I stared at the cherry pie on the counter. Half of it was gone, the remainer was neatly cut into the typical four pieces, as pies generally are. Why? I asked myself why I would want one piece? I'm sure the symmetry was beautiful when the pie was whole. And easy to cut? Yes. Symmetry and laziness in a pie. But listen. I'm a big guy. I've been bigger, sure, but I know my body. I exercised and dieted my way from morbidly obese to overweight, according to the much-maligned BMI scale. I can eat more than one piece and not suffer adversely. Fine, why not just take two?
Do you have a microwave oven where you have to input the cooking time on the front panel? I caught myself one day entering 2:00 to cook a plate of leftovers. I stopped and asked myself, why 2:00? My second choice was 3:00. WHY?? In this world, we are surrounded by social constructs. Stop at the redlight for 20 seconds, it turns green, you have 20 seconds to navigate the intersection. Punch the timeclock, with a two minute allowance either way. Sit down, be quiet, turn cellphones off here, no chewing gum. Most of these are purposed to allow us as people to live together in society as peaceably as possible. And when someone disturbs the peace, look out! He ran a redlight! You can't smoke in here! Your dog can't come in here, it doesn't matter if only his nose is sticking out of your purse!
Have you tried letting your phone ring, and just listening to it ring without giving in to the urge to pick up the call? No looking at the caller ID, that's cheating! Have you tried inputting 2:32 on your microwave? We're all victims of social constructs, to the point where they invade our thought processes and deeply affect our personal lives. Yes, you have been conditioned. I'm not saying its necessarily a bad thing. The bad thing is to be unaware.
I took two pieces of pie, and thoroughly enjoyed every bite. I could have cut the second piece into a five-eighths/three-eighths split, but I didn't. I actually thought about it, but I didn't. And its not because I'm symmetrical.
I once had a music director who would always assign odd times for everything. We would begin music practice at 6:24. We would meet at the bus at 3:12. We would eat lunch at 12:46. Some people really got upset with him doing this, but he didn't care. He was not trying to just be rebellious, he just wanted people to loosen up a little. He was our Minister of Music in a good 'ole Southern Baptist church back in the early 70's. Other than this area, he totally fit the stereotypical church music leader. I always thought his idea about being confined to time was very cool. I try to do it myself occassionally.
ReplyDeleteBut sometimes I forget and get caught up in the symmetry of life and time. I really like symmetry, but I know that sometimes it's good to be different. Self-challenging.