The Path of Most Resistance

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The Path of Most Resistance
By J. Bradley Creed, Provost
Samford University, Birmingham, AL

Note: This address was delivered at the Spring Convocation of Samford on January 26, 2006.

The thrust of human ingenuity and innovation is to make life easier, from the wheel to the microchip, from the printing press to penicillin. It is hard to imagine life without air conditioning, microwave ovens, iPods, cellular phones, ATMs, and flush toilets. (Everyone here can remember a time when at least one of those inventions did not exist, and there are even a few people here who can remember a time when none of those inventions existed.) You could do without them, if you had to, but you wouldn`t want to, would you?

Fifteen years ago, personal computers were novelties. Now they are necessities, but has the computer really made your life easier? Haven`t there been times when you wanted to turn your printer into a boat anchor or use your hard drive for target practice? That`s how a Methodist pastor from Florida felt when he was conducting a funeral service for a member of his church. He used his computer in preparing sermons and litanies for the congregation to read during the funeral in order to make the service more personal. The last funeral service he conducted was for a woman named Mary. The upcoming funeral was for a woman named Edna. He gave the computer the command to search for the word "Mary" and replace it with the word "Edna." Spell check never catches all of your mistakes, does it? But during the funeral for Edna, everyone realized the limitations of the computer when the congregation read in unison these words to the Apostles` Creed: "I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Edna."

The computer, this remarkable labor-saving device, had suddenly made his life more difficult, not easier. The easy way is not always the best way. Sometimes it is better to travel down the rocky road of most resistance instead of venturing down the path of least resistance.

This was the insight that an Army Psychiatrist achieved after observing and working with his patients over a number of years. He concluded that taking the easy way out was the cause of much mental anguish. He put it this way: "Neurosis is a bad substitute for legitimate suffering." What did he mean by this? We humans invite unnecessary suffering into our lives by avoiding the truth about ourselves, even when that truth is difficult to accept. Denial might temporarily cut you some slack, but in the long run, it is devastating to your health and well-being. Conversely, he also concluded, once we engage the truth about ourselves, as ugly and disturbing as it might be-our phobias, addictions, dysfunctions, and character flaws-and face squarely the inevitability of suffering in this life, that life is hard, then we are on the road back to health. Once we deal with reality, we start to get better. So the way to health and wholeness is a path of most resistance, it is taking a journey down the road less traveled. This Army psychiatrist put his thoughts and findings into a book, and for fifteen years, The Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck remained at the top of the New York Times bestseller list.

At the beginning of a new semester and calendar year, I am making an unpopular request of you. Instead of asking you to live your life in a way that will be easier, less problematic, or more comfortable, I am asking you to consider making your life more difficult. That`s exactly what you wanted to hear, wasn`t it? You freshmen have passed the crucial milestone of the first semester, you came back to school, and you want things to be a little easier than they were last fall. Some of you seniors are running down the home stretch. You are far enough along in your academic progression to see the light at the end of the tunnel and to realize that the light is not an approaching train. You have worked hard, and, if at all possible, you would like to "enjoy" your last semester with few obstacles and difficulties. So, this is an odd request, but in making it, I offer the possibility that by traveling the path of most resistance, you will experience growth, new awareness, and even a sense of meaning and purpose that you would not know by taking the easy way out.

Travel the path of most resistance in you educational experience.

This spring, as you are devising your course schedule for next fall and visit the website ratemyprofessors.com, this time choose the professor who has the reputation for being the hardest instead of the one who gets the kudos for being the most popular.

Think about taking a course that really stretches you-one that is outside your major, or a course that you don`t think that you would like, or a course that will challenge your viewpoints, or a course covering a subject that you just don`t understand. For me, this would be calculus. Sign up for a course that you know will not automatically result in your earning an "easy A."

Take advantage of opportunities to put yourself in a social or cultural setting that is unlike your own or with people who in some way are different than you are. Do study abroad before you leave here. Find a research or service-learning project that takes you to places where people live on the margins of life, whether that is in an urban area with its manifold challenges or in a rural area. It may not be easy, but it could end up being one of the highlights of your educational experience. Thomas Paine said: "That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly." He stated this concerning liberty and freedom. It is also true of education.

Travel the path of most resistance in how you deal with others.

Listen more and speak less, especially if you are a talkative person, and you know who you are. Find someone who holds a contrary position on a controversial subject such as the death penalty. Have as your goal to understand that person`s position and engage in active listening. If you don`t know how to do that, one of the professors in Communication Studies will be glad to coach you. Listen to that viewpoint. Ask questions that will lead to understanding and prompt the other person to clarify and hone her position, repeat the person`s statements in your own words, and when you are through, say "thank you," and walk away without shooting down her position or pasting on her a label. And then, only after you have engaged in active listening, think about your own position, clarify the arguments you would make if given the opportunity that you just gave someone else. The result might be that you aren`t so sure about what you believe anymore, or you might discover that you believe in your position even more firmly. Why do this? Because this is the essence of an education – walking down a path in which you are willing to examine your viewpoints critically and the viewpoints of others openly. You might change your position, but even if you don`t, by going through this exercise, you will experience growth and become a more educated person. It won`t be easy, but it will be worth it.

Practice humility and openness. I just finished reading a book that many of you recommended to me, Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. He subtitles his work Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality, and they are, and I found them refreshing. The most memorable vignette in the book to me is when Miller set up a confession booth on the campus of Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he was auditing classes. To put it mildly, Reed College is very different from Samford University. Some accepted patterns of behavior at Reed are called "values violations" on our campus.

Miller`s confession booth wasn`t what people thought that it was going to be. Instead of encouraging students to fess up, spill their guts, and admit how immoral or spiritually misguided they were, Miller and his friends confessed the sins of the church and Christianity. They apologized and expressed remorse for the historical missteps of the church, for siding with the rich instead of the poor, for not treating the creation as a good gift from God, for forging compromising political alliances, for the church`s episodes of racism and sexism, for speaking out when it should have shut up and for being strangely silent when a prophetic word needed to be heard. Now that`s a path of most resistance! The effect was remarkable. On that campus, the Christian faith became a more acceptable topic of conversation. Some were even persuaded that the Christian faith should be their faith.

Work for reconciliation and understanding. To do so will mean that you must learn to forgive those who have wronged you and who have brought injustice and suffering into this world. I have just returned from leading a conference in which I had the privilege of working with some remarkable men who comprise the Canadian band, Krystaal. The last few days have been a powerful learning experience for me as I developed a friendship with Michel, Fabian, and Aliston Lwamba and listened to their story.

These three brothers are originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire. They grew up as members of a royal family in the Bangu-Bangu tribe of the Bantu peoples. Their grandfather was a king, their father was a king, and Michel, the oldest of the brothers, was destined to be the king of his people. Culturally Muslim but not particularly observant, they nevertheless learned from their father the importance of truth, justice, and honor. Michel and Fabian both studied political science at Lubumbashi University and were active in student reform movements that protested the harsh and inhumane policies of President Mobutu Sese Seko. In May of 1989, Mobutu sent his feared personal security force into the university compound at night. These death squad soldiers cut off all of the electricity and locked the gates of the university compound so that no one could escape. What ensued during the night was a massacre so grisly and brutal, it would be inappropriate to describe the carnage that these young men witnessed. Michel and Fabian both escaped but were separated during the melee. Michel made his way home in time to gather his 13-year old brother, Aliston, his 16-year old sister, Gisele, and his 2-year old daughter. He could not find his wife Betty anywhere.

The 1989 student massacre in Lubumbashi for many months was only a rumor to the rest of the world, occasionally mentioned through the BBC and Canadian broadcasting. For Michel, Fabian, and Aliston Lwamba, it was a grim reality that marked the beginning of an incredible saga that changed their lives forever. For the next five years, these brothers, believing the other family members to be dead, struggled to survive the brutalities of refugee camps in Northwestern Kenya along the border of Sudan. There was disease, extreme weather conditions, and daily violence to contend with. Starvation was a constant threat. Twice a month, United Nations trucks brought food to the remote sites. If Michel were able to contend with the fighting that took place in the food lines, he received two cups of beans, 1 cup of rice, and a small portion of salt. That had to last for two weeks. Sometimes the trucks were robbed or hijacked, and the refugees had to live on half of what they normally received. Having enough water to drink meant walking two miles one way in 110 degree heat each day.

Michel Lwamba was a man who had been destined to be a king. Now, he was struggling to stay alive in one of the most God-forsaken places on earth. But, as the brothers both discovered, God was there, and they found in Christ a reason and will to live. Michel and Aliston started singing every night to bring hope to the inhabitants of the refugee camp. People would sometimes report to them the next day that they had planned to take their own lives during the night until they heard the brothers singing their songs of hope.

Through a miraculous series of events, the Lwambas were reunited in Canada and founded the group, Krystaal, for the purpose of singing music that would bring hope, faith, healing, and reconciliation. This past summer, they held a concert in Nairobi singing to an audience of over a hundred thousand people. They have won major music awards in Canada, and this past year performed with Celine Dion and Brian Adams at the Tsunami relief concert. They are bringing attention to a part of the world that is often overlooked because it offers very little political or economic advantage to the West. They are going back to Africa this summer-to Uganda, Barundi, Rwanda, and Kenya-to sing songs of hope with a native beat and indigenous tunes, and to bring light to people who are being destroyed in the darkness of tribal warfare, genocide, poverty, and AIDS. That is what the Swahili word "Krystaal" means-the light of Christ.

Travel the path of most resistance with hope.

In an age of skepticism, give hope a chance. In many ways, it is easier to be a skeptic and a cynic. It is less of a hassle to criticize others about their naïve beliefs and false optimism than to find a reason to be hopeful. I read the papers and listen to the news, so I`m well aware of what is going on in the world. There is convincing evidence that we are in trouble, and there are reasons why we should be concerned about the future of our nation, the environment, and the fate of the world.

David Brooks wrote a column in the New York Times last December entitled, "The Age of Skepticism," and then he proceeded to support the theme of the article by morosely surveying the national scene. U.S. citizens` attitudes are down because of the war in Iraq, partisan politics, corrupt lobbyists, lack of confidence in the leadership of this country, lack of faith that we can solve problems, lack of resolve to rebuild New Orleans after Katrina, frustration that we can`t seem to forge an alternative energy policy built upon rationality, sustainability, and conservation, and a sense of helplessness ultimately in defending our country against another terrorist attack. And the list of downers goes on. Brooks is predictably conservative in his opinions, but a cursory review of other columns, both left and right, yields the same skeptical and somewhat despairing tone.

Martin Marty of the University of Chicago reports these same findings as he travels far and wide conversing and responding to questions about religion. People are as down about their churches, denominations, and the state of religion as Brooks is about the national scene.

But Marty the historian also sounds a note of encouragement. If the national mood is down, this doesn`t mean that we are out. There are reasons for hope. It is way too soon to assert that we might be entering another "Dark Ages," but even if we concede that as a possibility, we might profit from taking the approach of the Benedictine monks at the beginning of the other "Dark Ages." Keep the lights on, the prayers ascending, the community a refuge against forces that must be resisted, and the books open so that learning can happen and hope can have a chance. I can think of no better antidote to skepticism.

So, go ahead, travel the path of most resistance. It won`t be easy. But if it were easy, anyone could do it.