The Three Christs of Ypsilanti - Milton Rokeach [56]
“How do you know that he doesn’t pray in his heart?” Leon asked.
“Just because he doesn’t kneel down for prayers,” Joseph answered. “Nevertheless he’s entitled to a job.”
The discussion proceeded in a friendly way for quite a while between Joseph and Leon. Throughout, Clyde mumbled to himself. At the end of the session Leon said that religion and politics don’t mix, and Joseph replied that the Jesuits are so powerful that they run the government, which ought not be allowed.
Next day Leon was chairman, much to the disappointment of Joseph, who had hoped he would be made permanent chairman. Leon made a great effort to outdo Joseph in his conduct of the meeting. He raised various topics for discussion—Communism, socialism, capitalism, movies, government. Of special interest to us, in view of the chronic schizophrenic’s typical self-centeredness and inability to concern himself with the feelings of others, was that Leon apologized to Clyde; he didn’t mean to be rude to him, he said, or to leave him out of the discussion. Clyde, of course, did not understand what it was all about, or at least appeared not to. Leon went on to propose that taxation be eliminated, as it was in Rome, and also that the government be given control of water rights and mineral deposits. He then asked Joseph what he thought of this idea, to which Joseph replied that he didn’t think much of it. Leon accused Joseph of being a capitalist, and Joseph defended himself by saying that Leon’s plan could only lead to the decline of the country. Leon then retreated—to the position that the cosmic image robot should control economic policies, and that the biggest officials in the country should be made aware of the welfare of the poor. Shortly afterward, Leon suggested they adjourn.
The next day it was Clyde’s turn to chair the meeting. He said he did not want to be chairman, that he was not used to holding office, and that he would rather talk when he felt like it. Nevertheless, he called the men together for the meeting. He was not really able to play the chairman’s role effectively, but Joseph and Leon tolerated and indulged the “old man,” and the meeting somehow proceeded with him in the chair. The discussions, however, were primarily between Joseph and Leon.
The following day things did not proceed so smoothly. Joseph was chairman again. I went into the ward to tell him it was his job to round up the others for the meeting. He agreed, but said that he first had to go to the toilet. He stayed there for quite a while and when he came out he approached two other patients, rather than Clyde and Leon, and informed them it was time for the meeting. Then he approached still a third patient and asked him, too, to come along. All of this, of course, indicated extreme confusion on Joseph’s part. But the meeting, once under way, with the proper people participating, proceeded smoothly and Joseph did not repeat this bizarre behavior. When subsequently he was asked why he had rounded up those other fellows, he replied that it was just an intuition. I asked him if he felt silly about it. Joseph replied that he never felt silly, and that he never committed himself.
In the following weeks and months the pattern of the rotating chairmanship became well established, and far more easily than we had dared anticipate. It eventually became routine, or more accurately, stereotyped, and it continued so for some two years. Joseph became custodian of the Chairman List, a sheet dated and signed every day by the chairman-of-the-day. In this way the men had no difficulty keeping track of whose turn was next, and each jealously guarded his rights and allowed no deviation from the schedule.
The meeting typically opened and closed with a song. The pattern of singing became established one day early in October, when Joseph brought a songbook to the meeting. During the session, while Joseph was reading America, he and Leon spontaneously began singing it. As they did, both stood up, and Clyde joined them. From that day on, the men sang