Yesterday, when I went into town to do some shopping, we
stopped by McDonalds to grab some lunch, using the McDonald’s card
someone gave us for Christmas—it’s a very useful gift and we love it.
We supposedly have a storm coming in and we wanted to make sure we were
completely covered in the supply department. I don’t mind being snowed
or iced in, but I’d like to do it with milk, eggs and gasoline for the
generator-thank you very much.
Anyway, there I was at McDonalds eating my chicken
sandwich wrapped in lettuce with the television blaring in the
background. Since I don’t have regular TV at home, and only watch
internet programs, I found my attention gravitating toward it. A news
program was on and we were watching a “live” police chase in Houston of a
suspected bank robber. As we watched the chase, Robert looks at me and
says, “you realize we can’t leave now until we see the ending of
this.” I agreed. So, there we sat our attention glued to the screen as
the guy drove on the interstate, through back streets, his back right
tire blown out. I had to admire his tenacity. He knew he was being
chased by dozens of police cars, yet he just kept going. I had to
wonder, did he really plan this out? Seriously, who chooses a mini-van
as their getaway car? What drove him to do this? All these things were
knocking around in my skull. Then he finally pulled over, opened the
car door and ran, still being chased by police cars and even one police
officer on foot. After he’d given up, even though he was one man laying
face down on the ground surrounded by officers, some police men were
still bolting toward the scene as if he may still be a threat. One of
our men in blue tripped on the curb and twisted his ankle. I heard a
collective groan from the people at McDonalds who were all watching this
unfold. “That’s gotta hurt,” I heard someone say.
Then I thought, “this has got to be the best reality
television show yet.” It wasn’t baked up by some producer for optimum
shock value, the reality stars weren’t vetted out with auditions, this
was real-time television. Another thought came across my mind. This
was actually entertainment for us? Some guy, probably down on his luck
robs a bank and we as Americans are sitting around critiquing his car
chase and the police who chased him? We as a society are now in a
position to sit around and judge the actions of each other? I thought
about how I play the piano or organ at church and how many times people
have commented on my abilities or inabilities, whether I played
something well or not, as though I was a contestant on American Idol and
they were Simon Cowell. I have to admit that my first reaction isn’t
to quietly take their criticism or critique in a good way and thank them
for their opinion; my first thought is to tell them they are welcome to
play the piano their damned selves. This is the society of American
Idol. This is the society where we sit around and judge each others
ability to perform and feel completely justified in doing so. I’m not
sure this American Idol society, coupled by reality television we’ve
created is positive for humanity or advances our creativity.
Take care, All and remember to keep it real.
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