by Jenna Whalley

Waiting in a surprisingly long line Tuesday morning, I found myself contemplating the choice which lay before me. It was simple really, two polarized options, both and neither of which represented my values; by virtue of narrow constraints, a choice of non-choice. I stood, gazing anxiously toward the open church doors, basking in the warm, sunny weather which was more characteristic of a Michigan May than a Michigan November. People around me chatted excitedly and checked their watches. Although listening with great interest, I chose to disengage myself from the political banter peppering the conversations of my fellow Americans also waiting. My decided method of evading the insanity that was the culmination of a year and a half of feverish campaigning, millions spent, propagandist advertising, shameless media hype, and a country divided along lines of its own patriotic colors: “Waiting for Godot”.

For those of you unfamiliar with the play, it has a fairly basic story line. The curtain opens upon two rather rough looking gentlemen who are waiting near the side of a country road (in other words, nowhere in particular). It shortly becomes apparent that they are intending to join a man named Godot (whom they have never met) and that this is not the first time they have waited for him in what they feel mostly certain is the same spot. As the day passes the two toss around somewhat amusing and even less relevant conversational topics, all the while giving the indication each dialogue is previously traversed territory. Strangely, Estragon can never seem to recall the discourses or the events of the day prior; yet his companion, Vladimir, assures him of the repetitious nature of their actions.

As they wait, Estragon, forgetting their purpose, repeatedly makes the suggestion to leave. Valdimir reminds him that they should stay in anticipation of Godot and the ambiguously unexplained salvation of sorts he is expected to bring. Thus, perceiving the choice to be made for them, the two men resign themselves to the only foreseeable thing there is to do: wait. As they wait, various other characters drift through, each somehow more pathetic in their enterprises than the two men who have done naught but sit in a field for an unnamed number of days doing nothing. Near sunset on the day on which Act 1 began, a young messenger arrives. Relayed is an apology that Godot was not able to meet the two main characters that day and also a promise that he would surely meet them during the next.

As night falls, Estragon and Vladimir discuss leaving their desolate location and returning the next morning to wait again for Godot. After they agree upon this plan, Act I ends with the fateful italicized words “they do not move”. Act II repeats all the events of the prior act with only slight variation. Godot, despite the hopes of Vladimir and Estragon and the promises of the young courier, never comes. Again a message is sent with the promise that Godot will instead come the next day. Vladimir and Estragon, seeing nothing to do but wait, discuss leaving but decide against it. Thus, they do not move.

For those of you familiar with the traditional interpretation that Becket is commenting on the overarching meaninglessness of life by giving his characters nothing of value to do but wait for a deliverance which will never come, bear with me. I am going to take a decidedly more exploratory approach. As I stood, waiting, in line at the polls, I couldn’t resist the urge to write down some of the hilarious, clever, awkward, brainless, and downright offensive comments I overheard. Having nothing to write on but the pages of “Waiting for Godot” I was struck with the idea to keep an Election Day journal in the margins of the play. From 7am until Obama’s midnight acceptance speech, I wrote down every political comment I heard, every media advertisement for either candidate, and every personal observation about the process. Now, I have to say, America, I am unimpressed.

I do not believe that the meaninglessness Estragon’s and Vladimir’s existence is imposed upon them. Nor do I believe it is a universal description to be applied to all of reality (as viewed from within the play). The other characters may not have ‘meaning’ in the sense of ‘value’, yet they have context and thus change, potential, and identity. For them there is a coming and a going, a thing behind and a thing ahead. There is no denying, however, that the journey enacted by the characters merely ‘passing through’ is not an appealing one. Perhaps, this is why Vladimir and Estragon find themselves waiting. Maybe there is nothing to do because the world presented nothing of lasting value to be done. Hence, the obvious necessity is to wait for some grander purpose – to wait for Godot.

Vladimir and Estragon, then, are trapped by their own limitations. Pretend for a moment that Godot could come, that he did come, would it not validate the waiting? Yet, Godot will not come; consequently the waiting can have no value. Nevertheless, the two men see only the option of waiting. The choice of leaving, were it possible for them, is merely illuminated by the necessity that they do the opposite. Therefore, the stage, the country spot on the side of the road, embodies the full extent of their consciousness.

The problem is a cyclical one. Despite the discussions of leaving, the boundaries of their perception are not to be preempted. The fact that the two men are unable to transcend themselves forces them to wait; and yet, it is simultaneously the waiting which keeps them from transcendence. In this pervasive blindness lies their fatal flaw. They have no past, no place from which they came; they have no future, no location toward which they are moving. Each day repeats itself, there is no change. Unlike the other characters, with their comings and their goings, Vladimir and Estragon have no context; they are an island to themselves, a nowhere residing amidst an infinite possibility of anywheres. They lead, if anything, a non-existence. For, just as words cannot have meaning without context, so human beings also cannot have existence without a reference point. Surely to leave, in any manner, would be naught but life for them.

As I waited to cast my vote Tuesday morning and watched throughout the rest of the day as results from the massive waves of others who did the same trickled in, I couldn’t help but draw the parallel to Vladimir and Estragon’s self-imposed lingering. How many of us can say we’ve taken substantial practical action toward the betterment of this, our country? Yet, how many of us complain daily that we do not favor the direction in which it is going? What are we, simply puppets along for the ride? Pawns ushered around in a political scheme to grand for our small influence? “I’m the apathetic voter” I heard one American say, “they tell you that your vote matters, but it really doesn’t.”

What, are we so like Estragon that we don’t know our own history? Or are we merely Vladimir in our failure to apply it? Have we forgotten the founding of this country? The great political empire which was thrown off to birth a new nation? Have we so over-fed the executive branch that we have now given ourselves back to such an empire? Whatever happened to “government by the people, for the people”? Where are we, the people, in this equation that our government no longer fears us?

We’ve consigned ourselves to waiting, haven’t we? Perhaps we didn’t like our other options. Maybe we don’t agree with the various avenues through which others have attempted action. Is it possible that involvement itself no longer appeals to us? We’ve come again to a time when “the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot”, in crisis, “shrink from the service or their country”. How sad that our definition of liberty and duty to one’s country is driving 20 minutes to stand in line for a half hour in order to cast a ballot then proceeding to gripe later about how “voting isn’t accessible enough”. But a majority of us don’t vote to make a difference, we vote because we hope that one of the two guys running will be the one to save us from this mess we’ve created.

We’re the cause of our own problem. We’ve raised a selfish, consumeristic, individualistic, hedonistic, narcissistic, greed-driven culture which seems only capable of asking “what can my country do for me?”. We’re so blinded by ourselves we do nothing to stop the decline of our nation. We cannot leave. We fail to think beyond our little grassy knoll on the side of the road. We subconsciously fall in line when “conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth”. We vote. And then we wait and hope the guy who wins will fix it all.

But we as a nation can’t even manage to vote well. I spoke to too many people who readily admitted they had not researched the candidate’s positions before going to the polls. Contrary to popular belief, it is not an adequate excuse to claim “the media tells us how to vote”. This is only true if the citizens of this country are too lazy to dig a little and make their own decision. I should add that it is also not legitimate to scream “this is the media’s fault” when the democratic process does not bestow upon us the president we desired.

How can we be so irresponsible as a nation? To those who said something like “if he’s elected I’m moving to Canada”, will you be a better citizen there? If Canada then discontented you, where would you flee? I do not want to hear one more person say “I voted to get the free coffee” (especially if they’re to add “I don’t even like coffee”). Please, let’s at least show some respect for the freedoms we’re blessed with – they did not come cheaply.

Yet, we’re shameless when it comes to the neglect of our duty as citizens. We enthusiastically declare, “I could have voted today, but I did something better: I prayed.” Have we no political responsibility under God? No accountability to the communities in which we dwell if “we’re just a’ passin’ through?” I speak to you, Christians: are we not to be His hands and feet? We cannot substitute prayer for government. Rather, we should seek God’s will in prayer and then begin the arduous quest of trying to apply it.

Americans, what happened to the values of duty, honor, and country? Furthermore, what about those of faith, hope, and love? On Election Day we stood, not as a common people expressing a shared and deeply valued freedom, but as a nation divided against itself. Along partisan lines we’ve partitioned the flag; blue against red, nihilistic patriotism.

It is unacceptable that, when we should be at our best, participating in a democratic process that should rally us as a nation around our future, we are at our worst, a country painfully divided. Our partisan politics are killing us. We’ve been warned that “a [white] house divided against itself cannot stand”. How sad of a reflection it is upon our country when a child asks his parent “are there other people running beside the two?” and the parent replies, “yes, but they don’t have enough money to matter”.

America, we cannot continue to divide ourselves in this way. There is a point at which sub-groups cease to be beneficial and begin to choke off the unity of the whole. This is not a statement calling for like-mindedness. By all means, let’s celebrate diversity. Let us understand, however, that we, in our various levels of community, belong to larger bodies. Consider a Biblical example: Israel as a nation was never intended to lift its tribal identity above the purpose for which it was set aside: to ultimately be a blessing to all peoples. Similarly, we cannot hold our identity as a democrat or a republican (or someone in the middle) higher than our identity as an American. And please, while we’re at it, let’s not forget that as a nation it is a failing to pursue merely our own self interest when first and foremost our duty as people is to humanity.

Our party politics have driven a wedge through the heart of this nation. We use the terms “democrat” and “republican” as if they’re mutually exclusive and yet so ubiquitous as to fully encompass the identity of each candidate and voter. In our war against the other we further extremism, each party trying to differentiate itself from “the enemy” pulling further and further from the middle. We leave America not just divided, but torn between two polarized positions with no moderate form of expression. We make a messiah of one party’s candidate and a devil the other, crying “I hope he is assassinated” in the event that the later is elected.

Thus, we find ourselves fettered by the very system we’ve created, torn and dysfunctional. One individual claimed that if their favored candidate was not elected they would “lock [themselves] in a vault for four years and only come out for the next election.” Seriously, do we hear ourselves? If our hero is not elected, if the current president is not the one to ‘deliver’ us, we’ll neglect the next four years until we can try again for a better redeemer?

This is our grand solution, merely to vote and wait on the right guy? To make a choice between the most agreeable of two extremes and end our involvement there? Our efforts stop short of addressing the real issue. Or vision is too narrow. We simply vote and then we wait. We wait for the president elect to vindicate our waiting by with some magnificent entrance in which, with one fell swoop, he’ll deliver us from the traps of our own indolence.

Do you see what this is? We’ve taken ourselves right out of the equation. We’ve created our own comfortable nowhere, our own little spot of meaningless countryside along the road. America, have you forgotten that from which you came? Have you, America, forgotten those lofty ideals toward which you were to strive? How can we so forsake past and future to merely sit and wait for someone to deliver us? I have news for you, America, Godot is not coming. The political savior for whom you wait is never going to come. One person did not devastate this country and one person will certainly not save it.

It is true, we find ourselves in the mists of quite a predicament; perhaps you’ve heard, “character is much easier kept than recovered.” But, we have some recovering to do. The choice is not made for us; “every generation needs a new revolution”. So pull yourselves up from your non-existence back into the context of learning from our past and fighting for our future. Let us regain our reference point. Surely reclaiming this context, this movement, (any context, any movement!) can be naught but life for us. Hence, let us leave, quit our waiting, and not let those fateful italicized words “they do not move” appear at the end of our narrative.