The 8th Deadly Sin

April 4, 1991

Many times I have considered INERTIA to be the 8th deadly sin. The reference is not to the law of physics, but to the tendency in human nature to put off until tomorrow that which could more easily be done today. Mañana never comes, but we do not face up to that. We may not make that phone call today because we are timid about asking someone to do a volunteer task; or, reluctant to solicit money for a cause, even when the cause is good. We know, but do not act on the reality that when a creditor is pressing for past-due accounts, there is more probability of some accommodation when a timely call is made both to express good intentions and explain a current financial bind. There are many examples of postponing responsibilities and problems because it seems easier.

Wilkins Micawber, bankrupt, dispossessed several times, he and his family in debtors’ prison more than once, comforted himself again and again with the fuzzy hope, “Something will turn up.” Nothing ever did turn up until Mr. Micawber “screwed his courage to the sticking point” (MACBETH, Act 1, Sc. 7) and blew the whistle on Uriah Heep. (If you have forgotten DAVID COPPERFIELD, it is still a good “read” for leisurely hours.)

If there is no physical cause, Inertia is frequently a flight response to fear. Fears are reactions: fear of rejection, fear of pain, fear of displeasing someone we would rather please, anxiety that a hoped-for response will instead be negative, escape from reality (“If it is bad news, don't tell me.”)

I arrived at this reflective mood as I have confronted the personal reality that my Achilles’ Heel is my teeth. That may seem an absurd metaphor, but it describes my condition. Now in my declining years I must spend more money than fits my income on regular trips to the periodontist, the regular dentist, and now, appointment with a root canal specialist. (I assume and trust that he is a specialist; otherwise, how can his high fees be justified?)

Inertia is the main element in my dental history. Candidly, that inertia has been a fear-and-flight response. My first visit to a dentist occurred when I was 13 or 14 years old. There were several cavities. My recollection is that the cavities were drilled and excavated without Novocaine. The jump-starting of my nerves remained as a memory of pain. As any sensible person knows, dentistry has become practically painless in the ensuing 67 years. Nevertheless, it was many years, punctuated, with the loss of several back teeth along with grueling treatment for gingivitis, before I overcame my inertia about regular check-ups with dentists. As a young teen-ager I was imprinted with the fear-flight response. I entertained rationalizations; but that is what they were: rationalizations, not reasons. Now I have been paying the price. Inertia created a delayed bang like lighting a long fuse on a large firecracker.

Now, a segue from the personal to the social-political. Is not political inertia a huge obstacle to a more just, less corrupt political order?

A few weeks ago in the mayoral election in Tampa, about 25% of the eligible voters went to the polls. In our Presidential elections, isn’t it about 60% of the eligible bother to vote? How many constituents regularly write or phone Senators and Representatives to make convictions known?

Inertia! James Reston noted, “All politics are based on the indifference of the majority.” Of course there are defiant shouts, “Throw the rascals out”; and the sad complaint, “You can’t fight City Hall.” Wide-spread cynicism prevails about public personages – with some justification. There is an overload of issues of which the TV God most of us worship airs only brief, inadequate, and many times, biased, news-bits. Do our lawmakers know if we watch their votes on vital issues? Judging by what they do, what do they value most? Or, are we content to make our political choices by watching thirty-second TV “bites” in the election campaigns? Are our prejudices exploited by our irrational responses to slanted, negative accusations and misrepresentation?

W. B. Yeats had lines, (quoted by Cleanth Brooks, THE HIDDEN GOD, p. 49)

“A statesman is an easy man,
He tells his lies by rote;
A journalist makes up his lies
And takes you by the throat;
So stay at home and drink your Beer
And let the neighbors vote.”

Is that too cynical? Perhaps. But it is easy to lip-sync the National Anthem and say the words of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. What is difficult is to take seriously the words, “with liberty and justice for all.” “All” is the operative word. One takes heat and calumny for publicly being known for standing for liberty and justice for all because American history and present times provide evidence that one may be labeled “radical” or “troublemaker” because one believes that the great words are to be taken seriously, publicly and privately. Geo. Bernard Shaw once noted, “Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.”

Hey, I’m not preaching to you; I’m talking to me about me. But if these observations strike you with some resonance, you know what I am attempting to state. One of the definitions of “sin” in the Jewish Scriptures is “missing the mark.” Inertia can be the 8th deadly sin because too often we miss the mark, not because the target is too remote or too difficult, but for the reason we do not promptly draw the bow and launch the arrow. We hesitate because none of us enjoys being found in error. But as a book-reviewer noted (NEW YORKER, 3/11/91) “Mistakes are the ornaments of freedom.” So what if one is wrong now and then? A major-league baseball player can make a million dollars a year if he gets three hits in ten times at bat.