Important Lies

April 08, 2006

Dave Chappelle said, and I paraphrase because I saw in on “the Actors Studio” a few weeks ago and I’m not working from a transcript, “If a little black girl asked me today if I thought she could grow up to be President of the United States I’d lie right to her face and say yes”. Those are the types of lies that you hope can be the truth. They only become the truth if you believe them.

Kids are way smarter and, therefore, more cynical in this era. I can only judge by comparing how I felt with how my own teenagers feel. They’re hedging their bets at an earlier and earlier age. The little one is still into Santa and the Easter Bunny. He’s still safe under the wing of diamond bright parables and valuable myth. Valuable myth is the best part of the Jesus Christ thing. Anyone who takes that story literally is missing the point. Our planet is suffering under the rule of people who actually take this stuff as historical reality. Water into wine. Walking on water. Wake up. It was written to teach through creative storytelling. I will footnote Tom Harpur’s “The Pagan Christ” here. Even though the text didn’t have me labeling the positive aspects of my inner spirit “my inner Christ” I can see the value of his research (thanks to Ottawa’s Doug Gabelman for the recommendation). The myths in the Bible were around way before the Bible. People have always looked for the driving force that overcomes fear. When kids find out you lied about Santa they hardly ever get mad. They will hopefully hold that lie inside them until they die. It will drive them to act with mercy and kindness for at least a month out of each year. That makes a big difference in the grand scheme of things. We’re doomed if we take things literally.

There is no magic in the literal truth. There are miracles but they don’t happen in a biblical way. The human spirit triumphs by wanting the best to happen and working towards it despite the odds that it probably won’t happen. I wanted to be a rock star and make records and travel all over the place and …um…change the world. The Beatles started that lie. They said through their actions that, “a simple 4 –piece rock band can change human history”. Who would have thought that a formerly quasi-violent, working class orphan with good rhythm guitar chops lying in a bed with his Japanese performance artist wife could bend the ear of world leaders? Getting on the rock band track seemed like the only way to have fun and make positive change ….in the eyes of a seven year-old boy. My father and mother also told me it was possible that I could be the Prime Minister of Canada one day. In my mind I worked toward both goals for a number of years. Why not both? I’m in Ottawa today on tour. I went for a run in the sunshine on the route I always take in Ottawa. I run over the river to Gatineau Quebec, along the shore for a while, and back over the closest bridge to Ottawa. Two provinces, two languages, and a bunch of cultural touchstones give one a sense of great privilege. My adult world-view made me glad I got off the “prime minister” track by the age of 13 and stayed with the other lie. Being white and male I probably had a crack at the PM job but I didn’t and don’t want it anymore. By the time you get to that chair you’ve given up on the idea that you can just blow the whole structure apart and get everyone to see things in a new way. Karl Marx never actually fought a revolution. The idea was transformative but its execution too demoralizing. The parliament buildings made me reflect on how I don’t think I’ve gone as far as the lies inside me say I can. I’m still driven by important lies. Not making it to the perfect outcome is inevitable. Believing the important lies will at least get you most of the way there.