the imperative prompts: realizing life while we live it
by bam
“Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?––every, every minute?”
“No.”
Pause.
“The saints and poets, maybe––they do some.”
it’s these three lines plus the pause from thornton wilder’s “our town” that stopped me cold this week. released to the world in 1938, the three-act classic set in grover’s corners, a celebration of “ordinary people who make the human race seem worth preserving,” was once described by edward albee as “the greatest american play ever written.” i’m sure that claim is dusted over now, but its timelessness is proven. and these lines between emily and the stage manager, rising off the page after the commonplace litany of ticking clocks, and sunflowers, food and coffee, new-ironed dresses and hot baths, are the ones that called out to me across the arc of time.
it is the question that preoccupies me. it is the spiritual quest at my core: can i stay awake to the marvel around me? can i sift through the detritus and chaff that inevitably litter the days, and seize the glittering wonders? can i palpably know that these are the days i’ve been given to give what i have, to tap into the holiness within and leave at least some in my wake?
and thornton wilder was putting those questions on the stage nearly a century ago. and before wilder, and since wilder, countless sages have put forth the very same prod. are we awake yet? are we taking this all for granted? are we forgiving those who’ve trespassed against us, and asking forgiveness for the sins of our very own making?
we are meant to pay attention. we are meant to be kind. we are meant to love and love gently yet fiercely. we are meant to notice the ticking of clocks, the falling of rain, the sunglorious glow of one fat red tomato.
it’s the saints and the poets who sometimes remember. who point us, perhaps, in the certain direction. it was that reminder, the ranking of poets right up there with saints, that captured me too. that underscored and amplified a truth i know to be true: the imperative prompts so often come in the unlikeliest, quietest voices among us. in the script of a play nearly a century old.
where did you find your wisdoms this week?
pull up a chair 
henri nouwen always brings me wisdom. just now i read this, which fits as a piece of the puzzle above…:
“Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family.”
–Henri Nouwen
Grateful for the wisdom always found here. ❤️🩹❤️
❤️❤️❤️
That wouldn’t have been Mr. Hemmingway who insulted Mr. Wilder, would it?
Wow, I find wisdom here every week, although not sure I carry through with the revelations.
I’ve spent significant minutes each day watching papa cardinal and his fledgling daughter feeding on the sunflower seeds I’ve put out for them. Saw him still feeding her, placing a seed in her beak. Perhaps he is teaching her that my front yard is a safe place. Just stopping the inane busyness of my nonworking days, dulled even more by the constant loud thrum of the AC, to stop for as long as I like outside and pay attention may be some practice of wisdom.
I didn’t look at the running head before I read the dialog, but immediately recognized “Our Town.” One succinct page had me in tears. Something to print and put on the fridge. Thank you, wise Barbara.
dearest K, i cannot determine just who it was who slung the “effete and bloodless” barb at Mr. Wilder, who was the distant relative of one of my mom’s dearest of dear friends. sounds hemingway-esque though, doesn’t it? and they were said to be epistolary friends, so perhaps!
i love your description of the animations of papa and daughter bird — placing the seed in her beak, teaching her of the safe place that is your yard.
is it amanda’s birthday right around here? amanda the hardshell that is. why do i think it’s a late-summer birthday….
How kind of you to think of Abigail! My 60th anniversary with her was July 14. Mine, however, was a late-ish-summer b-day. I’m another one of those pesky Leos.
“Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?––every, every minute?”
Each week you, my friend, are the one who keeps this challenge to be aware and in awe in front of us – as you keep it in front of yourself. But we are human, and I don’t think any Divine Creator expects “every, every minute” – just gently encourages us to keep trying.
true, true. but in putting it forth again and again we might find ourselves shaking ourselves from our somnambulations. and the playwright (and poet’s) task is to point the question sometimes…if I find myself awake even a quarter as much as I wish I was, I’ll have lived a bit more alertedly….
Sweet friend,The word sunflowers in your blog caught my eye. I was on overload of ALIVE this week. A friend and I went to Beyond Van Gogh. Have you experienced it? I was on sensory overload with the interactive paintings and music. Yes I was alive. I became obsessed with the window frames and textures of scenes. Everyone there was moved and in an altered state! Well…that may be an exaggeration. It stopped my friend and I in our sandals! We didn’t want it to end and tried to keep the feeling going at Earth Cafe for lunch. Here’s a few pictures. As usual your words always awaken my thoughts.Love yaM
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hello beautiful! we did see an immersive Van Gogh a couple years ago here in Chi-Town but i think it might have been a different title, and thus maybe a different show. i too was BLOWN AWAY! i love love loved it. thanks to chair friend amy, i’ve spent time reading more deeply Van Gogh’s letters. he was deeply deeply spiritual. had wanted to be a priest. and seeing the sacred, drawing all the wonder to our attention, is very much part of his mission. it’s given me all new eyes with which to absorb his genius.
p.s. i love that down carolina way you are “stopped in your sandals” and not so much in your shoes!!!
BAMI’m going to my library next week and look for Van Gogh and his quest for the sacred.It amazes me that I now see him in a different “lighr”Yep…we still wearing sandals. Mother Nature plays with us in September and October. So glad you experienced the show too.M
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AHA Barbara, I was in Our Town as Emily and loved it, my second year of high school. A good caste made it a transforming experience that enriched my growing up years. Thanks too you for great remembrance.
you must have felt like queen of the world being chosen to play emily!!!!! what a beautiful memory!