OBLIVION - As a singer, unlike my bandmates, Im not usually burdened with the task of lugging equipment to and from a show. Ive watched other musicians do it for the past eight years, but didnt pay it much mind. However, yesterday, since I was playing keyboards and guitar on this outdoor show at Bryn Mawr Day, I got a taste of what my bandmates go through on a regular basis. And I was surprised, to say the least. Because as youre carrying a big piece of equipment through a crowd of people who are wandering aimlessly through these outdoor festivals, you would expect that they would recognize the difficulty of a task like that, especially on a 90 degree day like yesterday, and make some sort of effort to move out of your way. To let you pass by. To momentarily deviate from their established course and allow you to proceed. To interrupt their aimless wandering for 2 seconds to maybe do the polite, humanly decent thing, which is to allow you to get to where you need to go with this heavy object, whereas they would be required to just move slightly, or stop for a moment. But surprisingly, they do not. They continue to push their stroller, or eat their hoagie, or whatever they happen to be doing, without the slightest attempt to accommodate you. They glance your way, with a blatant indifference. And step directly in front of you. Which makes you stop, and as a result, your momentum is interrupted, which in turn makes the equipment seem twice as heavy. Just like your heart. Because this sort of rude, uncaring display of thoughtlessness on the part of these folks is distressing. And it happened over and over. And they all looked like nice people, just average Americans. But this unfortunately seems to be what average Americans do. Could it have been just a freak occurrence? Just an atypical day? Perhaps, but I doubt it. And it made me wonder what has happened to us as a society? As a civilization. That we are so wrapped up in what we are doing that we dont give a damn about those around us. It was somewhat of an eye-opening experience. And did it make me angry? No it did not. But it sure did make me sad.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 15:32:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015