Harken back with me, if you will, to the days of yore. But before doing so, notice, especially fellow grammar nazis, that I used the correct spelling of “yore”. Although the less aged among you may find this hard to believe, there was a time before social media and blogs, reality television, digital photography, and “selfies”. Back in the day, taking pictures required the purchase of film and/or flashbulbs(!) and the cost of developing captured images onto differing sizes of specialized paper, to either be carefully organized into albums or thrown into a shirt box. Shirt box? Pump the brakes, Ebenezer! Because of the expense involved, care was exercised to not waste film, particularly by not taking pictures of ourselves standing in front of the bathroom mirror! Enter 1’s and 0’s, SD cards, jpegs, and smart phones, which make photography virtually free, thereby gratifying our apparently innate desire to take pictures of everything and anything. And if the aforementioned social media is any indication, we are especially fond of preserving in digital splendor cats, meals, and ourselves! We love us some us!
If there is anything that the current wave of cultural norms has done, it has put the spotlight on how narcissistic we are. In the examples of Toddlers and Tiaras, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, Jersey Shore, and The Real Housewives of Wherever, some have been convinced that their lives are important, entertaining, or compelling enough that they need to be shared, via television, with others. And based on the ratings, maybe they are right! For the rest of us that haven’t accepted filthy lucre to foist our scripted existences on consumers of televised drivel, escape may come in the way of comparing ourselves to those we deem as reprehensible humans or by living vicariously through those that seem to have it all together, distracting us from our own shortcomings.
We are awash in selfies, that which can arguably be declared as the icon of a generation, even to the extent that a device was created and marketed to those that can’t fathom the thought of not being in every picture, with every person, in every place. Ansel Adams was one of the premier landscape and scenery photographers ever. Do you know what is inherently absent in Ansel Adams’ photos? ANSEL ADAMS, that’s what! And although the celebrated masters of art weren’t beyond painting self-portraits, they were the rare exception, not the norm.
Sadly, much of what influences our thoughts and actions only serves to reinforce in us a self-focused, self-absorbed mindset, one that manifests itself in lives devoid of empathy and compassion for those around us. It’s kind of cute when our children command us to “Look at me, look at me!” But as adults, not so much. Apart from connection to a community of faith, we will struggle to realize the abundance, joy, and blessings of living that are intended for us. As children of God, our lives of selfless giving and ministry to others will garner the admiring approval of our Heavenly Father, in essence, asking that He would look upon us. If man is an island, the only picture he can take is a selfie.
(Click “Stand on Firmer Ground” for deeper look into We Love Us Some Us)