What's In a Name? In Defense of the Prophet

Note on the May 1997 AR's Cassandra of the CAS Letter to the CAS Board from Sholom Feldblum, FCAS, CPCU, ASA, MAAA by Daniel F. Kligman

It turns out I was right.
But nothing has come of it.
And this is my robe, slightly singed.
And this is my prophet's junk.
And this is my twisted face.
A face that didn't know it could be beautiful.
        -Excerpt from Soliloquy for Cassandra
        Wislawa Szymborska, Winner 1996 Nobel Prize for Literature

In his letter to the CAS Board (published in May 1997 AR) Sholom Feldblum raises his voice in concern for the future of the CAS as an independent organization. His

concern extends to members, perceived vulnerable to the loss of this status: sole recognized practitioners of the art we call casualty actuarial science. Recently, the larger, more powerful Society of Actuaries made overtures indicating to some that it wishes to swallow the smaller organization; sooner or later.

This may remind one of Jonah, biblical prophet caught running from his destiny, drowning, who was saved temporarily-if only bodily-by a greater beast. On the face of it, this actuarial juncture, like the belly of that whale for Jonah, seems like a great place for a prophet to warm up his oracle. Practice makes perfect in any faculty, whether for Jonah who, as the tale goes, would have his successful 'say day' in Nineveh; or for Cassandra, who would, anyplace and in any case, be ignored.

One might ask whether Cassandra wasn't blessed by some inherent defect that rendered her perspicuously gifted yet fated for ineffectuality. The child prodigy, the genius, or the great athlete we infantilize into adulthood, are examples of such partly stilted humanity. It's possible Cassandra didn't hang around long enough in any one place to be proven right or wrong and find out herself about the result. The individual with his or her head in the clouds often is a flyer! Or, maybe it was an acquired characteristic that caused others to doubt her utterances, whatever way her muse blew. As that mythic tale tells it, her failures were rooted in the revenge of a very powerful suitor she rejected. Whatever the reasons, as an oracle this one couldn't cut it. Maybe she should have settled as a poet, a lover, among us. One always pays dearly for dalliance with a god.

Contrarily, Mr. Feldblum's rooted, challenging, sarcastic tone will certainly arouse actuaries and peripherally interested parties. I was struck by his omission (though strictly in accord with prophecy's partisanship), of the benefits of integration-to both CAS members and students. Cross-pollination, as a growth promotion strategy, is not limited to the biological realm. He also omitted mentioning any utility that might accrue to casualty actuarial, nay, actuarial science; and to the profession as it's practiced in diverse forums. And there will certainly be benefits that flow outward from melting borders, onto other bodies served by the profession; and further, to the public.

Still, maybe the CAS Board was due for a clarion (clannish) wake-up call on the general issue of protecting corporeal boundaries, if only to highlight a perceived need for re-prioritizing their concerns and debate subjects. And, maybe this call had to be issued by someone with Mr. Feldblum's professional track record and respected position within the actuarial community. Although, one hopes all members and students feel free, moved and pulled to speak about their concerns.

Though Cassandra's name was invoked in the AR article's title, Mr. Feldblum is not fated to be ignored, or disbelieved. I don't think his utterance qualifies as prophecy at all. For if there's one thing the prophet-type rarely worries about, it's money; especially the money of those around him. They're already worrying about it too much for his taste. Money is always out of the prophet's priorities loop; often he thinks it unclean, dirty. The prophet's sole concern for money is by virtue of its use as an ersatz measure for social equality.

Cassandra's problem, the failed-prophet's problem, is the common problem of anyone who struggles to define individual boundaries and establish borders in relationships, fuzzily between poles of separation and conjoining. This is an Herculean struggle for one who holds himself or herself always apart, simultaneously speaking for everyone, trumpeting in the name of some heavenly eschatology. Few people welcome change; and revolutionary change, the prophet's kind, is simply a nightmare. Most of us ignore our nightmares, especially when they no longer frighten us as a society.

As a person, the prophet's special difficulty is in finding acceptance, in fitting everybody into his worldview, including himself. He refuses to comprehend resistance to this expansive prescription; he doesn't understand all the clinging to borders. He is unsettled within his own, and will use the power of the word to unsettle others in their spheres. The prophet who has lost the edge, become complacent, grown fat so to speak, will sometimes lose the calling. Hopefully, this will seem to him no great matter, no great loss, as it did to the preacher in The Grapes of Wrath or to Prufrock in T.S. Eliot's poem.

Yet, there is an element of prophecy that is organic, nourishing, like childhood. It may reappear when we thought it, and all, was lost. And though it may be that a prophet's love was meant for himself, it was only because he felt that no one loved him. Poor boy, or girl. Lucky for us then, lucky for her, if she hangs around to accept a new role and spread the earthly gift of poetry. It's easier to swallow than prophecy.

So, in conclusion, if the CAS Board heeds Mr. Feldblum's call and considers the subtle shadings of 'society' within the broader context of actuarial science as art and profession, then his words will have been a fresh breath from an ancient zephyr rejuvenating our Indian summer doldrums. But prophecy? No. Certainly not the fire and brimstone kind. And I applaud loudly his thunder.

Endnote:
We need scarcely add that the contemplation in natural science of a wider domain than the actual leads to a far better understanding of the actual.
                                                                             A. S. Eddington