[Let us] consider the curious fact that, under Christianity, Europe (while remaining a unity) has broken up into individual nations. Patriotism is a perfect example of this deliberate balancing of one emphasis against another emphasis. The instinct of the Pagan empire would have said, “You shall all be Roman citizens, and grow alike; let the German grow less slow and reverent; the Frenchmen less experimental and swift.” But the instinct of Christian Europe says, “Let the German remain slow and reverent, that the Frenchman may the more safely be swift and experimental. We will make an equipoise out of these excesses. The absurdity called Germany shall correct the insanity called France.”
G. K. Chesterton in Orthodoxy, 1908
In 1910, four years before WW I and 41 years before the fist precursor of the European Union, the European Coal and Steel Community, was founded, G. K. Chesterton wrote in an essay called “What’s wrong with the world”. There he describes among other things the currents at his time to unite Europe. When I read that passage the first time it startled me. It was so up to date that I had to keep reminding myself that it was published over 100 years ago. (That is a great example why I love G. K. Chesterton. He is not only a good read but he also saw the world in a way far beyond his short period of time. He still has to teach us a lot.) He wrote, “For example, [the moderns] will often tell you (in their praises of the coming age) that we are moving on towards a United States of Europe. But they carefully omit to tell you that we are moving away from a United States of Europe, that such a thing existed literally in Roman and essentially in mediaeval times.” And in the quote from Orthodoxy above he explains why he doesn’t like the idea that much. One thing Christianity accomplished was that it allowed individualism.
Here in the western world we are so used to expressing our own thoughts and feelings that we have a hard time understanding that individualism was something we had to gain. It seems so natural to us that we take it for granted. But if we leave the comfort of our home (at least as an gedankenexperiment) and look at countries like China, North Korea, the Arabic nations, and even Russia we see that all sorts of individual currents within the society are suppressed. And in a way they have to be, because they threaten the very foundation of these nations. Free thoughts might lead to people that are longing to change a few things here and there. People who stand up and say No! to the government once in a while. And the Roman Empire was not all together different. By mixing ethnicities and believes the Romans turned Europe into a melting pot. Thus preventing the formation of distinct groups strong enough to challenge the Romans. Patriotism was not possible.
The one idea that Christianity threw into the ring was love. We were taught that we are loved and our dreams and wishes have a Godly root. We were allowed and encouraged to embrace our personalities. And then we realized that we are not all the same. We wanted to be distinguished from one another. And one of the results was, that Europe broke into different countries. And looking at the Scots and the Basque shows us that it is still going on. So here is a genuine Christian thought: We are all different and that is great!
On April 12th 1831 a detachment of the English 60th Rifle Corps went back home after an exercise. On their way the 74 men had to cross the Broughton Suspension Bridge. Amused by the vibration from the bridge the soldiers stumped even harder whistling a marching tune. That let to a resonance disaster causing the bridge to collapse. 20 men were injured, six of them with broken arms or legs.
On November 7th 1940 side winds caused the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in the state of Washington to flutter. Like in England it led to a very impressive resonance disaster. A video of that unique incident was later put on YouTube. It is one of the most impressive things I have ever seen. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFzu6CNtqec)
Both examples show a very important truth. A somewhat little force like footsteps or wind can cause great effects when it is in sync with the target. But one person would not have been able to crash the Broughton Suspension Bridge. The power of 70 people was necessary. And that illustrates that there is power in unity. And that is even a Godly principal. When the people build the tower of Babel God said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” (Genesis 11:6, NIV) When we agree on something and communicate well almost nothing is impossible.
But now we have a problem. On one hand we are to be unique on the other hand we are to be united. So were do we go? What do we do? That is one of the many tensions we have to live with.
While the nations mentioned above can not encourage individuals, over-emphasizing individualism caused numerous problems to the countries in Europe and also to America. For example it nourishes a culture of entitlement. But even more it undermines the potential of working together. Galileo, Europe’s “answer” to the American Global Positioning System may be mentioned here. So many different parties with so many different interests are involved in the project that was planed to be operational in 2008. After a lot of discussion, malfunctions, and other disasters the start of operation was pushed to 2014. Now experts agree that it will not be operational before 2020. That of course comes with “some” additional expenses, not to mention that it doesn’t produce money until it runs error free.
I think the best way to go with both as united individuals. While embracing who we are with our unique strengths and weaknesses we choose to work together. If you build a wall made from untreated rocks you have to position the different stones according to their individual shapes. All together form the wall but only if every single rock is in exactly the right position. So by knowing ourselves and others we can choose to work together in building something great.
