Over the years, I’ve come to see time as the ultimate cleanser. And like any good cleanser, time can erase the memories of people and events, and even the very nature of who and what they were. Yet time doesn’t work alone; it needs a catalyst. And more often than not, that catalyst is apathy.
In and of itself, apathy isn’t necessarily bad. It’s just a condition whereby a person, place, thing, or event doesn’t generate enough of an impact to merit being remembered. Information passed along in this manner is referred to as Cultural Transmission, and it’s considered an essential component for understanding how the benchmarks of our society (and our humanity) get passed on over time. This transmission is broken down into three types:
- Vertical – Taught or passed on from parents to children
- Horizontal – Passed on between peers within the same generation
- Oblique – Passed on between different or unrelated generations
In this writer’s humble opinion, I don’t believe that cultural transmission is relegated solely to humans, but again, I digress. So, what’s this posting about?
Norman Rockwell.
For those of you under 45 (or over), there’s a mountain of information about him that I would encourage you to read. Norman Rockwell is remembered primarily for his paintings that graced the covers of the Saturday Evening Post. During his tenure with the magazine from 1916 to 1963, Rockwell created over 320 paintings. Like many, I was introduced to his work at an early age through those magazine covers. You may accuse me of having an unrefined taste in art, but I’ve always admired Rockwell’s style. They possess an innocent, idealized aura about them that made, not only the subjects, but the events or actions themselves come to life. I would venture to call them examples of kinetic still life, but I can already hear artists’ brushes everywhere being thrown on the floor in disgust.
OK, so what’s the associative path linking cultural transmission, apathy, and Norman Rockwell?
The Four Freedoms.
A news report was on TV the other day that was addressing current political issues in the US, and I decided to change the channel to look for something else. Not because I’m not interested; I’m just like most these days – overly saturated. So on that day, I simply wanted to enjoy something light. But as I began reaching for the remote, I looked up and there they were:
Rockwell’s paintings entitled The Four Freedoms. Painted in 1943, these four paintings represent the freedom of speech, the freedom of worship, the freedom from want, and the freedom from fear. Although Rockwell himself was not considered to be very political, he had done paintings for the Post and other magazines to show support for the war efforts during both World Wars. But it was Franklin Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address that provided Rockwell with the inspiration for the paintings. In his speech to Congress on January 6th, FDR spoke about looking forward to, a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The speech, eventually renamed the Four Freedoms, was one that resonated with Rockwell because he too believed that such freedoms were worth fighting for. So as part of a consortium called Artists for Victory, Rockwell painted the four portraits to add to his other artistic contributions.
When they were eventually published on four separate covers for the Post in early 1943, the critics were not far behind. The complaints started against the artistry itself; that they lacked artistic maturity or presented images that represented American life in an unrealistic fashion. Other complaints were about certain faiths being represented in the one painting that strayed from what some saw as the proper national religious identity. And then there was the observation that the paintings fell short in representing the country’s diverse racial tapestry. In general, the critics felt that the portraits should represent the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of American life. Interestingly enough, some of the same criticisms were brought up against FDR’s speech, calling it a charter in support of his social reforms (aka the New Deal); that the speech extolled the need for war to defend what many considered to be lofty or unrealistic goals for the nation. Yet both men had very similar responses for their respective critics: They both wished to paint a vision of the world they hoped to see. To quote from FDR’s speech:
“That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.“1
Yes, there were many issues back then that were glossed over. Quite simply, the mindset at the time could not see the forest for the trees and few, if any, generations have been exempt from that social myopia. But at least the idealism was heading in the right direction. Seeing those paintings again after so many years reminded me that we’ve been taking our freedoms for granted for far too long; living like they’re a foregone conclusion or some free or unencumbered birthright. Yet those who established this nation sacrificed a great deal to make sure those freedoms would be as close to a birthright as anyone could hope to have. All it required was a pledge; a promise to uphold the laws of the land, and the rights and responsibilities that go with being a citizen were yours.
There are people living here who came from authoritarian dictatorships. If you were to ask them what being a citizen means, their viewpoints would paint a very different picture than the apathetic attitude displayed by many who were born here. Those people came with nothing and worked patiently and diligently; many endured unimaginable sacrifices just to have the opportunity to come here and seek citizenship. They know all too well the price to get here and the work it took for years to earn the right to be a citizen. It’s a right that allows them to share their opinions freely, to worship to the full extent of their faith, to provide sustenance for their family without repercussions, and to sleep at night secure in the comfort that partisan thugs will no longer come for them in the dead of night to steal them away to a concentration camp or worse.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve forgotten the price that people paid close to 250 years ago to secure the freedoms for our citizenry, I would suggest looking at the faces of people living here today who took up a similar gauntlet just a few years ago. The majority came because of the ideals we once treasured; they came for, to paraphrase FDR’s words, the kind of world that is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny that they came from. So go ahead; see what’s on their faces; you won’t even have to speak to them. The looks of disappointment and frustration framed by unwavering tenacity, pride, and love should do it.
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