Grace
So I have been thinking about grace a lot lately. Not in the Christian sense, but in the sense of having grace, being a person who is gracious. I had a lesson tonight.
I went to see a friend in the Backstage Theatre production of Beauty on the Vine - not only is a friend in it, but I had heard good things about the production. It was a good show, and I recommend it, but that wasn't my lesson. There was a row of six or so undergrad aged women sitting in front of me, and all of them, during the preshow and at intermission, they all had their cell phones open on their laps and were texting. That was obsessive enough, but two of the gals even opened their phones DURING THE SCENE CHANGES to read their texts and, I don't know, suck their electronic thumbs. I mean, it's a forty minute act, for the love of pete, don't you have the attention span or the respect or whatever to put the damn phone away and give the actors your attention? Or respect the rest of the audience enough to keep your phone closed and away while the scene changes happen? At least they had turned all noise off, so if they did get a text during the show it didn't beep or chime or whatever. Thank goodness for that. But seriously????
But then I looked at my own lap, and sitting in it was a friendship bracelet that I am working on for someone in my last cast. I had brought it with me so that I could use the spare minutes before the show and those during intermission to work on the bracelet. I hate having idle hands, and I love to multitask when I'm watching television, or sitting on the train or waiting for a bus, or whatever. And if I am to be honest with myself, if the lights had been up during the scene changes, I'm sure I would have taken the opportunity to add a few more knots each time. So what makes that so different from the texting young 'uns? Aren't they doing the same thing I am doing, taking free and idle moments and filling them with a task? Am I really making my evening better by sitting and fuming about how they are (mis)using their time in my oh so high and mighty opinion? Don't I say I learned my lesson in my 30s that it is a waste of time to try to change someone else's behavior? And where do I get off judging them when I am essentially doing exactly the same thing?
Each year I get older. I keep hoping that it's moving me closer to the time I will be wise. And gracious.
I went to see a friend in the Backstage Theatre production of Beauty on the Vine - not only is a friend in it, but I had heard good things about the production. It was a good show, and I recommend it, but that wasn't my lesson. There was a row of six or so undergrad aged women sitting in front of me, and all of them, during the preshow and at intermission, they all had their cell phones open on their laps and were texting. That was obsessive enough, but two of the gals even opened their phones DURING THE SCENE CHANGES to read their texts and, I don't know, suck their electronic thumbs. I mean, it's a forty minute act, for the love of pete, don't you have the attention span or the respect or whatever to put the damn phone away and give the actors your attention? Or respect the rest of the audience enough to keep your phone closed and away while the scene changes happen? At least they had turned all noise off, so if they did get a text during the show it didn't beep or chime or whatever. Thank goodness for that. But seriously????
But then I looked at my own lap, and sitting in it was a friendship bracelet that I am working on for someone in my last cast. I had brought it with me so that I could use the spare minutes before the show and those during intermission to work on the bracelet. I hate having idle hands, and I love to multitask when I'm watching television, or sitting on the train or waiting for a bus, or whatever. And if I am to be honest with myself, if the lights had been up during the scene changes, I'm sure I would have taken the opportunity to add a few more knots each time. So what makes that so different from the texting young 'uns? Aren't they doing the same thing I am doing, taking free and idle moments and filling them with a task? Am I really making my evening better by sitting and fuming about how they are (mis)using their time in my oh so high and mighty opinion? Don't I say I learned my lesson in my 30s that it is a waste of time to try to change someone else's behavior? And where do I get off judging them when I am essentially doing exactly the same thing?
Each year I get older. I keep hoping that it's moving me closer to the time I will be wise. And gracious.