On Sacrifice

I own my nerdiness. I relish learning and thinking, especially when it comes to music and language. I love that these squiggles and symbols and utterances can convey such a wide variety of emotion and ideas. And at risk of sounding like a pedant, there are many words that are -- not necessarily misused, though there are those -- used in a manner outside the definition. This is not a problem in and of itself, it is how language evolves. But with the passage of time, it is easy to lose the deep meanings in certain words. As the name of the blog suggests, I spend a lot of time thinking, and a lot of that time is occupied thinking about language.

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 24-hour news cycle, one such word I’ve been contemplating is “sacrifice.” We utilize “sacrifice” in such varying ways, the meaning was sure to be obscured. So I did a little digging; and in full disclosure and transparency the dig wasn’t too deep, but deep enough to pull up some interesting articles on the subject, and even a few full-text books. Google Scholar is such a remarkable tool. Then I decided I shouldn’t take a full-on academic approach. Afterall, these are supposed to be the thoughts of this mediocre whyte man, and if I get too academic these won’t be from the heart. Also, I love using the excuse of research to procrastinate.

The concept of sacrifice is rife with religious implication. The Latin root means “to make sacred.” Hugo Reinert, writing in the journal Environmental Humanities, sums it up perfectly: “Sacrifice is a holy word, with complex but undeniable purchase on the present. Its equivalences fold into mystery and unfold again, in a violence that plays out between the abject and transcendent, murder and surrender, awe and horror.” So then when we use “sacrifice” to talk about not being able to gather in groups or not being able to browse leisurely at Target, we miss the point. This is no violence or horror in staying home. 

I see sacrifice in hospital workers, and not just doctors and nurses, but all those who work in hospitals. Grocery clerks and janitorial staff are being offered as sacrifice, often unwillingly. People who are willingly giving of themselves because they have been called to help others. Other people -- those who are bound, hand and foot, by low wages and no health insurance -- offered up on the altar told they are essential. Here is where we see the violence and horror. This is the true sacrifice. 

Reinert also wrote in the same essay: “Yes, the sacrificial offering must be destructible---but also, it cannot be worthless; if anything it must be exalted, because the destruction of its value is what renders the sacrifice worthy.” So, if we must value what is being sacrificed and the sacrifice must be destructible, why then are not financial and economic markets not willingly surrendered as tribute? In offering up human life before the supposed ineffably-holy markets, we admit, in not so many words, that our idols are not worth a mountain of baubles when compared to the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Perhaps this is all misguided idealism -- no one could ever really accuse me of pragmatism -- but perhaps it really is time for a revolution. Not necessarily a pitchfork-and-guillotine revolution, though that could also be of some use, but a revolution of thought. In one week alone 3.3 million Americans lost their health benefits, during a global pandemic, because they were fired from their jobs. Millions of workers most people would deem “low-skilled” are having to make the choice between their health or their bills. The modern world has truly lost sight of that which is important. We have collectively lost our ability to empathize and be compassionate. [“On Compassion” will be the next topic in this blog’s queue]. We mustn’t continue on in this fashion.

In the end, we should truly be mindful of the violence and horror behind the sacrifice hospital workers are willingly making, and the violence and horror thrust upon grocery and other “deemed essential” workers, as they are sacrificed. We must all exit this pandemic as better humans, willfully choosing to be better to one another; and not merely better because we survived. The sacrifices being offered must be considered at every turn, and safeguards put in place for a future crisis. We must be willing to learn and be corrected by this collective experience. Because if we are not willing, and will not be corrected, the decline of our entire civilization will be precipitous and rapid.