The music we just experienced, “Baba Yetu,” was written to
provide a theme song for Civilization IV, a video game, created
by Sid Meier. The Civilization series, now in six successful
iterations, allows players to make decisions impacting
civilization, hopefully for the better. As with most games,
someone will win, and the others will lose. Conquest, the
highest score, is deemed a victory.
Sometimes I wonder if “civilization” as a concept is too
much to ask in the real world, and if it must reside, if to be
perfect, in fiction. While waiting to address new faculty
recently, I glanced at a newspaper. The headlines referenced
fighting in Gaza, the threat of war in Ukraine, and the outbreak
of the dreaded Ebola virus. (More good, encouraging news was
revealed on the second page and those following.)
I told the faculty present on that occasion that it seemed
to be an especially important time to be in the profession of
sharing knowledge and developing wisdom. The world has never
advanced through ignorance and darkness, only through knowledge
and light.
In their sweeping account of the history of civilization,
Will and Ariel Durant chronicle the people and places that, in
their view, have influenced who we are today. They completed 11
volumes over four decades of writing, publishing over four
million words, but their work ends with The Age of Napoleon,
somewhat short of 2014. Our finitude as humans is not a good
match for such a large and epic task.
Dr. Durant once wrote, “Civilization is a stream with
banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people
killing people, stealing, shouting and doing things historians
usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build
homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry . . .
The story of civilization is what happened on the banks.”
The strife, to which I referred a moment ago, is a byproduct of our all-too-human management of this world, but
still, life “on the banks” proceeds. Education makes possible
and encourages a productive life “on the banks.”
On December 31, 1999, in Madison Square Garden, William
Martin “Billy” Joel performed “We Didn’t Start the Fire” at what
he thought might be his last concert as part of a tour. The
song is actually a story of history and historical figures from
1949 to 1989. Frankly, it is a dizzying array of disconnected
nouns set to
story of our
time. Billy
overlooking,
music that when taken together tells a story: a
civilization and our change – human change – over
Joel largely observed our life “on the banks” while
unavoidably, the strife in the stream.
Today, we do the same. We live our lives while positioned
safely on the banks. It is not really possible, however, to
choose the antiseptic and safe while ignoring loss of life,
barbarism, and threats to civilization. How can we accept and
rationalize that? We don’t, but we place our trust in something
much greater than we are. We contend for civilization in the
work we choose for our lives; and, we pray earnestly for
civilization in the broadest, most hopeful sense.
I admire so much the deep sense of caring I observe in the
people of Pepperdine. We live our lives “on the banks” but we
do not obscure from view or ignore the reality of this very
human world in which we live. We contend for civilization
looking for ways to help and to serve, and we hope for peaceful,
productive civilization during our lifetime.
The song we just experienced together, “Baba Yetu,” was
announced as the winner of a Grammy on February 13, 2011. A
simple video game inspired a song about civilization. Perhaps
it was just the beauty of the music and the authenticity of the
vocalists. Maybe it was a response to fascination with gaming
and clever computer generated images (CGI). Perhaps the concept
of good people living “on the banks” and changing the world for
the better was hopeful enough to inspire others to honor this
inspiring piece of music symbolically with an award. I simply
don’t know.
The music is inspirational, but the lyrics are hardly new.
In fact, the lyrics we just heard are rendered in Swahili. In
English, they read:
Our Father, who art in Heaven. Amen!
Our Father, Hallowed be thy name.
Give us this day our daily bread,
Forgive us of our trespasses
As we forgive others who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil
one forever.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done.
On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Amen.
Familiar words with meaning anew. Our horizontal
relationship with the world, our civilization depends ultimately
upon our vertical relationship with God.
At the end of these brief thoughts, one might ask “so what
is the call to action?” and here it is: I implore you with all
your might and learning to contend for the ideal of civilization
and all that is right and good in humankind to the best of your
ability. And, as you deploy your considerable talents, align
yourself with God in heaven, praying earnestly for peace around
the world and even here at home.
May God bless each of you abundantly in this new year.
Andrew K. Benton
President
Pepperdine University