Why Chesterton is my hero

Back in college we spent some time studying apologetics classical style. We scoffed at the trite and superficial ravings of Josh McDowell; we dove right into G.K. Chesterton. The hard part about was that his best work wasn’t in writing an apology for the Christian faith, though his Orthodoxy is ranked among the best, it was in his fiction and his social commentary. He didn’t have to come out and say, “This is why I believe…” Chesterton studied the world around him, digested what he took in, and then proceeded to comment…on everything. He wrote just over 4,000 essays, 223 short stories and 82 books, not to mention countless letters. Let’s assume he didn’t start publishing until he was twenty and keep in mind that he was 62 when he died. That’s like writing two books, five short stories, and 100 essays each year. Granted, some of these books are small, but it’s taken me almost a year just to read a couple of them because they are so thick with meaning!

Anyway, what reminded me of Chesterton today was an umbrella stand. Strange, I know, but that’s how mind mind works. He has this one essay in What’s Wrong With the World called “The Fallacy of the Umbrella Stand.” I’ll try and put things into perspective the best I can here. He always critiqued everyone – Socialists, Anarchists and Capitalists alike. In this particular essay he is writing about how Socialists tend to blur the line between what should be public and those things that are private. They take personal liberties and creativity away by trying to force everyone into the same mold.

To illustrate just how great the Socialist’s misunderstanding of human nature is, he states that a Socialist is “a man who thinks a walking stick and an umbrella the same because they both go into an umbrella stand.” As if the two are not different enough, he continues the illustration and describes their respective qualities. The umbrella is a shield, shelter and a convenience. The walking stick is a sword, ceremonial and a pleasure. This is my favorite quote

An umbrella is a necessary evil. A walking stick is a quite unnecessary good. This, I fancy, is the real explanation of the perpetual losing of umbrellas; one does not hear of people losing their walking sticks. For a walking stick is a pleasure, a piece of real personal property; it is missed even when it is not needed. When my right hand forgets its stick, may it forget its cunning. But anybody may forget an umbrella, anybody can forget a necessary thing.

Though the two items may seem similar as you see them sticking out of the umbrella stand, their soul and function are completely opposite. I guess all of this rambling is to say that I wish I was cool enough to use a walking stick every day…

(For the record, I really don’t know where my umbrella is, but my walking stick is in the basement leaning against some shelves.)