An 11 O'clock Number

Fans of old musicals are probably familiar with the rousing 11 o’clock number in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which has the ascendant young window cleaner J. Pierrepont Finch belting out an anthem about a “Brotherhood of Man”: 

There is a brotherhood of man,
A benevolent brotherhood of man,
A noble tie that binds
All human hearts and minds
Into one brotherhood of man.

As the calendar slides into the last week of the year, it affords its own annual 11 o’clock number. Many of us are savoring the warmth of the season and pondering things greater than ourselves. We summon our own inner Pierrepont Finch and let the fellow feeling sink in.

                                                                                                     

One of my themes this past year has been that we need empathy more than ever. As we proceed with trepidation into a future marked by less reading, idiotic celebrity pageantry, and the ascent of AI, we need to hone our ability to feel connections with others. There is no better time of year to do this than right now. 

A total lack of empathy is a hallmark of sociopaths. But short of that extreme, we all go through phases when we are too busy for others, feel critical and judgmental, or fail to see how our actions affect those around us. This all happened to me just this morning while making scrambled eggs.

One need look no further than two of the most popular Christmas tales of all time, Dicken’s Christmas Carol and Capra’s Wonderful Life, to find recurring annual reminders of the need for interpersonal connection. Scrooge and George Bailey both begin as isolationists who only achieve salvation after finding their rightful places in the “brotherhood of man.” 

In my youth, I played Marley’s Ghost in the high school production of A Christmas Carol. I was always getting screwed out of choice roles and felt bitter that I was consigned to playing a lesser, warmup ghost. Nonetheless, I gave it my all and bellowed my lines about “the chains I forged in life, link by link, chain by chain.” I feel a special affinity with Jacob Marley and ponder his example of damnation because of his indifference to others every year at this time.

These sentiments may seem unlikely coming from a confirmed cynic. But if there is hope for Scrooge, there may also be some for me. 

 

It’s 11 o’clock, brothers and sisters. Sing it.

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