"You haven't read Witness?" was the question posed to be about a year ago, and hence Whittaker Chambers' soul was revealed to me these past few months as I read his story and those that shared in it through the turning of history, a history that feels bound to be repeat itself. For those that are interested in the Alger Hiss case this is essential reading, but what I found to be most profound in this literary undertaking, were the reasons why Whittaker Chambers became a communist in the first place and then why he left.
Some may ask if it was necessary to know about Whittaker Chambers background as a child and his excursions into the woods or fields. Did we really need to read about his study of the first world war, or how his father treated both he and his brother at the table? If we are to understand human action we need to understand the times that we live in and the geography around us, they shape us and who we are, and that is what I find so important about this read. Even more importantly, where time and place can shape us, there is also a way to be pulled out of "the box" we reside, and that is to be pulled to a higher calling.
Witness reminds one of Rod Dreher's timely read in 2020 that helped many of us pass through the tyranny of covid - "Live Not by Lies." Rod renewed the ideas of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn to not betray oneself even at the worst of times because of where it would lead. Whittaker shows us where it leads when we live the lie and then tells the enormous temporal consequences one needs to face to leave that lie. "Witness" may tell the tale of the Alger Hiss case, but the real story is to understand why it is so easy to believe the lie, then live the lie, and mostly to whom one needs to turn to to leave the lie.
No comments:
Post a Comment