FIRESIDE CHAT DAY

Today is the 74th anniversary [as I double-check my math] of FDR’s first fireside chat. On this day in 1932 he did the first of the now famous radio addresses. In his first of these he discussed the federal government’s plans for dealing with the run on deposits that occurred at banks across the country in early March of 1932. If you have neither heard nor read these historic documents you really should.

But I don’t really want to discuss the historic nature of Roosevelt’s use of the radio during the Depression. But it just made me think. In many ways the fireside chats were manipulative PR events – persuading the nation in a period of crisis – but there is still a sense of honesty to them.

I know that may be a ludicrous word to use in connection to politics, but I believe it applies here. It feels almost charming to hear a president admitting that something is broken and then lay out specific – and detailed – plans to repair it. There is also a possibility for doubt, an admission of difficulty and a reliance upon assistance in these speeches. But more than anything, there is also a faith, and it is the faith that has me thinking.

The faith I hear in these addresses is not a spiritual faith, nor is it a particularly patriotic or nationalistic faith. The faith I hear lies behind, or perhaps beneath, any faith in outcomes, in agreement or in goals. It is a faith that you, some other person or persons, will listen. Not only that, but you will attempt to understand. Further it is a faith that that other person or persons will be able to understand. It is a faith in the capacity of others.

That, more than anything else, is what I miss in politics, and perhaps in the world around me in general. I must admit that I have largely lost that faith and it concerns me greatly. But I haven’t lost it completely, and I count those blessings…

I am grateful for the wife who shows me more and more every day.

And for Dr S’s writing which makes me listen. And I do mean listen. I think of it as a wonderfully careful recklessness. It seems to have that faith and engenders it in me.

And for many other things that are tugging upon my train of thought…

But I have been thinking about this a lot as of late – actually for quite a while. I have been wondering about the point of Art, of the art I make and its place in the world. So often it doesn’t seem to me to have any role anymore, any larger purpose. It seems to have become simply another thing. I occasionally think about giving it up, moving into another academic field, but I never do. I still think there is a reason, but don’t seem to know how to find it. But today — I think — is different. And today — on what I shall dub Fireside Chat Day — I think I understand what has been missing: that faith.

Hmmm…. I just read over what I have written so far. It’s awfully all over the place. I am not sure if it really even makes sense. I think it does.

Perhaps I just need to have faith.