Some people will do anything for affirmation and in so doing bring their whole profession down to the basest level of their consumers. It might be shocking clothing, shocking performances, or shocking speeches. It gets air time and the attention of those who approve and those who do not. The goal is not a great performance, the goal is to get people talking.
I have never watched an award show and probably never will, but apparently yet another mediocre song won an award with a mediocre act. I did watch about 30 seconds of the official video (not the one from the award show) before deciding that it was shock value not voice or lyric quality that delivered the winning vote.
Of course, it is not only the entertainment industry that does this. It is apparent in the productions delivered in the name of religion, media, and politics that the goal is attention, eyes watching, and monetization that take precedence over quality, accuracy, and the common good. It is important to remember that just because something wins an award or is in media does not mean that it is necessarily representative of most people or that it is all that important. It might be or it might not be. What it does represent is the prevailing wind blowing in the rooms where those decisions are made. No one makes us watch, no one is made to attend, and no one is forced to consume the drivel — we make that decision ourselves.
Human beings have always had a problem with gratification over substance. Our society’s current obsession with “truth-telling” and “genuineness” has caused us to forget those qualities that temper our desires to be seen and heard — wisdom and graciousness. Without the better qualities helping us along we can fall into an ever-spiraling echo-chamber which deafens us to any other voices.
I am not about to suggest that whatever happened at the Grammys is evidence that the world is worse off than ever. Paying attention to childish people dressing up like a cartoon devil and acting out sexual misconduct (can we call it that anymore) is the equivalent of a sheep dog chasing a squirrel while the wolves devour the sheep. The award shows may give us common cultural markers, but they do not matter that much — and certainly not as much as they (or we?) think they do.
Imagine the laughter in hell when we get twisted up about that while we vilify desperate people at our southern border. Imagine the concern in heaven as we look with envy on five figure dresses and suits on the red carpet while children are concerned where the next meal is coming from. It is quite easy to point to the most ridiculous happening of the day and shake our heads at how stupid people are, forgetting that we are doing the same thing.
We choose what we take in and to what we pay attention. We choose the food we eat. We choose the well from which we drink. It may be that I should spend less time being offended and more time focusing on taking in what is healthy for me — all of me — body and soul.
We live in a time of access to a deep and rich treasure of faithful and good people who have gone before us and left us with their thoughts. Much of this is available to us free or nearly free. The well is deep. The water is fresh, cool, and life-giving. It is necessary for us to be selective with our emotional, spiritual, and social diets.
There is wisdom found in the Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. There is hope found in the prophets, who did not shy away from the challenges of their day but engaged them with wisdom. There is promise found in the Gospels and instruction for how to get along with other believers in the letters of the new Testament.
Jesus said to a Samaritan woman at a well, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Choose to drink the good water.
