Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring, Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish, Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?), Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d, Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me, Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined, The question, O me! so sad, recurring–What good amid these, O me!, O life!
Answer: That you are here–that life exists and identity, that the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse. —Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass)
This is one of my favorite poems, and Walt Whitman is one of my favorite poets. This poem was made famous in the film “Dead Poets Society” when John Keating (Robin Williams) recites it to his young students. For me, when things go bad in my life, when I fail to act kindly and charitably to others or fall into an ill mood when things are just not right with the world (you know the feeling), I always go back to this poem.
This poem reminds me that we are fragile, imperfect and vulnerable creatures. We are beset by the unpredictable powers of the natural world, the imperfections of the socioeconomic structures that we have built, and our own weaknesses that can hurt, and sometimes even destroy, the lives of strangers and those we care about most. The world can seem like a place that is absurd and should never have been. I feel this in the core of being when I learn of some atrocity on the news or see senseless suffering and misery out my car window. Is the world absurd? Some terrible accident that fell out of our unfolding universe from the Big Bang? Have you ever felt this way?
I think Whitman felt this way (read his poem I Sit and Look Out). Yet he affirms the universe and our place in it. He recognizes our imperfections, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses, but he also believes that we are all part of this wonderful, mysterious, tragic, and painful play and that we have a responsibility to ourselves and others to contribute a verse. We must take this responsibility seriously and do the hard work to recite the best verse we can come up with. We are not puppets dangling from the strings of fate, moved around by the impersonal forces of the universe. We are autonomous beings that can repair this imperfect world with deeds that flow from our hearts, not our self-interest. Now is the time to sit down and ask yourself: What do I value and love? How can I use my love and values to improve my life and the lives around me? Maybe from this you might be able to answer Whitman’s implicit question: “What will your verse be?”
Yes, the storms of the universe can be overwhelming, and your little boat is being tossed about on unforgiving seas, but you can do your best to steer your leaky, battered boat towards true north. Yes, it’s hard, yes it feels like you are not getting anywhere, but every nautical mile in the right direction is worth the effort.
Kant famously said, “out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.” This may be true, but sometimes crooked things can make the world a better place.
Oh Me! Oh Life! by Philosophical Living is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Jason, this is wonderful. I love your writing and this is a really inspiring piece. I love Whitman too and this was just what I needed at this moment. Thanks!