Schubert Was Crazy

I'm on my third rewatch of The West Wing (but admittedly the fifth or sixth rewatch of Season 1). In the words of Josh Lyman re this awestruck, giddy feeling: "It doesn't go away."

Perhaps this feeling as it relates to The West Wing will be the subject of a future blog post, as I'm remembering just how many meaningful memories I associate with the show. You could say The West Wing is my Harry Potter.

Nevertheless, awe more generally is on my mind today (thanks in no small part to The West Wing, of course). I recently finished Season 1 Episode 5, "The Crackpots and These Women," not Aaron Sorkin's best work but a classic regardless. Yet only on my fifth or sixth rewatch am I discovering the error of my ways: I've never appreciated what amounts to a truly genius scene that comes near the end of the episode. I'm talking about the Ave Maria scene. (Given the scene is couched in a handful of other genius scenes who can really blame me? But you get my point.)

Often when I hear a piece of music or see a work of art that moves me, I recall a different scene, from Season 2 Episode 10, "Noel," when a traumatized Josh is speaking to his psychiatrist about Yo-Yo Ma's performance of Bach in G Major. "He's really... he's really quite something," Josh muses. Those words have burst to mind a dozen+ times.

But it turns out this is a Sorkinism we've seen before, namely in "The Crackpots and These Women." There's all kinds of backstory relating to his sister's death that explains why Josh is fixated on Ave Maria, but I won't get into it.

The scene is this: Josh, WH Deputy Chief of Staff, and C.J. Cregg, WH Press Secretary, are talking about the threat of a nuclear catastrophe. Josh has been fixated on this hypothetical Armageddon since receiving a "card" that prioritizes his life over the lives of his friends. In the midst of spitballing doomsday scenarios, he asks C.J. if she knows the piece, Ave Maria. Really you should just watch the scene for yourself. It's great.

Can you guess my favorite part? It's Josh's observation: "Miraculous." Just like in the later Yo-Yo Ma episode, Josh is consumed by tragedy, chaos, despair, and the sense of hopelessness that surrounds him. Yet for a second he steps outside of it all and is deeply affected by the beauty of something others might call trivial given the context. The Deputy White House Chief of Staff is choosing to focus his time and energy, just for the briefest moment, on appreciating a profound piece of art. 

The West Wing holds up for many reasons (Season 1 Episode 4, "Five Votes Down," is about gun control and a dysfunctional Congress hellloooooo). But chaos, despair, negativity, and good vs. evil are consuming MY thoughts lately - again, who can blame me? - so the relevance of this Josh-C.J. moment hit me like a wave.

Social media, 24-hour news, rapidly advancing technology and communication, blah blah blah blah blah you know the story. All of it is a "little test tube with a rubber cap," toxicity itching to be set free by a single sleight of hand, as Josh describes in his dialogue with C.J.

The point is this: I would love to hear more about what moves people. What moves them to tears, what moves them to be better, what moves them to have hope. We could all be cynical for the rest of our lives and we would be justified. My love language is "venting to anyone with a pulse." I know this. But I also like to think I've maintained a sense of wonder that brings me deeply rooted joy when everything else around me suggests there's no place for it.

Would I be remiss if I didn't invoke Wonder Woman now? ABSOLUTELY. Because for all the CGI criticism it received, the scene where Ares urges Diana to murder the woman responsible for systematically poisoning thousands of innocent women and children is a personal favorite. Why? Because Diana doesn't do it. "Be careful in the world of men, Diana. They do not deserve you." It's all true. What Dr. Poison (wow is this the geekiest blog post I've ever written? Probably) does deserve is to die for her crimes. Justice demands it.  

Justice also demands we be outraged, unforgiving about everything that is wrong in the world, and that we MAKE. IT. RIGHT. I get this. I think Javert is the most relatable and brilliantly crafted character of all time, ok? My internal natural man is Javert. Javert is NOT a bad guy and I will feel a kinship with him to my dying day. But what if we are ignoring all that is truly "miraculous" as a result?

"Schubert was crazy... Do you think you have to be crazy to create something powerful?"

I think you have to be crazy to let powerful beauty pass you by. And you will note that throughout the entirety of the scene above, Ave Maria continues playing even as cataclysmic destruction is discussed. The question is whether Josh and C.J. take the time to notice. (As we have emphasized, they do, but ohhhh so very briefly.) 

John Steinbeck said this: 

"All the goodness and the heroisms will rise up again, then be cut down again and rise up. It isn't that the evil thing wins - it never will - but that it doesn't die."

Let's fight the evil thing with all of our might. But let's not do it by killing all the beauty around us and discarding its carnage as if it never really mattered to us, as if we never really cared. Then we are left with the evil thing - which doesn't die -  and nothing beautiful at all.