Over the years I've accumulated special sentences that I find poignant, encouraging, validating and interesting. One of these sentences is from Pema Chodron, the Buddhist nun and it goes like this:
WELCOME THE PRESENT MOMENT AS IF YOU HAD INVITED IT.
When I read this sentence I think of the time in the 1980s when I finally got tickets to see Phantom of the Opera with Michael Crawford and right before the curtain rose a voice came booming over the loud speaker announcing that instead of Michael Crawford performing the role of the Phantom that evening (who the hell else was there?)---Robert Guillaume from the TV show Benson would be performing instead.
Benson would be playing The Phantom. How does one welcome a moment like that?
The gasp that filled the Ahmanson that night still haunts me as well as the sound of my hunched over mother muttering "Benson? We're seeing Benson do Phantom? How is this happening?" every couple of minutes.
Which brings me to my point and my conclusion:
WHEN BAD SITCOM ACTORS ARE INVOLVED, SPIRITUAL TEACHINGS LOSE THEIR OOMPH
Cheerio,
Biff the Agitated Usher
4 comments:
Ouch.
That is an unfair trade. I've never heard Robert Guillaume since - he may have done a very good job - but when you buy tickets to see Michael Crawford sing, you should get to see MICHAEL CRAWFORD sing.
You're not kidding. It sounds like I'm making it up but it is True. Odd, NOT Good and True. It's like you go to see Elvis Costello and intead of Elvis you get Dan Quayle.
I think that invite got lost in the mail.
Carrier pigeon?
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