off the world and its problems, and to snuggle deeper into our cocoon.
When seeing a ship heading for the rocks and certain destruction, we’d rather avoid getting involved in something we might not be able to impact and that does not directly affect our lives. It was, after all, the captain of the ship who went off course and is responsible for his dilemma. We are not on the ship anyway. We shouldn’t shout out to the ship, warning of the impending doom, as we need to be tolerant of the navigational peculiarities of the ship’s navigator. We dare not declare that he is wrong, as we might be labelled and persecuted. Everything is relative. After all, perhaps for the ship's captain, the rocks do not actually exist. Perhaps he will find meaning through the experience of crashing into the rocks. Anyway, the ship is too large for us to physically stop. The wind is blowing it along and if the ship does plough into the rocks, whatever will happen was bound to happen. As the ship veers into the rocks and as it slowly disintegrates under the onslaught of the waves, we watch it for a moment and then remember ourselves and turn away. “Whatever” we say and carry on with our day.
Words like diversity, pluralism and tolerance have anaesthetized us to the reality of good and evil. In the name of diversity we accept same-sex relationships as a meaningful part of 21st century life. Pluralism means we have started to accept the very wrong view that all roads lead to God, or that every religion “works” for its own adherents and we should not as a result try to force our religion on others – “whatever.” Tolerance is the cultivation of an attitude of indifference to things we see happening around us. In the name of peace, we tolerate evil. In the name of tolerance, we accept sin and call it freedom of speech or freedom of sexual persuasion. We dare not stand up for what we believe for fear of being labelled intolerant.
Daren’t we? God has called us to rise above this level of life, to stand above this threshold of passive acceptance or indifference of all we see around us. Our God is the God of whatever – He does whatever He pleases (Psalm 115:3). In Philippians 4:8 we are commanded: "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things."
We are commanded to look at the whole of life against the standard that God has given us; a standard exemplified in the person, death and resurrection of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. "The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you" (Philippians 4:9). God has called us to stand up, to declare that absolute truth exists and to proclaim the light of Christ to a dying world. We are called to be different, not indifferent. We are called to listen and hug rather than to hear and shrug. We are to live lives where those who push the world away or hide in their cocoon not wanting to be touched by the world can find nobility, value, love, safety, acceptance and a lasting relationship. God wants to append our whatevers with purpose and action.
Copyright © 2005 Dennis E. Neville. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.