Hello. My name is Fran.
Today is Palm Sunday, and the first day of Holy Week. The Judeo/Christian tradition treats spring as a time for reflection, renewal, and repentance. It is a time to make peace with your God, and to celebrate man’s deliverance from the evils that lurk in the shadows of men’s souls. The trouble is, where does one find God?
These past several years it has become more difficult. 9/11 has reshaped our view of our country. We are prosperous, but we have to work harder than we ever worked before to maintain that prosperity. The divide between rich and poor, the computer literate and the computer illiterate, those with education and those without, is growing daily. Political rancor is at an all time high. The media is untrustworthy. We want to live moral lives, but it is a growing struggle. I saw an ad for the A&E Channel on television the other day for a new reality series that will air next week. It is called Sons of Hollywood. Its promo reads: “Our lives are better than yours. Drugs, sex and rock ‘n roll.” Is God there?
So I take God wherever I can find Him, and sometimes He is in the most unexpected of places. Last night, my wife went to the Oakland Theater, downtown, to see a local production of an off, off Broadway play called The Book of Liz. It is a satirical farce about life in the Amish community. It borders on ridiculous, but is hysterically funny all the way through. The cast did an excellent job of hooking the audience into the premise, and it was off to the races.
The theater itself is an old Elks Lodge. For the healthy, it is a hefty two flights of steps to the third floor theater area, and two flights back down when the show is over. At the end of the performance, as my wife and I were walking down the wide, marble steps, we noticed walking next to us was a man and his almost teenage daughter, who suffered from mongolism. Dad was trying hard to keep the daughter on the straight and narrow going down the steps.
But she held back so she could walk next to us. She stopped, looked up at us, and firmly stuck out her hand saying, “Hello. My name is Fran. What’s yours?” I was taken aback by the look of absolute and complete innocence and joy on this young girl’s face, standing there smiling at me with her hand held out in friendship. I shook her hand and told her my name. She replied back to me, “Hi Mark. I am glad to meet you. I am wearing my favorite shirt tonight. It says Steelers. Do you like the Steelers?” I answered yes, that my family are Steelers fans. She was ecstatic. “Yessss!!!!” She exclaimed. And then gave me a high five. She was out with her Dad for a night on the town, and she was having the time of her life.
God was in that challenged girl’s face, on the steps of the Oakland Theater, in downtown Youngstown, Ohio, on Palm Sunday eve, 2007. For a moment, Fran’s reflected joy was brighter than any of the ugliness to which we are subjected on a daily basis. I take God wherever I can find Him, and I definitely found Him there. Whatever your faith, have a joyous Easter season.
These past several years it has become more difficult. 9/11 has reshaped our view of our country. We are prosperous, but we have to work harder than we ever worked before to maintain that prosperity. The divide between rich and poor, the computer literate and the computer illiterate, those with education and those without, is growing daily. Political rancor is at an all time high. The media is untrustworthy. We want to live moral lives, but it is a growing struggle. I saw an ad for the A&E Channel on television the other day for a new reality series that will air next week. It is called Sons of Hollywood. Its promo reads: “Our lives are better than yours. Drugs, sex and rock ‘n roll.” Is God there?
So I take God wherever I can find Him, and sometimes He is in the most unexpected of places. Last night, my wife went to the Oakland Theater, downtown, to see a local production of an off, off Broadway play called The Book of Liz. It is a satirical farce about life in the Amish community. It borders on ridiculous, but is hysterically funny all the way through. The cast did an excellent job of hooking the audience into the premise, and it was off to the races.
The theater itself is an old Elks Lodge. For the healthy, it is a hefty two flights of steps to the third floor theater area, and two flights back down when the show is over. At the end of the performance, as my wife and I were walking down the wide, marble steps, we noticed walking next to us was a man and his almost teenage daughter, who suffered from mongolism. Dad was trying hard to keep the daughter on the straight and narrow going down the steps.
But she held back so she could walk next to us. She stopped, looked up at us, and firmly stuck out her hand saying, “Hello. My name is Fran. What’s yours?” I was taken aback by the look of absolute and complete innocence and joy on this young girl’s face, standing there smiling at me with her hand held out in friendship. I shook her hand and told her my name. She replied back to me, “Hi Mark. I am glad to meet you. I am wearing my favorite shirt tonight. It says Steelers. Do you like the Steelers?” I answered yes, that my family are Steelers fans. She was ecstatic. “Yessss!!!!” She exclaimed. And then gave me a high five. She was out with her Dad for a night on the town, and she was having the time of her life.
God was in that challenged girl’s face, on the steps of the Oakland Theater, in downtown Youngstown, Ohio, on Palm Sunday eve, 2007. For a moment, Fran’s reflected joy was brighter than any of the ugliness to which we are subjected on a daily basis. I take God wherever I can find Him, and I definitely found Him there. Whatever your faith, have a joyous Easter season.
Comments
SK
As usual....I love todays Blog...Would it not be wonderful if we all had our intellect but... the personality of "Fran" ! Your Blog always make my Sunday's brighter...something to look forward to...Happy Easter to you...Ginger and Alex.
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