I have resisted adding to the dialogue about the sublime to ridiculous saga of Rob Ford. Not because I don't have an opinion, but I tend to have an aversion to "piling on" to what is truly a human tragedy. I never voted for Ford and was concerned when he won the election. I did hope I was wrong, and that he would be adequate in the role. Not stellar, but adequate.
It is obvious from the media barrage, and the Fords taking to the airwaves themselves yesterday, that the true lesson here is the destructive nature of hubris.
The Hans Christian Andersen tale of The Emperor's New Clothes is relevant to what is happening in Toronto today. The story goes as follows.
A vain Emperor who cares about nothing except wearing and displaying clothes hires two swindlers who promise him the finest, best suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or "hopelessly stupid". The Emperor's ministers cannot see the clothing themselves, but pretend that they can for fear of appearing unfit for their positions and the Emperor does the same. Finally the swindlers report that the suit is finished, they mime dressing him and the Emperor marches in procession before his subjects. The townsfolk play along with the pretense not wanting to appear unfit for their positions or stupid. Then a child in the crowd, too young to understand the desirability of keeping up the pretense, blurts out that the Emperor is wearing nothing at all and the cry is taken up by others. The Emperor cringes, suspecting the assertion is true, but continues the procession.
(from Wikipedia)
Hubris (or pride) is one of the seven deadly sins. Its opposite is Humility. And I can't help thinking about how Rob Ford could have changed the course of his very painful public decline by showing authentic humility. His apologies are not apologies, they are excuses. He only seems to listen to those who agree with him, and just like the Emperor, disparages those who cannot see his "truth" as being "hopelessly stupid." He has rejected entreaties from many quarters to seek help, to step away, but he continues down this ruinous path -- ruinous for him, his family, his friends, and Toronto. The logic of his approach is unapparent to me, because had he stepped down, shown humility, before becoming a world-wide spectacle, sought help and then come back, well people tend to like a comeback story.
Rob Ford doesn't seem to be cringing yet. Unlike the Emperor, he somehow has been able to insulate himself from the assertion the he "has no clothes." Or perhaps he is cringing, yet he knows no other way than continuing this slow torturous procession to the predictable end.
Some of you may say well Ford is guilty of more than one of the seven deadly sins, and that is perhaps true. Yet none of the others are contributing to his decline as much as hubris is. In many a Shakespearean play, it has been extreme pride which has led to tragic consequences for the protagonist.
I hope upon hope that Rob Ford stops the procession, puts on some clothes and gets help, not just for his own sake, but for that of his family and of this magnificent city of Toronto.
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