Shell Shock

All in favor of call centers moving outdoors when the weather is beautiful, say I…

 

I.

I took a lame (because it was five questions, and suddenly I am defined) personality test on Facebook and it said I was a sanguine. I really, really enjoy the word. The description was pretty accurate, and I enjoy it more because it sounds a lot like penguin. I am five.

One of the great hindrances to our spiritual life is our ability to be distracted. (I posted on this previously, but hear me out). As technology advances, our attention is demanded in even more directions. We’re in a hurry. We are entitled to immediacy (thank you, Google). Facebook, Twitter, blogging, text messaging and on and on and on.

I enjoyed the message of the movie Crash (I don’t think it should have won best picture) because I think in all of our busyness we forget to notice each other. I wonder how it will affect our ability to communicate effectively. I wonder how it will affect emotion. I wonder how many conversations and thoughts are completely misconstrued because of how advanced we have become. I wonder if we can even consider it advancement in the long run? Maybe I am dinosaur in my thought process…

I believe there are ways to be intentional in the way we Facebook…I just have not figured that out yet. I will say, today I found my long lost cousins and I find that small amount of time was completely redeemed.

The last time I saw my cousin Peter, I was around seven or eight. My family lived in Connecticut at the time, and we visited the city pretty frequently. My dad’s brother Ronny (my father, times ten) and his wife Joanna lived in an apartment in Manhattan. They had three sassy dogs, a winding staircase, and I loved visiting their home.

On one particular visit, Joanna decided to teach me varying ballet movements in the living room. Little did she know, I lacked all patience and coordination for anything resembling choreography, so our dance session was short lived. I felt like a grown up that weekend. I have no idea where my dad was (nice, Dad). Wearing a long, dark floral skirt and a lacy black long sleeved shirt (which sounds scandalous, but was not. Hello, I was seven), I felt like a princess living in New York City learning to become a ballerina.

Later in the day, my cousin Peter decided to take me out for an adventure. We hurried to the local grocery store to purchase a bag of peanuts. I was confused. I figured he wanted to go to a restaurant and throw the shells on the floor like my dad preferred. At the time, that was the only association I had with peanuts.

We walked and walked, and ended our trek in Central Park. Peter opened the bag and we waited just a few moments before squirrels started approaching us from every direction. This may sound kind of terrifying, but for a seven year old that loves animals, this was like a Disney movie. Varying gray and black squirrels came right up to me to snatch the legumes from my little hands.

The situation was potentially dangerous, mostly because of rabies and disease. The joke’s on danger! We were fine. I left with a precious memory, and now thanks to Facebook and wordpress I could be nostalgic today.