The fiberglass burrowed its way into my skin. My thumb throbbed after repeated blows from a hammer. My shoulders ached from carrying gallon buckets of concrete. Despite this pain, I felt alive. Fulfilled and invigorated from a hard days work on a Habitat for Humanity project. Following the day of physical labor I sat down on a bench to take off my work boots.
One of my fellow workers joined me. I utilized the mutual moment of respite to query my fellow humanitarian. I was looking forward to hearing his thoughts and feelings on the project. I wanted to listen to the insights of another individual devoted to the task of bettering the lives of the less fortunate. Such a person was not to be found.
The person sitting next to me scoffed at my "hippy crap." He wasn't interested in helping his community or humanity. His motivation for taking part in the philanthropic effort was, ironically, narcissistic. "I don't care about the project," he said, "it just looks good on my college application." Further conversations with other workers revealed such sentiments were the voice of the majority. The people working for completely altruistic motives were few and far between.
Sadly, the resume building mentality I observed at Habitat for Humanity is not uncommon. This self-interested approach to life is becoming a disease, and it's spreading like herpes at a brothel. People no longer care about who they are. Instead they care about who they appear to be on paper. People are not doing humanitarian projects because they want to better their community. They are participating because it serves their own needs. Society is becoming obsessed with credentials, and consequently people are losing touch with what really matters.
To strengthen my argument, let me offer up some anecdotal evidence. First I want you to think back to high school. Remember the kids who graduated at the very top of your class? Does the word arrogant come to mind? I would venture a guess at yes. Did those pompous attitudes and that academic success stem from the fact that they were great communicators with tons of friends or perhaps because they had an ingenious outlook on life and a genuine interest in bettering their community? The answer is no. This is because those are not the type of attributes that move one to the top of the class or the top of society. The kids at the top of the class probably ate alone or with a handful of other self-centered elitists. They were probably socially inept or, at best, had the ability to make sycophantic small talk. Even more certainly, they did not ever espouse a unique and original thought. Instead they would opt to regurgitate whatever the teacher or the textbook said, thus gaining the participation points while avoiding the risk of being wrong. And, of course, they did not care about their community, apart from how it could help them get into a prestigious school. In short, those arrogant kids that finished at the very top of the class were not good people, but they did appear to be good on paper. Consequently, they were rewarded for their behavior. Society positively reinforced their self-centered, credential-building conduct and, in so doing, guaranteed the spawning of another generation of similar people. Unfortunately, this credential-building narcissism is not unique to the top of the high school class. It is taking hold throughout society.
Some may criticize the assessment of today's society I have laid out above. It is certainly fair to point out that credentials have always played some sort of role in our culture. Based on this knowledge one could claim this is nothing new, and therefore we should not worry about it. To some extent this is true. Credentials have been around for a long time. They have, however, never been as exulted as they are today. We are placing an extreme amount of emphasis on them and as a result severely damaging our society. Everyone is being forced to play the credential building game. It is no longer an activity exclusively pursued by the very top of the class. We are all being forced to partake. As a result we will soon become a society solely comprised of people concerned with how they look on paper. Who they actually are won't matter, but how their resumes look will. What is good is being shoved out of the way for what appears to be good. It is a massive movement that seems to be truly unstoppable. So why you might ask am I writing this essay? Isn't it an effort in futility? Yes, but it will look good on my PhD application.
Caleb Husmann husmancm@muohio.edu
