Making Simple Things Complicated

In Algebra I class, we often discuss how the work we are doing is not really high level math. Rather, we are doing a bunch of math steps that an elementary school student could do. For instance, solving a multi-step linear equation involves only addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The key is learning the steps. One comparison we like to make is to a party dance, like the Cha Cha Slide. There are no back flips, head spins, or other complicated body movements in this dance. If you can walk, clap, hop, and stomp then you can Cha Cha Slide. Unfortunately, it seems to be human nature to lose sight of the basic nature of so much that we do.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus delivers one of the clearest messages possible. When asked by a scribe which commandment takes priority over the others, Jesus responds, “The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Pretty simple, huh? Love God and love each other! Of course, we have seen basic instructions from God before. The Ten Commandments are written at a relatively low Lexile level. “Thou shall not kill.” “Thou shall not steal.” Neither those commandments nor Jesus’ message are anything we do not already know. Just like in

Algebra or party dances, it is stuff we have known since we were children. So why do we tend to make a mess of it all?

The most obvious answer is that we are human. We do our best, we mess up, and then we try again. Yes, it is frustrating, and the distractions of life tend to make the easiest decisions more difficult because we worry how our choices will affect us professionally, academically, socially and financially. In the end though, we know we will be judged on two things. Did we love God? Did we love our neighbor? Lent gives us the perfect season to focus on these teachings, and the chance to stop making simple things so complicated.

Author: Tom Perez, Mathematics Department