Im reading “Blue Pastures,” by Mary Oliver, and this quote jumps off the page, grabs me by my reluctant neck, and says “Pay attention!” I hope it will grab your neck as well.

“…the most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to
creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and
uprising, and gave it neither power nor time.”

What permission do you need to set aside time? I have one suggestion! Set aside June 5-9, 2009 for the Next Via Affirmativa Gathering in Colorado Springs …

Gary Bradley

Permission Granted!

Reviewing a film for Via Affirmativa can be a daunting endeavor. I browse the new releases looking for a film to speak volumes into the topics of beauty, creativity or redemptive living. Indies usually do the trick.

Yet, shouldn’t I be able to glean, suck, pull, or wrestle an insightful nugget from any cheap flick? Isn’t the art of ‘seeing’ or interpreting just as powerful as the art of presenting or producing? I should be able to pick any movie and see God, see the divine, see wisdom, beauty or redemption somewhere, right? Even in a Romeo and Juliet type tragedy there are beautiful longings at play.

Yet tragedy seems to have sapped all my interpretive energy. As a resident of Minneapolis, the local news is a constant reminder of families still looking for their loved ones, still trying to make sense of the bridge collapse. The national news has moved on to new tragedies; mining accidents, hurricanes, and earthquakes that kill more than 500 with a single ground shaking hiccup.

Comedy. That is what I need. Not a smart comedy either. Something mindless and distracting. I quickly pull Wild Hogs off of the shelf and head to the register. I remember wondering as I walked out of the store, when is comedy appropriate? After 9-11 David Letterman and Jay Leno took a long break. There are times when laughter is insensitive. There are other times, like my evening with the Wild Hogs, where laughter seems to be necessary.

I have always enjoyed comedy as a genre of film, although I can’t say that I have always understood it. Much of comedy can be vulgar or exhibit over-the-top behavior (like the American Pie series). Yet, comedy holds a great power to take ‘taboo’ topics that get pushed under the social rug (like adolescent sex) and bring them to the surface by making light of them or poking fun at the seriousness with which we all hold certain topics—like sex.

Wild Hogs uses the comedy genre to rethink or revisit the often too serious and ‘under-talked about’ mid-life crisis. The DVD even comes with a serious tutorial for men entitled, “How To Get Your Wife To Let You Buy A Motorcycle.” I promptly watched it following the movie.

Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy play characters that each have their own complex mid-life crisis. They each have fallen victim to a less than adventurous life plagued by a son who doesn’t respect his father, divorce, a demanding wife, and social inadequacy. That is at least until the four Wild Hogs throw away their cell phones and hit the road dressed in leather.

Each of the characters explores (and conquers) their own identity crises by learning what it means to be a ‘poser’ and what it mean to be a real bike rider, a real man, and a real friend. The film is not nearly as shallow as I expected and I laughed out loud several times. If you are a guy, then this is a great ‘date movie.’ It embraces the man who needs to find themselves without neglecting (completely) real family concerns and responsibilities.

The combination of Allen, Travolta, Lawrence and Macy works like a charm even though Travolta and Macy are the only ones who really seem to get into character—at least a character different from which they appear to be in real life and in other films. This movie is a must see if you are a ‘mid-life crisis guy’ wanting to explore new territory in a light hearted way.

As for me, it was simply refreshing to take a break from the evening news, laugh with my wife, and renew the old conversation of ‘why I need a motorcycle.’

Much has been made about this Washington Post experiment. The blogoshpere certainly has had its say in the wake of Weingarten’s April 8th article, Pearls before breakfast: Can one of the nation’s great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? The Post has also published some responses to its own article here: Marching to a Different Tune.

Read below for a response by Susan Mohammed, Associate Professor of Psychology at Penn State University (posted here with her permission).

“One of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made”* was disregarded by 1,070 people hurrying past on the morning of January 12, 2007, completely oblivious to the gift in their midst. As part of an experiment arranged by The Washington Post, internationally acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell played six classical selections on his Stradivarius in L’Enfant plaza during the DC rush hour. The virtuoso, accustomed to playing for heads of state, standing room only audiences, and patrons stifling coughs deemed irreverent in the presence of such brilliance, was received by a mere seven people who stopped to watch, if only for a minute. After 43 minutes of sharing his genius, Bell was rewarded with $32.17 from 27 people, most of who dropped in their money on the run.

As it turns out, the God of the universe stages a similar line of experimentation…daily. Who will stop to notice the sublimity of a sunset? The awe-inspiring colors of a rainbow? The symphonic quality of birds singing and crickets chirping? Who will appreciate the value of a single moment in time? A deep breath? A beating heart? Who will recognize the wonder of a child’s infectious laughter? A woman nursing a baby? An elderly couple holding hands? Indeed, life’s most prized gifts are not heralded by trumpet blasts communicating, “Stop now! Do not miss this! Pay attention! This is important!” Rather, they appear without fanfare, in the midst of the daily grind, at inconvenient times…challenging us to prioritize the significant over the tyranny of the urgent.

This experimentation is not only limited to how we treat creation, but how we respond to the Creator Himself. The magnificence of His work is but an enticement designed to woo us into communing with the author, the composer, the architect, the origin of all things. All 66 books of the Bible can be interpreted through an integrative, dominant theme: God seeking to expand His relational circle beyond the Trinity and the angelic hosts to mortal man. With a relentless determination that defies comprehension, invitation after invitation is extended to experience God…as Father, Shepherd, Savior, Friend, and Lover. However, rather than heavy-handed and overpowering, His communicative methods are mysterious and understated in their delivery. To illustrate, He presented Himself to Moses as a burning bush that was not consumed, to Balaam as a talking donkey, to Elijah as a still, small voice, and to the world as a baby in a manger. The disguised nature of His approach requires that distractions be tuned out and our attention tuned in to be able to recognize, acknowledge, and appropriately respond to His advances.

Wherever, whenever, in whatever form, and to whoever it appears, the glory of God dares us to drop everything, stop dead in our tracks, and take notice. Tragically, however, in a world of warped priorities and an incessant flurry of activities vying for consideration, the priceless is often trumped by the trivial. Far more astonishing than Joshua Bell being ignored by the Washington populace is the God of the Universe being rejected by His own handiwork through His gift of choice.

*Weingarten, G. (April 8, 2007). Pearls before breakfast: Can one of the nation’s great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? The Washington Post.