Reverence Falling

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I've written before about how boring "irreverence" is becoming. It's no longer shocking; it's as empty as the eye-rolling of a teenaged girl in a parent-teacher conference. It's easy, now, because it carries no literal or figurative consequence for the irreverent person in question. I think, however, that it's bad for the world, in general. It turns our "dialogues" into little more than ad hominem matches. It makes us rude in groups.

I saw a meme the other day. The group that distributed it had a hashtag (or it was their name...I don't really care about being accurate, here) that called for President Obama to "kill himself". The meme, itself, called him an "asshole." 

In the world from which I come, you don't speak that way about the President of the United States (or even of your neighbor). Sure, you can hate his policies; sure, you have every right to point out when he is incompetent; sure you can rally against him in print or on screen. When we fall, however, to a complete lack of verbal restraint, we become inflamers of conflict and we lose all practical potential to change things.

Also, if there is one thing we have all but completely lost, it is a sense of ritual; of the special nature of a gathering of people for a purpose. I'm not ready to completely blame the defection from religion for this, but I do think it contributes. Many kids never walk into a church or temple or synagogue in which they are expected to show silent reverence...

I am really deeply sickened by the behavior of people at audience functions. The parents at my sons' band concerts talk straight through the performances and even as the band teacher is speaking. I recently played at a group classical guitar recital and as I joined the audience to watch those who played after me, I watched people texting and allowing their children to play video games and climb on the seats.

You'd think there would have been some sense at either of these performances of "reverence" for the people trying to make music. Alas, no. I like to give absolute silence to children pursuing music and to adults, on a stage all by themselves, who are trying to coax music out of wood and nylon.

I know it is dreadfully conservative of me, but I think the death of reverence and respect are making us treat everything and everyone around us poorly. We've gone beyond being simply informal into a disregard for everyone outside our own personal bubbles. Then, we demand respect and get offended when it is not given.

Some places should send us into a cathedral silence. Some people deserve respect and complete attention. I still believe that.