A VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS
By Rich Trzupek
Matters of Faith
It being 2007 and all, we�re supposed to be awfully smart. As a rule, we tend to assume that we will only believe that which can be proven, beyond a shadow of doubt.
But that�s not really true. We desperately want to believe that we live in a rational world, but the truth is that explaining our world still involves leaps of faith, thank God. How boring the world would be if we actually knew everything, instead of just believing that we do.
Faith is dead you say? Au contraire. Just consider a few examples:
�Aviation�Supposedly, air rushes over one part of an airplane�s wing faster than another part and this creates an effect that sucks a jet-liner into the sky. Does anyone believe this?
A 747 weighs over 400 tons. Air is like, lighter than air. How in God�s name can air support 400+ tons of Boeing?
Obviously, it can�t. The only reason that a 747 can fly is because we collectively believe that a 747 can fly. Call it the �Tinkerbell Effect.� The minute we stop believing those big pigs will come plunging down. Best not to think about it. Zone out, and try to believe�as hard as you can�that your seat cushion can actually be used as a flotation device.
�Cosmology ultimately leads ut to faith, whether we like it or not. My young teen aged friend Jay stumbled upon this truth not so long ago.
Jay carefully explained the way that life evolved, following the Big Bang. Microbes turned into complex life, which turned into mobile life, which evolved into animals that roamed the earth, etc. That may have actually happened, but it�s hardly the point. How did the matter that created the �Big Bang� come into being, I wondered.
Jay didn�t have an answer for that one. But, at some point, every view of life has to assume that �stuff� appeared, by means we don�t understand. If you extend that concept to its ultimate point, all you are left with is faith.
�Chicago Fans�No matter how bad the season or how pitiful the prospects for the next one, the Chicago sports fan gleefully approaches each season as though this will be the one. It never is�or only rarely ever is.
There is something wonderfully childlike about the faith of the Chicago sports fan. They know that they will be screwed in the end. But they keep coming back for more. If that ain�t faith, what is?
�Politics�Not everybody votes. Not even the majority of us vote. Yet, year after year, millions still trek to the polls to cast a vote for the politician that they know will change everything.
Does that actually happen? Of course not. We know better. Once we elect someone, their entire reason for being transforms. They just want to get re-elected, no matter what.
We know this is the way it works. We know this better than anything. Yet, somehow, we still believe. We expect that somebody will come along who is willing to do the right thing and be damned getting re-elected.
Such politicians exist, but usually, they are few and far between. Which is why we must always have faith. Miracles do, occasionally, happen.
�Teen-Agers�There is no greater expression of faith than this: It�s Saturday night. Your teen-ager was due home at midnight. It�s now 2 o�clock in the morning. You�ve called their cell phone. You�ve called their friend�s parents. You�ve learned absolutely nothing.
Some horrible movie drones away on the television. You wish it would distract you, but it doesn�t. Your mind keeps drifting back to all of things that might have happened, from horrible car accidents to unintended pregnancies. You�re not quite sure which is worse. But you�re not ready to surrender to those fears�not yet. Your kid knows better. You have, in a word, faith.
When he or she finally rolls in at 2:24 a.m., sheepishly explaining that their cell phone died and they were stranded for reasons beyond their control, you don�t believe a word of it. But still, it doesn�t matter. They�re back, safe and whole. Your faith has been justified, even if you feel the need to gnaw on the arm of your recliner.
Faith is a incredible thing. Faith gets us through the day. It may not be a matter of explaining the supernatural for many of us, it�s rather of matter of living with the realities we all face. And that makes faith pretty valuable after all.
