Justice may seem impossible to achieve. Friends, employers, or even family members may betray us. The world may seem (and in 2020, it does, doesn't it?) as if it is imploding because of violence, hurricanes, pandemics, and murder hornets.
Reading the book Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell reminded me that everything I read doesn't have to leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling or even be consistent with my world view to benefit me. When I had finished about half of Cloud Atlas, I was disturbed deeply but aware that I dare not cease reading. Mitchell weaves together six narratives in this novel that spans several millennia (the movie based on the book apparently squeezes it into five hundred years but given the religious evolution, I think the book requires more time to elapse between two of the narratives) linking primary characters in unexpected ways. Observations on what it means to be human and civilized emerge, as well reflection on the probable transience of what we think permanent. Some characters are disgusting, others tragic, and from both sets emerge heroes and antiheroes. I wondered, based on artifacts discovered in the earliest story and treasured family records in the latest, if there might be a circular time twist, but no one else whose review I read seems to have noticed such, so that probably is not so.
I'm better for having read this book, not because I believe in transmigration of souls or reincarnation (I don't), but because subtle undertones in each narrative suggest resilience of humans against greed and bullying (even at the macro national level). Concern for the vulnerable and the oppressed emerges in several threads. The indigenous native, the ethnic minority, the elderly, economic slaves, and religious faithful find advocates when they are threatened or abused. Abuse of natural resources, violation of cultural artifacts and intellectual property rights are addressed in ways that stress a concern for others who share our environment. Religious leaders and executives of large corporations are among the villains. But despite the fact that powerful evil people lurk in each narrative, hope persists (with one notable exception and even that has a caveat) and someone finds a way to do the right thing, make provision for success, or improbably just survives. The importance of seeking to help others is revealed by a statement near the end of the book, "In an individual, selfishness uglifies the soul; for the human species, selfishness is extinction" (p 508).
Groups of people express bigotry towards other groups or individuals and seek to kill them in several threads of this book. Such hatred has existed in history, and endures today. In American history, the relocation of settled, land-owning Native Americans in the 1830s, the treatment of African Americans during and since slavery, and the imprisonment in concentration camps of innocent Japanese-American citizens during WWII are among the horrors that people in power imposed upon more vulnerable populations. Conversations regarding the value of black and immigrant lives, attacks on Sikh, Jewish, and Christian places of worship in America, and harassment of women and physically/mentally challenged people remind us that we still have a ways to go in maturing as people and a society. Injustice does not exist solely in the realm of fiction.
As I reflected on this book, I thought about the prophet Habakkuk. His world was falling apart. He called to God for rescue. God told him that he (God) had set the process in motion to bring about justice and a return to righteousness. Habakkuk realizes his people's desperate straits, but also his God's power. And he concludes,
"I heard and my heart pounded; my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Thought the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior" (Habakkuk 3:16-18 NIV 2011).
Injustice and evil abound. But God is, and because he is, good abounds as well. Let us remember to choose to do good, and to love others as we love ourselves. Then, whatever befall, we will know that however bad it may be, good may still conquer, even though all may seem lost. Let's choose to keep living, and to help others do the same.
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