We watch an actor portray likable characters over the years and then are shocked and dismayed to learn they are not like that in day-to-day life. I remember my grandmother telling about visiting a set where an old-time cowboy actor was filming and refused to ever watch another movie of his because he was very rude to someone on the set. Did she think he was perfect before that day? We watched Charlie Sheen implode before our eyes and suddenly it dawned that his TV character's life was not so funny in real time. I have worked in several industries over the years and I have never seen one movie or TV show that accurately portrayed life in those industries. Whose family was always as functional as the Huxtables or as hideous as Married with Children?
Real life is pretty intense, but rarely in a Hollywood way and never as Hollywood portrays it.
I remember a comment by Viktor Frankel in his book Man's Search for Meaning which spoke of the deep lessons he learned being in concentration camps during WW2. He says that the truly good people did not survive the camps because they would not fight for an extra piece of bread or to avoid the outside edge of a group being moved in bitter cold weather. No one makes movies about people who we truly think of as "good", yet "goodness" is one of the words used to describe the attributes nurtured by God in His children.*
I think of goodness as the ability to not strike back with each real or perceived insult or wrong.
I think of goodness as the ability to be tone deaf to a world that demands we "take action" in ways that don't reflect honor or justice or wisdom.
I think of goodness as the ability to be generous to folks who never in the wildest imagination will be in a position to give back anything more than thankfulness, and maybe not even that.
I think of goodness as the ability to consider that maybe the person who is causing us distress is IN distress and respond with love, forgiveness and generosity of spirit.
Oh, God of gods and King of kings, You offer goodness to us every day, not because of who we are, but because of who You are. Teach us to preach that by being a reflection of Your goodness to each and all we meet. AMEN
*Gal. 5: 22
Real life is pretty intense, but rarely in a Hollywood way and never as Hollywood portrays it.
I remember a comment by Viktor Frankel in his book Man's Search for Meaning which spoke of the deep lessons he learned being in concentration camps during WW2. He says that the truly good people did not survive the camps because they would not fight for an extra piece of bread or to avoid the outside edge of a group being moved in bitter cold weather. No one makes movies about people who we truly think of as "good", yet "goodness" is one of the words used to describe the attributes nurtured by God in His children.*
I think of goodness as the ability to not strike back with each real or perceived insult or wrong.
I think of goodness as the ability to be tone deaf to a world that demands we "take action" in ways that don't reflect honor or justice or wisdom.
I think of goodness as the ability to be generous to folks who never in the wildest imagination will be in a position to give back anything more than thankfulness, and maybe not even that.
I think of goodness as the ability to consider that maybe the person who is causing us distress is IN distress and respond with love, forgiveness and generosity of spirit.
Oh, God of gods and King of kings, You offer goodness to us every day, not because of who we are, but because of who You are. Teach us to preach that by being a reflection of Your goodness to each and all we meet. AMEN
*Gal. 5: 22
RSS Feed
