I am a fence-sitting member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (http://lds.org/) Part of our sunday meetings consists of a class where we study the teachings of past Presidents of our church. We are given a manual, so the good kids can study and read before-hand--to add their insight to the lesson. I am not a stellar student. I think I may have adult ADD anyway, cause my mind wanders during the lessons, and I just don't "get" things half the time. I taught the little kids in our church for so many years, that I am thrown off when they don't break up a long lesson with a fun song, or finger-puppets.
So I sit on the rebellious "back row", with some friends. The first sunday of the new year we got the new manual, with this picture on it.
So my friend Laura and I proceed to have a conversation about this photo. Why do people from this era always look so pi$$ed off? There are no smiles. It is hard to imagine them being nice and kind, when every photo I have seen everyone is wearing this trademark scowl. Was life really that hard? Maybe there was only one photographer, and he was like the soup-nazi on Seinfeld. "No smiles for YOU."
Then Laura said something that was so poignant it will stick with me forever--
"He looks like he just needs a nap, and a snack."
Such a life lesson. Everything seems better after a nap and a snack. So, that is my challenge for you this week. Treat yourself to a nap and a good snack. I am off to take one now.
4 comments:
Very cute life lesson!
Too funny! It's funny what you can learn in church, isn't it? Unfortunately, no nap for me this weekend...
LOVE this entry. ;-)
~grin~ Altho I like your "nap and snack" idea better, the reason they didn't smile in those old photos is because of shutter speed! It was incredibly slow, and it was hard to hold a natural smile for that long. Often times, the subject would be firmly clamped into a brace of sorts, that held their neck and head still.
For me, it'd be harder NOT to smile!
Post a Comment