Jesus would invite Stubb and Marin to the bar for a chat
Politicians who groom and showcase themselves, having internalized ruthless discipline, are inadequate role models for people seeking meaning in their transient lives, writes Janne Saarikivi.
AT THIS TIME of year in the springs of the past, people died of hunger in Finland. The spawning of pike and the emergence of coltsfoot were eagerly awaited during the fasting period. Memories of abstinence include dry Januarys and crowded gyms. There, one can ponder if there is anything left of Christian culture.
In articles about Alexei Navalny, one thing is never mentioned, namely, that Navalny was a devout Christian. Journalists manage to overlook the obvious, even though Navalny seasoned his messages from prison with quotes from the Sermon on the Mount. Perhaps they don't see it because they are very middle class and secularized. But in Russia, the world is in a different position and craves justice.
Why choose death in a prison camp rather than the applause of opposition figures at seminars in Western countries? Because faith moves mountains and hearts. If Navalny's religiosity escapes our notice, how can we understand Africa or Arab countries? There, one does not need to seek exertion from the gym, and religion permeates everything.
WHEN politicians are asked about Christian values, the question should be what, in their opinion, moves mountains, but the matter is understood as a question of sexual identities. God is (false) dead, but without faith in something, one cannot even open a door. Therefore, we must ponder what our leaders believe in.
Our new president, Alexander Stubb, talks a lot about his worldview. In Karo Hämäläinen's biography Alex (2018), he talks about how he trains and eats. The future president said every night to his children: dream, work hard, succeed.
Another hugely popular politician, Sanna Marin, also talks about success. She encourages girls to pursue careers and "change the world". By her example, she shows how a woman from a humble background walks on red carpets.
Stubb and Marin showcase exercise and eating on social media, and Marin also showcases clothes. They are not stomach fillers, body warmers, and modes of transportation, but a thoroughly considered, posed lifestyle.
In Stubb's self-help mantra, sleep and success are linked. I wonder why I don't dream of success myself. I close my eyes: I see rotating, darkness-seeking light and the green front yard of my childhood home, where a hedgehog toddles. I never see myself in Hollywood or as the President of Finland.
I, too, support the rights of homosexuals and diverse family models. But when I look at our leaders, who are tormenting and posing themselves, I can share concerns about the disappearance of Christian values.
The center of Christianity would be grace and gratitude instead of self-discipline and success (I repeat: not marriage models!). The Palestinian carpenter sought friends among drunks, madmen, and prostitutes. He would have waved away EU studies, honorary doctorates in speeches at the stadium, triathlon records, and a healthy diet.
Four generations ago, people died of hunger here. Now it's warm and the belly is full, but we get anxious and urge each other. We still wonder what to eat, but not out of hunger, but out of abundance and discipline.
People should dream of their own future, but they cannot sleep. We are not comfortable, even though there is entertainment electronics, and we cannot find company, even though there are a million Tinder profiles. On TV, politicians talk about how badly things are going, sometimes about the economy, sometimes about security threats.
The carpenter also lived in economically bad times. The security situation was terrible. The rich oppressed the poor, the Jews Samaritans, and the Romans Jews. The same thing happens in Palestine today. But he said, let's not worry about food or clothing now, instead, let's look at the birds of the sky. They do not worry about the state of the government's finances, not even airspace violations.
OUR distress does not stem from a lack of opportunities for success, falling behind the growth rate of Sweden, or even that another neighboring country is a dictatorship. It is due to the lack of an accepting community and therefore the lack of humanity and grace. Posing and competition, or then degradation and hatred, fill the media and social media. They are two different sides of the same thing, comparison, and competition.
Where would grace come into the world? Children are scored at the maternity hospital. The family performance begins, where they are dressed in competition in ecological hygge mittens. School is scoring, even cavities are put into a database. And you have to get a good place to study to get exhausted in non-typical employment relationships.
No wonder people like Stubb end up as leaders. They measure every heartbeat and breath with the Oura ring. But ahead is a lonely old age in a service home. When a person's last expiration date has passed, successful relatives don't have time to visit, and then death comes.
Transient life is happening now. Something else must be sought than success and a career, meaning, significance, and connection to others. Here, politicians who groom and showcase themselves, having internalized ruthless discipline, are inadequate role models.
When was the last time they lost control and the miracle of life began? When they binged until they were sick, forgot and went to the bar to chat. The morning when plans were thrown away, and it was decided to have a lazy day.
WHEN the snow melts and Easter comes, churches do not preach that the inner hero has risen, and success and growth begin. Instead, it is said there that a human being is valuable even if lying in a gutter shooting oneself up.
The successful in Russia are not at the Harpin camp, but around Vladimir Putin, showing off million-euro watches to each other. Anyone who dreams of success looks at themselves through the eyes of others, forgets their own needs. Nor does he see others, for he is morbidly interested in what others think of him.
No wonder the word success is of the same origin as loss. And a fine career, which success leads us to, is also originally a narrow and deep pit where you can only go in one direction. There you get stuck.
However, I agree with Alexander Stubb that people should sleep well. For some reason or another, I sleep more and more all the time. I want to forget the world, competition, comparison, and tight, hurried leaders.
If I sleep for a long time, I wake up to find that I was not in a hurry. I see how beautiful the clay of a coffee cup is or what strange shapes there are in the stain on the kitchen table. I could stare at them all day. This is how sleep restores me to a merciful world, which is random and beautiful. And where success does not help or save.
Why should it? Things are better than a couple of generations ago or in Russia right now. Life is not a daily struggle for bread. I can curse the president in the country's largest newspaper, and I won't be sent to Siberia.
So I send greetings of grace to the new president. You said on election night that you intend to give your all to the country every day. But don't give in. The country will manage. Just do your job properly and relax a little now and then.
The author is a linguist and free thinker.
