Cheap Seats 2024 By Rich Trzupek

The Accounting - 02/07

By Rich Trzupek
  At some point those of us who wonder about our existence, a phenomenon that I think of as “the accounting,” will inevitably fall into one of three categories: Atheists who choose to ignore the issue; agnostics who choose to hedge their bets; and the faithful who choose to thoughtfully subscribe to some version or other of worldliness.
  Veteran readers of this column know that I associate myself among the last category. Such a perspective is a comfort to some and a matter of scorn for others. Either reaction is okay to me, so long as it is an honest reaction. One should share one’s perspectives without expectation, not to seek approval.
  For the most part I rejoice for the faithful of most every faith. I rejoice for the faithful whether or not they share my belief in Catholicism in particular and Christianity in general. Yes there are versions of faith, including fringe versions of Christianity, that pervert the concept of faithfulness and grace and do great harm. I despair over those perversions and the harm that they do, yet I believe that most people reaching for faith embark upon a journey, a hopeful journey, that seeks to connect with our common Creator and find a purpose bigger than ourselves.
  As a fervent, practicing Catholic I pray that my faith may become more perfect, that all Christians may be drawn to it, and that all people of faith everywhere me find solace and hope in Christianity. But, I do not require it. Everyone who has embarked on this temporal journey of infinite discovery is my brother or sister, without reservation. If you seek understanding beyond our human senses, I am with you. If your conduit in that search is Allah, Buddha, the gods and goddesses of Hindu, Gaia, or any other vision that envelopes the idea of other worldliness, I am with you.
  “Being with you” does not mean I agree with you in every particular interpretation of every particular detail of our mutual journey. It rather means that I recognize a common purpose, not a common conviction.
   Given that background, let us consider the following proposition: Sometimes events occur in our lives that go far beyond any rational form of explanation. So far beyond that many an atheist and agnostic are pushed into the crowd of the those seeking truth through faith. Life offers us many such clues, when we pay attention. One of my favorites is the strange story of Edgar Allan Poe and Richard Parker.
  Poe, the legendary American writer, published exactly one novel in his career: “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.” About halfway through the tale, the protagonist, Arthur Gordon Pym, stows away on a whaling ship named Grampus.
  Following a mutiny and a terrible storm, Pym finds himself one of only four living souls aboard Grampus. The derelict ship is alone on the limitless sea, without any provisions. Facing imminent starvation, the survivors conclude that one of them must die to provide sustenance for the other three. They then draw straws to determine who will be the victim.
  A fellow by the name of Richard Parker draws the short straw. His shipmates immediately kill him, cutting off his head, hands and feet and tossing them into the sea. The rest of Parker’s body provides them with enough food to survive until two of three are rescued. (The third dies from wounds sustained during the mutiny).
  Poe himself was never a fan of the novel, referring to it as a “very silly book.” However, it would influence other authors, like Herman Melville and Jules Verne. Still, it might have been largely forgotten, but for the events that would occur 46 years after the novel was published.
  In 1884 the yacht Mignonette set off from England, bound for Australia. It sank in a storm and it’s four man crew escaped, barely, in a lifeboat. Running through their provisions and still adrift, they faced starvation. In despair, they resorted to the desperate scheme that the survivors in Poe’s tale had employed. They drew straws to decide who would be sacrificed so that the rest of the crew might live on.
  At this point, everything seems coincidental between Poe’s story and the fate of the Mignonette’s crew, but plausible. Shipwrecks happen. People get lost in lifeboats. Sometimes people take unspeakable actions, like the Donnor party, in order to survive.
  And that’s all true. It’s not until you learn the name of the fellow on the Mignonette’s life boat who drew the short straw that the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. For who could believe the name of that unfortunate gentlemen?
  It was “Richard Parker.”
  Email: richtrzupek@gmail.com