In Shakespeare's Hamlet, an older Polonius says to his anxious son Laertes: "This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day,Thou canst not then be false to any man."With a twist of irony and a hint of empty platitude, Shakespeare wrote this renowned line for Polonius, who some would argue is full of himself and absorbed in the business of others. Perhaps its ironic that his early death is due to his failure to heed his own advice, or maybe its Shakespeare's little way of adding fullness to what appears to be an empty cliché. Written hundreds of years ago, this prose still rings true today.
Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner and currently a transgender icon, graces the cover of this month's Vanity Fair Magazine. Her April television interview with Diane Sawyer drew nearly 17 million viewers. Describing her transition from male to female, Caitlyn said she could no longer struggle with feeling like a women in a man's body. "I'm not doing this to be interesting. I'm doing this to live." Understanding the brevity of life and the power of the truth, Jenner observed, "Bruce was always telling a lie. He's lived a lie his whole life about who he is. And I can't do that any longer."
While Caitlyn embraces the truth and engages in a conversation with the world about transgenderism, Rachel Dolezal is having another type of conversation. Last week, family members claimed she has been falsely portraying herself for years. They claim she has been pretending to be black and falsely identifying herself as partly black on official documents. Family members say she is "Caucasian by birth," with Czech, Swedish, German and a trace of Native American ancestry. In the midst of such claims, Rachel said "I feel like I owe my executive committee a conversation" before engaging in a broader discussion with the community about what she described as a "multilayered" issue."
After the conversation with her board over the weekend, Rachel resigned from her position as President of the Spokane chapter of NAACP. "It is with complete allegiance to the cause of racial and social justice and the N.A.A.C.P. that I step aside from the presidency and pass the baton to my vice president, Naima Quarles-Burnley." With a strong desire to not paralyze or galvanize the movement, Rachel said:
"This is not me quitting; this is a continuum. It's about moving the cause of human rights and the Black Liberation Movement along the continuum from Resistance to…the #BlackLivesMatter movement and into a future of self-determination and empowerment."
Her abrupt resignation satisfied the calls of some, but left unanswered the questions of many. Likewise with Jenner, the questions about her transition are only exceeded by the claims concerning such a transition.
What would lead someone to do this? What would cause someone to say that?
Though these two public figures are the subject of intense inquisition, the watching public is by no means entitled to answers. Jenner and Dolezal are entitled to their privacy just as much as we are, but their shallow answers leave the watching public desiring deeper responses.
But is the public expecting too much? Flannery O'Conner wrote that "To expect too much is to have a sentimental view of life and this is a softness that ends in bitterness." In an attempt to remove the bitterness from our mouth, do we expect more thoughtful information to remove our bitter tasting speculations?
Could it be possible that our expectations are too much because our conceptions of the black experience and womanhood are so little?
Being black is about the color of one's skin, but it is also about a robust heritage and hearty traditions that richly inform the experience. Womanhood is about being the female gender one was created to be, but a woman's beauty is deeper than the surface of the skin, and so much greater than certain feelings that abide within. Charm is deceitful, beauty is vain, but a woman's worth is something far greater than jewels.
What about you? It is difficult to be yourself when you have a world that wants you to be someone else. Ralph Waldo Emerson found that, "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."
But who are you? Are you what you feel? Are you what you do? Are you who you are related to? According to theologian Brennan Manning, your deepest awareness should be that you are loved by Christ and have done nothing to earn it or deserve it. Or maybe as Shakespeare would say in Hamlet:
"Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love."
Posted By: Jeni Fa
Tuesday, June 16th 2015 at 11:49AM
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