I was recently listening to a National Public Radio show that was featuring the works of the great composer, Ludwig van Beethoven. Among the works played was the Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op.13 known as Sonata Pathetique. The Sonata Pathetique was written in 1798 when the composer was just 27 years old and it was published in 1799. It has remained one of his most celebrated compositions. Beethoven dedicated the work to his friend Prince Karl von Lichnowsky. Although commonly thought to be one of the few works to be named by the composer himself, it was actually named Grand sonate pathetique by the publisher who was impressed by the sonata’s tragic sonorities. It immediately became a sensation throughout Europe.
Today the word Pathetique (pathetic in English) is also used to describe someone who is miserable or inadequate. The original meaning, however, the one used for naming this sonata, meant sad, stirring or heartbreaking. Throughout history, pathetic has also come to mean a moving emotion and often calls forth pity or revulsion. I define pathetic as a word for contemptuous, lack of respect, uselessness or worthless. I find many things to be pathetic, so here we go.
I find racism pathetic. The belief that different races possess distinct characteristics, abilities or qualities, especially so as to distinguish them as inferior (or sometime superior) to one another is just is not acceptable to me. The color of one’s skin, as has been proven throughout history, does not in any way have anything to do with much of anything except in the minds of pathetic individuals who use their beliefs, often instilled by misguided people who use their perceived differences as power to control. History holds truths that are just not studied and taught. Our country is young; it was inhabited for thousands of years before the entry of Europeans who had absolutely no regard for the indigenous people who were already here and established. Case in point, the Ute Nation – known as the Blue Sky People were established in the Colorado mountains. Along with the Ute population other tribes like the Apache, Comanche, Cheyenne and Arapaho utilized or passed through the same area, particularly in the foothills and plains. There arrived here 1,000 to 2,000 years ago. Following the influx of settlers and gold seekers in the 1850’s and 1860’s the Ute Nation was forced onto reservations along with other tribes settled in the contiguous areas. Learn about this in school? Doubtful. Taught in schools now, even less likely. I’ll just leave racism alone. Those English people were on a mission when they came here…
I find sexism pathetic too. My generation of women worked diligently and productively to achieve full social, economic and legal equality for women, expanding beyond the political focus of the suffragette movement. We broke down sexist stereotypes, dismantled patriarchal structures and gained personal autonomy in the workplace, family and reproductive life. We also enabled workplace equality, ended gender discrimination, secured equal pay and provided access to higher level employment. We advocated for our health and well being and control over our own bodies. We redefined traditional gender roles, saying we no longer were only suited for a domestic life, that the workplace was our place to grow and conquer the glass ceiling that was holding us down.
What is also pathetic to me is that some women, likely from male pressure in some way, still today continue to be dependent on men for their livelyhood. “Oh, he’ll take care of me, I don’t have to work,” is a sentence I hear sometimes. Having mostly no clue how the male brain works, I don’t know many men who want to be the sole breadwinner. Most I know want to be in a sustained relationship where partners are contributors not dependents and where partners are involved with the entire relationship entity and conceived through mutual thoughtfulness and progression. Thankfully I am not around many pathetic men and women very often. Certainly, it would seem to me that securing the right to economic independence would be a high priority for all women; it’s 2026.We need to pay very close attention to the males in our government who want women “barefoot and pregnant” again, making our country one of male dominance again. Pathetic!
Our educational system is becoming Pathetic. History is our source not to make the same mistakes as made in the past. The way education is delivered now is certainly in a new way! But history is being erased to eradicate our past and then when it becomes deliverable again, it’s leaving out the most important truths and events rewritten and the truth shoved into cannisters. Case in point, the event called The Greenwood District in Tulsa, OK, also known as “Black Wall Street” was burned to the ground during the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921. Records are being hidden and destroyed. Colleges and universities are being told to stop diversity, equity and inclusion programs, as if inclusion is somehow threatening to our educational systems. Thankfully Artificial Intelligence has arrived. Thankfully, ten-year-olds can access information pertaining to their world, and we adults can access what we want to know about. But what about the huge strides in providing education and training to individuals with disabilities. In 1975 gains were made through Public Law 94-142 to provide free, appropriate public education to this group of students who previously had been left out or behind educationally due to a perceived perspective that they were just throw aways and shouldn’t be a part of the collective universe. Those laws now are being unfunded and rescinded. Thoughts are changing as to whether or not education is a right for all. Pathetically being changed in ways that may take generations to recover.
I’m fairly certain that as my golden years numbers continue to climb, many of these pathetic situations will be revitalized and repaired. I’m counting on Stacy Abrams, Jasmine Crockett, Pete Buttigieg and other politicians to bring our country back to a place of stability and clear consciousness. Ken Burns hasn’t finished his profound depictions and descriptions. John Meacham, Doris Kearns Goodwin and other historians will keep writing. AND, Gloria Steinem is almost 92. I’m counting on her too!