In describing cataclysmic events, numbers often relate stories rather well. On July 1, 1916, 27 divisions of British and French forces began an offensive against the German lines on the western front. They expected an easy advance after heavy bombardment of the German positions, but they were instead met with a bloodbath. On the first day of the offensive, the British Expeditionary Force suffered 58,000 casualties. At the end of the Somme offensive, in November, the British had lost 420,000 men. The allies had gained approximately 8 kilometers of territory.
While such terrible slaughter is almost incomprehensible to our modern sensibilities, what is even more incredible is that both sides continued fighting for close to two more years. Compare this to our current 5-year conflict in Iraq, in which just more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers have been killed, and close to 30,000 wounded. A terrible toll, no doubt, but nowhere near even the single-day wave of death experienced at Somme.
How was society able to abide such horror 96 years ago without suffering complete paralysis? Certainly the value of each individual human life has not changed since then – life in 1916 was just as precious and miraculous as it is today. But if our society was faced with a battle like the Somme, we would withdraw all of our troops, and the foundation of our government would be threatened.
Thus, the question is, how has humanity changed in 96 years such that we no longer have the stomach for such cruelty and barbarity? We use the term “tragedy” almost indiscriminately for every occurrence that causes death or misery. Every problem and injustice that takes place seems to weigh heavily on our conscience.
This increased vulnerability to the evil and suffering in the world is a phenomenon with deep philosophical and historical roots, and there is no single explanation for it. I think that a large part of it can be understood by its corollary effect – our increasing inability to perceive and appreciate what is good and beautiful in the world.
On that battlefield in France, among all the corpses mutilated by machine gun fire, were men who, voluntarily or not, gave their lives for their countrymen and friends. For each casualty taken, there was likely an act of immense bravery and sacrifice for a greater cause, as incomprehensible as that cause might seem at times. The appreciation of the actions of those men likely gave citizens on both sides of the front the strength to continue such a terrible struggle.
All the acts of kindness, friendship, loyalty and bravery that make life bearable in the face of cruelty used to be called by a single term that is now almost archaic: virtue. There are few public exemplars of virtue that come to mind, and examples of virtue command only a small fraction of the media’s attention. Success and fame long ago outstripped virtue as objects worthy of life’s pursuit.
Another specific virtue that has fallen out of favor is the drive to express beauty through art. Our arts and criticism are now so cynical that aesthetic beauty is hardly even a goal of their production. Creative expression is valued only insofar as it gives voice to some pressing social problem or bemoans the meaninglessness and cruelty of existence. Observe the recent winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature or the “accomplishments” of conceptual artists in the recent past. Cultural achievement was once the prime measure of a civilization’s vitality and a great comfort in the midst of life’s difficulties. Such achievement has been completely replaced by the importance of economic and material power.
In short, our decreased faith in the great virtues has rebounded on us, and now those virtues are no longer sources of solace. The world has always presented mankind with cruelty and suffering, and this will never change. It is easy to bemoan the evil in society, but it is difficult to celebrate virtue because it depends on each individual striving to live a life based on those universal principles. If readers will allow me the vanity of giving advice to my own peers who are finishing school this semester, I would encourage them to enter the world of responsibility with a respect for and a desire to achieve virtue. It is the only way for us to rebuild a society that can resist the depredations of the world.
Goutham Ganesan is a senior biochemistry major and is The Diamondback’s outgoing Opinion Editor. He can be reached at goutham.ganesan@gmail.com
