An Impartial View

Ruth Cole is one of my favourite fictional characters.  Since first reading John Irving’s masterful A Widow for One Year in graduate school I have kept an image of Ruth in my mind.  I love how, on the one hand, she is deeply flawed and vulnerable, yet, on the other she is tough and feisty.  This yin and yang combo makes me want to root for her and protect her at the same time.

I recently re-read Widow.  My bookclub had just read A Prayer for Owen Meany, and I felt an intense hunger for more Irving.  Ruth beckoned, and she did not disappoint.  On re-reading I realized that I still adore Ruth, only now I identify with her more as a peer than simply a character.

Widow is an intense, emotionally charged novel that explores themes of loss, abuse and abandonment.  Knowing that, even if you haven’t read the book, it might seem odd to hear that one of the scenes that struck me most this read involves Ruth’s reaction to her German readers wanting her to be more “political.” Against a backdrop of impending German re-unification, Ruth’s German readers hunger for more of her than she is willing (or able) to give.  They see her as a social commentator while she sees herself as a storyteller.  Her sales rep explains:  “your books are political but you aren’t.”(p. 348)

This scene struck me on two levels.  First, I relate to it as a consultant.  One of the hardest parts of consulting, or at least for me, is remaining an impartial observer hired to help change or tell a story.  In my opinion, it is a tremendous skill to maintain an air of neutrality no matter how strong the urge to interject.  Holding back some of one’s self is essential to having the credibility to tell the story in way that resonates with a wide audience and not just one group of constituents.

I also think we all have something  to learn from Ruth.  We need more independent observers in all walks of life.  Social problems are inherently political but how we tackle them day-to-day does not need to be.  Someone’s inherent bias (and we all have one) should matter less than their unique take on a possible solution.  Being engaged in social issues is healthy for society; constantly politicizing solutions is not.

Maybe the over-arching lesson is to put less stock in pundits, and give ourselves over to a good book!