I went to see "Queen of Versailles" last night--here's the
official site for the movie: http://www.magpictures.com/thequeenofversailles/.
It's a documentary about Jackie & David Siegel, and their attempted
construction of the largest private residence in the United States, model on
Versailles. I say "attempted," because Siegel's timeshare
company--and consequently, the construction on the house--was severely impacted
by the market downturn in 2008. So, what was planned to be a boastful, crowing
documentary of unparalleled financial successes turned out to be a stinging,
insightful critique on the excesses of American capitalism.
Watching the documentary, all I could think about was how ugly money is,
really: it has only instrumental value,
with absolutely no inherent value at all.
That is, money is only a means—it only matters insofar as you use it for
something useful and constructive. When
it is simply on display for what it is, it looks crass, vapid, and worthless—ironic,
I know; but if you watch the documentary—including the hard-to-watch scene in
which Jackie discovers that the children have let their pet lizard die from
lack of food and water [fish in a filthy aquarium die, too], and really could
care less—you come away with the realization that far from being edifying and
constructive, money qua money is corrupting,
undignified, and infantilizing.
Anyway, I had all this in mind while I was walking Henry this morning and reading
the NY Times on my phone; and I came across this op-ed piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/opinion/kristof-her-crime-was-loving-schools.html. It’s about a young woman in Pakistan named Malala
Yousafzai, who is a passionate advocate for girls’ education: she is viewed as such a threat by the
conservative militants in that country that the Taliban shot her to try and
keep her quiet, and keep other girls out of school. This is the line that really caught me in the
piece: “On the other side are the
Taliban, who understand the stakes perfectly. They shot Malala because girls’
education threatens everything that they stand for. The greatest risk for
violent extremists in Pakistan isn’t American drones. It’s educated girls.”
We
live in a country where money is everything:
it is what our society values most and what we put the most effort into
achieving and maintaining. Yet, in and of itself money is worth nothing, and is
ultimately meaningless. Contrast that
with education, which in and of itself is of immeasurable value, even when as a
means it doesn’t always lead directly to one specific or even “successful”
end. I would argue, however, that education
is not meant to be seen as a “means”—instead, it has inestimable inherent value
insofar as it has the power to transform an individual and even a whole society
by changing the way people view relationships, politics, religion, creation,
etc., etc. Education opens us up to the
world through the practices of learning new ideas and being in dialogue with
others. It helps us understand ourselves
and others better, and it enables us both to think new thoughts and dream new
dreams. That’s what the Taliban are so
afraid: they know that education will
enable those girls to envision a new future—not only for themselves, but for
Pakistan as a whole—and the power of a dream should never be
underestimated.
You
might think that Jackie Siegel is much, much better off than Malala Yousafzai—and,
in some ways, you would be right: who
wouldn’t rather be sitting in the lap of luxury, rather than lying in a
hospital, fighting for your life. Yet, I
can’t help but think that Yousafzai is actually the one to be admired and emulated: she has put it all on the line for something
that really matters, something that really makes a difference: not only for herself, but for a whole nation—and
even for the whole world. Jackie Siegel? Not so much; and watching the documentary,
you can’t help but come away with the impression that she is much to be pitied. Nothing is sadder than the spectacle of
someone trying to convince herself that money in and of itself is to be
valued. It’s the worst kind of lie we
can tell ourselves.