Houdini Needs to Get a Job and Go to Church

The great handcuff king Houdini once received a letter from an angry stranger: “I have seen you perform once, but what good are you to society?” If an artist as great, iconic, and enduring as Houdini was lambasted with such questions, what hope do the rest of us in the humanities have? The impact of art on society is ephemeral in nature, impossible to measure, and always under debate. Art may nurture the mass of humanity emotionally and intellectually, but it rarely fixes the roads or makes the trains run on time. But why should that be the measure of our impact? And who is competent to judge the amount of good each of exerts on society?

Aside from some doctors, research scientist, people who take care of lepers and maybe the President this is a question almost anyone can ask themselves. And further, it is really necessary to be good for society? Should it be enough to be happy in your work and unselfish in ideas and actions? Most of us would be happy to just break even, to at least not have a bad impact on society. And why the assumption that our professional life is the beginning and end of who we are and what we do? For all Houdini’s belligerent letter writer knew the magician might spend his free time feeding and clothing orphans (which, in fact, he did, with the money he made slipping out of shackles). And what, I beg to know, did this angry man do for a living?

A couple of years ago I was quite excited to be appointed a research assistantship with an organization that researches and publishes the works of American philosophers. The day I got the job I also had a dentist appointment and when the receptionist asked me about my day I told her of my new position. She replied, “Oh, I don’t really approve of those types of jobs. I think people should be contributing to society. Otherwise it’s just a waste of time and money.” In addition to sullying my day, she filled my mind with ugly thoughts about what she, a lowly receptionist, thought she was contributing to the world. A class war had begun in my hereto innocent brain. I wanted to contribute to society, which was why I was striving to get out of my current job, and I was being told that it was not good enough. Adding to the world’s knowledge was a waste of time, but sending out dental cleaning reminders was not. These are petty thoughts on my part, but hey, she started it.

Everyone has a different idea of what the world needs. While passing out flyers about why circuses are cruel to animals the two most common responses are, “no thanks, I go to church,” and “get a job.” The first implies that by going to church once a week you are fulfilling all possible social obligation and the second that a paying gig is better than volunteer work for a good cause. To many people all the woes of the world could be solved if the layabouts (read artists, activist, single mothers, students) got solid work. Possible Houdini’s detractor was a shoe salesman who saw himself as a missionary, providing shoes to the shoeless at a good price. How can the joy and wonder Houdini produced compare to this rock-hard contribution? I say that it can’t compare, that it is in a category of its own. Our society needs both professions, even if everyone is not aware of the fact. Life is boring and empty without entertainment and cold without shoes. There is no need for the literary researcher and the receptionist to fight.