It’s easy to become polarized in current political winds regarding topics as diverse as the role of the constabulary toward minorities, the tension between border integrity and human rights, the relationship between electoral integrity and voter suppression, and the space between blindly following governmental authority contra irrational defiance toward the same. To not avidly, immediately, and vocally re-affirm your support for the former is considered doing so for the later. Can there be a virtuous Aristotelean “mean between extremes”, or is the slope so slippery that only binary, dichotomous stances be considered final?
On Jan. 22, 2019, Annie Reneau wrote an article regarding contraceptive rights, and in it she uses the phrase “the messy middle” to describe how she found truth coming from both political poles. I resonated with the article not just because the author’s views mirrored my own, but because I often find myself in “the messy middle” of polarizing debates. I believe in rights, but also that many rights have more “give” and “slack” to them than we give them credit for. I believe the science when it evidences certain relationships conclusive, but I also believe the science when it evidences certain relationships nebulous and inconclusive.
I’m reminiscing of a scene from Fiddler on the Roof where Tevye finds himself arbitrating a dispute centered on how to see the world at large. One character states that worrying about the world outside their little town is useless, to which Tevye replies “He is right”. Another counters and advocates being informed and “not closing your eyes”, to which Tevye replies “He is also right”. When an adjacent townsperson claims both can’t be right, Tevye replies “You know, you are also right.”
Certainly no one should be forced to take a vaccine, nor should a minor or dependent be administered the vaccine without approval of the guardian or whomever has power of attorney in the matter. Yet private businesses are free to require vaccines to be served via either services or employment. I’m not a Mitt Romney, “Businesses are people too” person, but business have rights akin to those conferred upon individuals (to suggest otherwise is to state that businesses operate at the discretion and pleasure of the state). Consequently, businesses have final say over whomever walks across their thresholds. Yet governments (which are necessarily coercive) shouldn’t incentivize businesses and faith institutions (non-coercive agencies) to discriminate on the basis of vaccination status as this violates medical privacy laws and thus indirectly undermines Roe v. Wade. Yet even if government does so, citizens shouldn’t lie and print fake vaccine cards. Yet some can’t vaccinate and depend on us to… but misinformation… although lambda variants… then again illegal migrants… AY YI YI. I think many of us identify with Tevye. “You know, you are also right.”
“I don’t know” is a great place to start. It can also be a half-decent place to stop, especially when there are this many moving parts. Moral clarity is nice, but I fear we’ve become needlessly uncomfortable with moral ambiguity and the grey uncertainty of complex issues. More to the point, I fear our desire for easy answers has been weaponized by those who wish to see our national harmony disrupted. For my own part, I’ve come to peace with not knowing where to stand in all this mess. I welcome those who avoid drawing hard lines, give each other grace in these hard times, and refuse to become partisan pawns. If you’re in the same boat as me, I welcome you to the messy middle.
“If I were a rich man…” Dang, now I got that song in my head.
Tim Born