Shame

...let me never be put to shame...

 - From Psalm 31

The Psalmist is in anguish. Throughout the passage, he fears for his life. He asks God to protect him.

But what is the very first concern of a person in such danger?

That he never be put to shame.

Shame: something that someone else puts you to. 

We all want to be accepted by out community . . . by some community . . . by any community.

We want not to be put to shame. We want the community neither to shun us, nor to marginalize us.

And in our politics, marketing, and almost every kind of social construct, we get this. It's not so much getting good things to people, as it is shaming people that are in your way, so that they get out of your way. For we do not like being put to shame.

But at the same time, we want to be comfortable, and in some way, "happy." We are constantly at war with ourselves: one side wants to be distinct, independent, and to be noticed. The other side wants no trouble; wants to get along, and fit in, quietly.

This dichotomy may be at the root of the human experience. Self versus community. When the self is too ascendant (i.e. as in dictatorship) we have trouble. But when the community is too ascendant (perhaps, as in our times) we have another kind of trouble. Skilled politicians and marketers know how to appeal to both sides, and to keep them in conflict, so that power may be reserved to those currently wielding it.

At the foremost, though, for our times, society as a whole seems to be in lock-step, and in united focus, against the idea of "shame." They are trying to outlaw it. They would legislate a society where it is illegal to shame someone else, for any reason. 

But what is their sole tactic for fighting shame? Well, they shame those that disagree, of course.

 . . . Which brings us full circle, to the thing that the Psalmist seemed to fear, even more than physical harm or death: shame itself.