Out-of-date Billy

Those who grew up around or in the navy-and-white tradition probably remember the "Ten Unchangeables," in both its list and song forms (I assume they changed the order between those two so that the hand motions to the song would work better, but the incontinuity always seemed a bit odd to me).

The list is important to the Institute teachings for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that those things that are on the list you have to come to peace with under the Principle of Design (be content, thank God that you are that way, etc.)

I got to wondering, however, just how unchangeable each of them really is. The following are what I have come up with so far:

1. I am one of a kind - there is a problem here in defining the scope of "one"ness. For instance, if someone clones me, the resultant person is still unique, even if their DNA is not. So in the sense that tautologically, because I am an entity, I am one and unique, this point is valid. Even a mass produced product, say a Pocket PC, were it sentient, would still be able to point to its uniqueness despite being built and programmed identically to every other member of its model. However, as to whether the things about me that are unique are unchangeable, that is trickier. For instance, height? While Sir G, at 5'2", may have his reasons for including this, there are hormonal, dietary, lifestyle, and surgical means of changing height, depending on one's age. So while the concept, I suppose, is useful in acknowledging that I can't change everything about myself, to posit this one-of-a-kind-ness as a concrete, rigid "unchangeable" is not readily done or explained.


2. Mom and Dad - two words: "Family Law." Perhaps unchangeable in the sense that it is the court, not yourself, who enforces their role in your life, but divorce, adoption, and state intervention can radically change who are actually in this role. If the Instute is concerned about actual biological relationship, the point should be disregarded altogether, since adoption is an important remedy for the many problems that may arise between the mere two humans who contributed your genes. Otherwise, while the idea can be helpful in the sense that you aren't responsible for many of the choices that formed some of who you are now, and in the sense that, for a child, those that are in loco parentis are probably there for your own good whether you like it or not, this isn't to say that you shouldn't be aware that change is possible under the right circumstances.


3. Brothers and Sisters - same objection as above. While you may not have a say as a child in who lives in the same house as you, it is hard to argue that blood forms some sort of normative bond which cannot be altered by other normative principles. Is there a reason you have to be on speaking terms with a sibling above and beyond the Pauline command to "if it is possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men"? And if for some reason it is not possible and it does not depend on you, do you really have a higher duty because the person is a sibling? And just how then are you supposed to do the impossible which does not depend on you?


4. Nationality - again, it is the normative aspects that are most troubling here. The United States was largely formed by those that just didn't fit in in the old world and who gave up on their ties to form new ones. If you, for any reason, feel like changing countries, you pretty much can. And if you have information the United States wants, they will probably help you do it ;-)


5. Mental Capacity - I have yet to hear of anyone stretching their mind to its capacity. Training is always possible to increase abilities in this area. Scared during a lunar eclipse because "the moon is being eaten"? Take some astronomy. Can't figure out your taxes? A little math goes a long way. Dictionaries, logic treatises, pills from Carini, and Mozart are all considered ways to improve. Don't give up on yourself. You're smarter than you think. And conversely, injury may take away what you have (see Regarding Henry, so don't think high mental capacity is unchangeable, either.


6. Time in history - ok, here I have to grant this one. Say what we may about time vortexes, relativity, and temporal instability, we don't have a reliable means of controlling this, and are not likely to develop it in the near future (not that the "nearness" of the future would matter if we did...). I'll take this time to just interject that the Puritan concept of "Providence" may be a better way to look all of these (insofar as they are "set" this way) than as an "unchangeable", since Providence not only reminds us of the personal care with which God crafted them, but that they are part of our service to Him. And insofar as they can be overcome, Providence placed them there, not as an "unchangeable" means of locking us into a particular state, but to then give us the grace and strength to overcome that.


7. Gender - I'm not going to use the song's term for this one and I won't waste much space wondering why this has to be separate from being one of a kind or what logical reason there is for it being this far down the list. However, while for the most part gender is definite, and very useful for such questions as constitutional definitions of marriage, it can be (and with some frequently is) changed. For a discussion of one aspect of this, see Washington Post, "New York to Ease Rules So Transgender Residents Can Update Birth Certificates" (link good until 11/21/06 or so). While there are a few religious arguments against transgendering (some less persuasive than others), it can be changed, and when it is, requires legal resolution of the resultant status.


8. Order of my Family - got nothing on this one. See "Time in history", however, since this is a subset of that one. As a side note, however, insofar as this point is seen as some sort of mandate for the way one will behave based on birth order, or how "counseling" should take account of the "needs" of a person based on the same, it may be "folk wisdom," but I wouldn't give it much more credence than the necessity of throwing salt over one's shoulder. You may be right some number of times, but it isn't wise, and it doesn't account for grace, and you run a strong risk of hurting the person you are trying to fix help, to make assumptions as to what their motivations and actions are. If it helps you understand what someone might do, fine, but if you are trying to use this as a charlatan's trick to demonstrate your sophistication and ability to solve things, you would do better to just befriend the person and work through it the hard way.


9. Aging - sure it happens, but this is a remarkably fluid concept. Scientific and medical research frequently comes up with things that look a lot like "reversing aging," like bone growth stimulation, skin elasticity treatments, and so on. As to whether aging happens to some extent, yes, it is unchangeable, but as to whether there is anything you can and should do about it, I don't think that is as straightforward. If a spot of foundation and blush can cover it over, or an injection can fix it, why not?


10. Death - I can't come up with anything on this one other than noting that just becuase death will occur doesn't specify when it will occur. You have to make preparations for death, but needn't feel compelled to die at any particular time just because the outlook is bleak.

So there you have the list, some of it more rant and less orderly treatment. Like many teachings from Big G and his gang, it suffers from trying to create a biblical mandate from extrabiblical reasoning. Does the Bible teach contentment, the importance of authority, etc? Yes. But the importance to them is that they are seen through the filter of grace. The thing is not that way because it is important of its own right, but because it is a means of bringing glory to God. For instance, any of the demon-possessed persons in the Gospels were only possessed for the express purpose of bringing glory to God and authentication to Christ's ministry by Jesus' casting them out. The item is not that way because unchangeability is a necessary atribute (more or less), but because changing the thing OR persevering despite dislike will glorify God. (And in support of that last generalization, I am now going to begin trying to figure out how a transgendered person's having made that change is glorifying to God. Look for a discussion on that point soon.)