People seem to have the impression that I am grumpy, surly and otherwise unpleasant of company. As I look around and view so many people, all around, it seems to me that so many are quite the opposite. Smiley, the life of the party, just plain giddy. What is happening here?
I believe some definitions are important to make. I am not talking about joy. Joy is not an emotion but a state of mind, a state of understanding. Because we are Christians, we are joyful. Because we know the incredible sacrifice Jesus made for us, we are joyful. Because we know that we serve a God of love, who will do good for us, we are joyful.
I am talking about happy, about distraction. It is far too easy to forget, to not think about reality or to be distracted by the trifles of this life. If we spend any time at all looking at what happens every day, there is much to grieve over. There is so much suffering, so much evil, so much wrong. We ought to weep with those who weep. We come into God's presence in the Divine Liturgy and are built up and strengthened by the sacraments. We then should go out into the world and love our neighbor. We should be moved to tears at all the wrong, so much of which we can do nothing about, but pray.
So I am not grumpy, surly or otherwise, I am joyful but torn up by so much sin, mine and the effects of global, cultural sin.
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Just plain giddy
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I never cared for being told to smile when I wasn't in a smiling mood, in photographs or in public; it always felt contrived to me and my awkward forced smile inevitably became immortalized on a glossy 7x9 photograph and distributed among the family...as if my childhood bowlcut was not a sufficient source of embarrassment. I noticed in old-timey photographs of people that they never wore fake smiles but rather, practiced facial restraint and were rewarded with an image of timeless dignity. I'm sure joy is not a recent discovery, but rather, perhaps keeping ones composure is a lost concept. Some cultures are observably stoic, others seem to border on emotional incontinence. I am of the mind that keeping a tight rein on ones displays of emotion is a facet of proper conduct, especially for a man. As a consequence though, probably much like yourself, I am regularly assumed to be much more somber or serious than I really am, possibly even bland. But, still waters may run deep, as we know, for those who care to plumb their depths. I once read an old warrior-philosopher adage that advised, even if a mountain were to be uprooted before your eyes, your face should not change. As you said, there is considerable seriousness in world events to consider, just as there is unfathomable joy for those who care to embrace it - but it behooves us to do either with composure.
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