The Greatest Bow
“Can I tell you what I wish I’d known…”
I couldn’t possibly count the number of times I have seen a bow. I haven’t paid particular attention to them. I’m a late 20th century, early 21st century American. Bowing is rather formal, and we are an informal culture. It seems that I operate on some egalitarian principle that no one is required to bow to me, and I need not bow to anyone. When I think of it now, it occurs to me that there is not much to consider.
William Faulkner said, “[T]he past is not dead. It is not even past.” We are fortunate, in a sense, if we can look at it that way. With this egalitarian principle, which is more imagined than real, we might just as well be in a past that is not gone. In so doing, we can experience and contemplate a bow the way George Washington might have.
Now, Washington surely bowed. It was still a custom in his time. But, it is an imagined bow that energizes me today. In the stage production of Hamilton, George Washington executes the most exquisite bow, which for me validates the custom for the first time…and for all time. The show is wrapping up, and Alexander Hamilton’s widow, Eliza is lamenting the passing of her brilliant husband. She says that he would have accomplished so much more had he lived. She states that he could have done more to end slavery had he lived.
The character of George Washington…essentially Washington’s ghost at this time in the production, is proudly standing behind Eliza as she tells Hamilton’s story. She mentions that she and her sister Angelica raised money and told Washington’s story in order to get the Washington Monument built. And as she switches to her lament about Hamilton, the character of Washington is surprised, and then humbled by the mention of not doing enough to end slavery. Washington is suddenly shocked, and then saddened, and bows a sudden, humble acknowledgement of his moral failing. I have never seen a bow like it.
And that got me to thinking. You see, I am embarrassed to say that I had never considered what if the United States had abolished slavery when it became a country in 1776. I have always known that slavery existed in the colonies, and then it was reconciled in the Constitution, 3/5’s, “land of the free…”, and all of that. We all know how that went down. It never really crossed my mind to consider what if “WE” had taken the extraordinarily brave step to forgo the status and profit of a slave economy, and make a principled stand on “freedom”, as we had…you know, kind of said that we did.
I’m mildly embarrassed to say that whenever I watch Washington bow like he does, it brings tears to my eyes. I feel his humiliation. For shame, George Washington. For shame, America. At the same time, I well up with optimism. This could be a beginning. We may be in the process of abolishing slavery in the United States now…in 2020. We are in the process of a radical tyrant-ectomy. Much of his support rests on racism, and a barely visible, fully operational caste system which makes some suburban white people, mainly men, to object to a flag, or a demonstration stating “Black Lives Matter.” “The past is not dead…”. To many, the suggestion that “Black Lives Matter” is offensive. You know, a lawyer said to me yesterday that BLM was started by Marxists. A lawyer told me this. I told him, you know, Marx was a lawyer.
I feel Washington’s shame, but we don’t have to fail this time. “It is not even past.” We can defeat slavery now. I still well up with tears when I see Washington’s bow. I also well up with Eliza’s hope and optimism. These happen simultaneously when I see the greatest bow I have ever seen.
Koshersalaami
07/25/2020 @ 6:18 pm
I think we can, though it will depend on how we define that defeat. When slavery ended, when Jim Crow ended, there were clear boundaries. One day you can legally own another human being, the next day you can’t. One day you can make and enforce laws that apply to Black people only, the next day you can’t. This is a harder boundary to isolate.
I think I’ll believe it’s completely defeated when I no longer see poor Black neighborhoods. Here I take my cue from Richard Rothstein. When the consequences of legislated persecution and institutionalized corporate persecution are no longer obvious, I think we’re about to knock it on its ass. I don’t know if we’re about to kill it.
Bitey
07/25/2020 @ 7:05 pm
Someday we will look back in shame that we did not do enough to protect life during this pandemic. Whether it is just consuming the lives of essential workers, or not providing for the millions who may lose their homes because of the economy in a coma, we are making the choice to save profit rather than save lives. While other countries arranged their priorities differently, they managed to protect their people. They don’t seem to struggle to determine who “the people” are like we consistently do here in the U.S. We will wear the shame of this a long time, like we wear the shame of not ending slavery sooner.
Ron Powell
07/26/2020 @ 12:02 pm
@Koshersalaami;
“I think I’ll believe it’s completely defeated when I no longer see poor Black neighborhoods.”
You’ll know that it’s been defeated when people no longer need screen names, avatars, and pseudonyms in order to avoid social backlash and financial retribution.
Koshersalaami
07/25/2020 @ 6:20 pm
Sorry, left out a sentence or phrase. When the consequences….are no longer obvious, I think we’ll have defeated it.
Art W. Stone
07/25/2020 @ 9:05 pm
For what it’s worth, I just left a comment on a FB posting that asserted that I was not willing to refer to certain persons from the past as “slaves”.
I contended the only way to think of the referenced persons correctly, to counterbalance the comments, was as “enslaved Americans”. I learned that from you, Bitey recently.
Bitey
07/25/2020 @ 9:38 pm
I often think about what my parents would think about our country and our world today. Mom would wonder why everyone is so vulgar. Dad would wonder how we could elect a man who is obviously an idiot, although he would never use the word idiot. At some point, Mom would shake her head and make the ‘tsk, tsk, tsk’ sound. Seeing federal troops in Portland, they’d be worried for our country. I’m worried.
On the other hand, there are several friends here who have principles which show that there will be an end to this darkness. It is disturbing right now, but with people like you and a few others, this will soon be a history lesson for this young century.
Ron Powell
07/26/2020 @ 12:12 pm
I have often wondered whether the contemporary nod of the head has replaced the ‘bow’ ,as you describe it, as a means of communicating acknowledgement or assent:
“There are varying theories as to why nodding is so frequently used to indicate acceptance. One simple theory is that it is a form of bowing, indicating that one is prepared to accept what another person is saying or requesting….”
—-Wikipedia
Bitey
07/26/2020 @ 12:49 pm
I think you are right about a nod of the head. I think the critical difference in the two gestures is the commanding authority of the gestures. A head nod seems to be one’s intellectual assent to an idea, as if one is standing at the door of one’s awareness and granting entrance. Conversely, a bow seems to be one requesting acceptance to an idea or social convention observed by a group.