I hadn’t heard the name for years STOP For all I knew it had died long ago STOP And even though I couldn’t clear less about it STOP I was sad to see it die STOP
I’m talking about Western Union. It died earlier this year, signing off with a telegraphic-like message: “Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage.”
Hence died the original form of electronic communication that started 150 years ago.
I’ve never sent nor received a telegram, but news of Western Union’s demise made me sad.
It’s always sad to see anything pass, such is the odd nature of things: we want things to last, though nothing does.
It’s a bizarre situation. At least one famous philosopher, in fact, made it the touchstone of his thought. It was Albert Camus, the existentialist. I’ve always enjoyed Camus. He’s dark, but he makes a lot of sense.
“There is only one really serious philosophical problem, that of suicide. To judge that life is or is not worth the trouble of being lived, this is to reply to the fundamental question of philosophy.” These words stand at the beginning of Albert Camus’ philosophy, which revolved around a problem that he called “the absurd.”
The absurd, Camus said, is the state of existence that is every man’s lot because nothing corresponds to his highest yearnings. In order to understand what Camus is saying, consider how ridiculous it would be if there was no such thing as food, but we had an appetite for it. At some point someone would become aware of the odd juxtaposition of appetite and no food, and say, “What’s going on here? Why do we have an appetite if there is no such thing as food to satisfy it?” That’s the same thing Camus said about man’s desires and dreams. Every man hopes, but there is nothing to satisfy his hopes. Man naturally harbors desires, but there is nothing to respond to them. That, Camus said, is absurd.
And for an agnostic/atheist, he’s right. We’re full of yearnings, of desires for something higher, of hope for eternity. But what do we get in return? Disappointment, pain, and death.
Things are philosophically tough for an atheist.
The religious outlook, of course, smashes the problem of Camus’ absurd. Is life full of disappointment? Do we die? Do all things pass, though we want them to last forever? Yup.
But is it really absurd?
Only if we adopt a materialistic view of things, a view that denies the soul, the angels, and God things that last forever. Once those things are accepted, our yearnings aren’t absurd. We have a yearning for permanency whether it’s salvation for our souls or the nostalgic survival of Western Union and there are things that answer that yearning: the spiritual things.
Moreover, those yearnings are there for a reason: they correspond to reality. The mere fact that we yearn for permanency for eternity points to the fact that permanency exists. And because we know nothing material lasts forever, the permanency must be spiritual.
Yeah, I’m whimsical that Western Union passed. It had been around for over a hundred years. It’s sad to see something pass, especially something so long-lived.
But the mere fact that I’m sad at its passing makes me happy: it reminds me that there’s something in me that naturally desires permanency, and if I have that natural desire, there is naturally something in reality that answers it.
© Copyright 2006 Catholic Exchange
Eric Scheske is an attorney, the Editor of The Daily Eudemon, a Contributing Editor of Godspy, and the former editor of Gilbert Magazine.