It’s funny how there’s a collective consciousness about certain human issues…like pragmatism, for example. That sounds a little new age, I admit, but I don’t mean it that way. The change of seasons has people thinking along similar lines, and then they write about those lines, as it were, on their blogs. That’s all I mean by “collective consciousness.” The start of the school year is a season change, even though it no longer falls at the seasonal line. Do you remember when school used to start in September and end in June? I do. How pragmatic. Or is it pragmatic to start school due to average weather conditions in May, as compared to June [June is hotter than blazes in my state]? Pragmatists have competing ideas, which makes their decisive actions especially annoying.
I was thinking, before I dragged myself out of bed this morning, about how I was the ultimate anti-pragmatist. Meanwhile, others were thinking about how sometimes God doesn’t want them to get caught up in pragmatism because pragmatism is essentially finding sensible ways to control chaos in the environment. Pragmatists are so sensible they often don’t need God or can’t fathom why their solution isn’t the wisest choice.
Because I’m an anti-pragmatist, God instead puts pressure on me to get things done for the benefit of my household, even though I find those things banal and don’t want to do them. By pressure, I mean I hear him speak quietly to me. I hear him admonishing me that only engaging in pragmatic action to make people stop nagging me isn’t really loving. See, God doesn’t really nag. Or…not most of the time. Nag is a word with negative connotations, you see. One doesn’t use words like that for God.
Why am I an anti-pragmatist? Oh, I don’t know. See the first paragraph. Everybody thinks they know what is best, but they disagree with each other. People make a cacophanous noise when they’re sensible. They sound like mosquitos in my ear when they demand that I cut coupons or shop sales or plan meals or make budgets. Over the years, I’ve figured out which of these banalities are actually necessary…for example, keeping a detailed calendar of client appointments and payments will save me a world of struggle and a lot of time. That’s the only pragmatism I need, the kind that saves time for what I would rather do. And trust me, I’d rather stare at the wall than cut coupons or shop sales. That kind of pragmatism I will never concede to, no matter how much money somebody wants me to save. Sorry about that. I should never say never.
Back to God and his quiet voice, though, pragmatism isn’t always about me and my most precious system of time. I might instead agree to something on the honey-do list to save my husband time or a flat tire. Or not ignoring my child’s supply list might be a kindness to him, if not to the teacher. I’m not ready to be kind to teachers; kindness isn’t precisely pragmatic, anyway. The bizarre thing is teacherly lists and plans are anything but pragmatic. Perhaps I’m a closet pragmatist, after all. I still recall an article I wrote years ago on why teachers should not try to make learning fun because only rote memorization combined with applied critical thinking truly educates….
Jill Domschot 