I am a huge fan of the musical Les Miserables. When I was in elementary, I read a short version of the novel written by Victor Hugo and a full version in college and I quite enjoyed it, but it was the musical that made me fall in love with the story. I consider Les Miserables an epic, spanning decades and interweaving dozens of plots to point towards the narrative of Jean Valjean, the man who spent years in prison for stealing food. He could have been jailed for a short while, but he frequently attempted to escape thus his sentence prolonged. When he finally got his parole and desperate to start his life again, he resorted to stealing silver candlesticks from a bishop, the only person who looked on him and treated him like a normal person.
I cannot help but remember the story of Jean Valjean during the discussion of the philosophy of encounter of Emmanuel Levinas. Going above ethical principles, Levinas worked out his ideas of relationship and personhood based on encounters with other people. For Levinas, encountering another person places him to a spontaneous act of responsibility. In fact, he argued that it is the encounter with other people that marks the start of true ethics. In ways grand and minute, I agree with Levinas on this based on an observation and personal experience of treating people differently depending on many factors. For example, there were times when several people will ask to borrow something from me, but I respond differently to each depending on how close they to me are, their credibility, and many other factors. But regardless, the situation compelled me to act and, in the process, challenged my convictions and values.
Here, Levinas challenged us to look into the face of the Other to genuinely engage with them, to make a response. And regardless of what the response will be, it is an evidence that we are obligated in some way and some form towards the other.
Going back, I relate this encounter with the face to the story of the bishop and Jean Valjean. Too many a time, Jean Valjean was looked down by the society. An ex-convict seemed to have no place in the French society. Yet here is an old and wise man who showed Jean Valjean that since they have encountered each other, he is responsible for Valjean’s soul. In simple gestures and very few words, the bishop showed Valjean that he is a good man despite all the negative things that others told him otherwise. The kindness of the bishop was the impetus for Valjean to live an honest life, carrying with him the silver candlesticks across time as a visible reminder of his duty towards others. Thus, circling back to what ethics is – the quest for the good for the other.
What do we owe to each other? In my life, I have always striven to insist that I should treat everyone the same with equal dignity and respect. While I only learned much of it from things I read and from observing others, I can say that I am (more or less) consistent in applying good behavior towards others. For example, I make sure to call waiters and salesladies by their names as a sign that he or she matters to me and just some transactional entity. In a world that is cruel and relationships are reduced to give and take, the least that I can do is to be kind.
I think perhaps this is the reason why God became man just like us. He wanted to encounter us in the level that is very humane and very ordinary so that each encounter with another person will have depth and holiness. Our God is a god of encounters. What you do to the least of your brethren, you do to Me. In this season of advent, I am challenged to make more genuine encounters by looking at the face of the others and choose to act in love and compassion. Any philosophizing will not matter if it does not make my heart grow fonder.
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