Contained Breaking Loose and Dancing with Professors
Saturday night was a first for me. I decided to take some time off after a stressful first week and go bar hopping. While doing so, I had great fun dancing at several night clubs, showing off my talent at moving equally vigorously to hip hop, rap, and Madonna. I also met a few girls and managed to get a date with a very attractive blonde from Bosnia...
If the previous paragraph shocked you, maybe you should stop reading. Though fictional, it was a test of your tolerance for the unusual event I am about to outline. If truth can be stranger than fiction, I suppose it can also be uglier. So if you thought less of me after reading the above paragraph, stop reading now. For what you are about to read is NOT (nearly) as fictional.
What was the deed of evil in which I was involved? It was something you might expect given my job description, spending a weekend supervising five dozen teenagers very much in tune with the pleasures offered by the world, F, and D. I helped to chaperone/supervise a dance party. Disgusting, isn't it? Yup, it was. But it was not of my doing. Some of my co-workers wanted to organize it, and I didn't feel that I could stop it. So I worked to make sure it stayed somewhat under control. It was odd, because I felt like I was merely controlling the breaking loose. For students were certainly breaking loose. I wonder if that's how Aaron felt when the Israelites were making the sound of war in the camp? Was he supervising to make sure they weren't behaving too horribly as they danced around their newly-fashioned idol?
Anyway, it was quite a sight to see fifty or so students gathered to dance, while I and others watched them like hawks to make sure they weren't dancing "inappropriately." Ironically, the organizers actually did have dancing standards they enforced. Yet the whole thing seemed rather counterproductive, because we're trying to keep students from sneaking out together, or doing what many worldly teenagers are wont to do.
***Philosophizing warning here: You might have to engage your brain in reading this next section, so skip it if you don't want to exercise your grey matter, or if there's little there to use.
It was interesting to contemplate afterwards what my basic reaction was to these teenagers doing their thing, and how it is different from what it might have been a few years ago. Some time ago, hearing about a dance would have been purely theoretical. I didn't go to them, and I didn't generally interact with people who went to them. Without being able to put faces to the event, I would have simply looked askance at the activity, probably with a self-righteous attitude. I'm not sure I would have gone as far as the pharisee did standing next to the publican, but I certainly would have condemned the dancing. Now is it wrong to condemn displays of sensuality and worldiness? Certainly not. But now I recognize such activity as the logical outcome of a life that is centered around self, and not around Christ. And I see these people as real people. Seeing the activity and people in this manner has resulted in a greater tolerance of it. These people have not yet been redeemed, so what can you expect? Does this mean I think it's less wrong? No. Does that mean I sigh and cry over it less? I hope not.
Another reason my attitude has changed is because I can see myself among the dancers. If it wasn't for the upbringing my parents provided for me, and for my redemption at a young age, I know I could easily have found myself in that crowd, moving to the music, having a good time, and making a general fool of myself. I even secretly suspect I could have been one of the better dancers. This is not because I have any natural ability for dancing, but because I have the ability to cast aside inhibition, which is half of what makes a good dancer at occasions such as these. I hope this different attitude is one that is more like Christ. I've heard someone say that Jesus' harshest words were reserved for religious leaders, for people who should have known better. He had more compassion and patience with those who simply didn't have a clue. Since I consider most of these teenagers to be in the latter category, how can I do anything but view them as Christ did, with compassion and love?
***End of philosophizing section
Now on to a different topic. While observing the dancing, I was reminded of an excellent essay I read in grad school, entitled "Dancing with Professors," which alludes to people standing on the sidelines during dances. However, it primarily talks of the turgid and tortured prose many academic people use, and why. (In other words, it criticizes people who write using words and sentences that are hard to understand.) I was delighted to find it published online at this website, and highly recommend you check it out: http://trc.ucdavis.edu/bajaffee/NEM150/Course%20Content/dancing.htm
For anyone with college experience, I think you will appreciate and be able to relate to what the author, Patricia Limerick, talks about. It is also helpful for those of you wondering what college can be like. And if you think prose in college is turgid, multiple it by a factor of three to get an idea of what my grad school experience involved at times.
If the previous paragraph shocked you, maybe you should stop reading. Though fictional, it was a test of your tolerance for the unusual event I am about to outline. If truth can be stranger than fiction, I suppose it can also be uglier. So if you thought less of me after reading the above paragraph, stop reading now. For what you are about to read is NOT (nearly) as fictional.
What was the deed of evil in which I was involved? It was something you might expect given my job description, spending a weekend supervising five dozen teenagers very much in tune with the pleasures offered by the world, F, and D. I helped to chaperone/supervise a dance party. Disgusting, isn't it? Yup, it was. But it was not of my doing. Some of my co-workers wanted to organize it, and I didn't feel that I could stop it. So I worked to make sure it stayed somewhat under control. It was odd, because I felt like I was merely controlling the breaking loose. For students were certainly breaking loose. I wonder if that's how Aaron felt when the Israelites were making the sound of war in the camp? Was he supervising to make sure they weren't behaving too horribly as they danced around their newly-fashioned idol?
Anyway, it was quite a sight to see fifty or so students gathered to dance, while I and others watched them like hawks to make sure they weren't dancing "inappropriately." Ironically, the organizers actually did have dancing standards they enforced. Yet the whole thing seemed rather counterproductive, because we're trying to keep students from sneaking out together, or doing what many worldly teenagers are wont to do.
***Philosophizing warning here: You might have to engage your brain in reading this next section, so skip it if you don't want to exercise your grey matter, or if there's little there to use.
It was interesting to contemplate afterwards what my basic reaction was to these teenagers doing their thing, and how it is different from what it might have been a few years ago. Some time ago, hearing about a dance would have been purely theoretical. I didn't go to them, and I didn't generally interact with people who went to them. Without being able to put faces to the event, I would have simply looked askance at the activity, probably with a self-righteous attitude. I'm not sure I would have gone as far as the pharisee did standing next to the publican, but I certainly would have condemned the dancing. Now is it wrong to condemn displays of sensuality and worldiness? Certainly not. But now I recognize such activity as the logical outcome of a life that is centered around self, and not around Christ. And I see these people as real people. Seeing the activity and people in this manner has resulted in a greater tolerance of it. These people have not yet been redeemed, so what can you expect? Does this mean I think it's less wrong? No. Does that mean I sigh and cry over it less? I hope not.
Another reason my attitude has changed is because I can see myself among the dancers. If it wasn't for the upbringing my parents provided for me, and for my redemption at a young age, I know I could easily have found myself in that crowd, moving to the music, having a good time, and making a general fool of myself. I even secretly suspect I could have been one of the better dancers. This is not because I have any natural ability for dancing, but because I have the ability to cast aside inhibition, which is half of what makes a good dancer at occasions such as these. I hope this different attitude is one that is more like Christ. I've heard someone say that Jesus' harshest words were reserved for religious leaders, for people who should have known better. He had more compassion and patience with those who simply didn't have a clue. Since I consider most of these teenagers to be in the latter category, how can I do anything but view them as Christ did, with compassion and love?
***End of philosophizing section
Now on to a different topic. While observing the dancing, I was reminded of an excellent essay I read in grad school, entitled "Dancing with Professors," which alludes to people standing on the sidelines during dances. However, it primarily talks of the turgid and tortured prose many academic people use, and why. (In other words, it criticizes people who write using words and sentences that are hard to understand.) I was delighted to find it published online at this website, and highly recommend you check it out: http://trc.ucdavis.edu/bajaffee/NEM150/Course%20Content/dancing.htm
For anyone with college experience, I think you will appreciate and be able to relate to what the author, Patricia Limerick, talks about. It is also helpful for those of you wondering what college can be like. And if you think prose in college is turgid, multiple it by a factor of three to get an idea of what my grad school experience involved at times.
posted by redsoxwinthisyear at 10:07 PM
5 Comments:
It's a real challenge to see people through Christ's eyes, isn't it? I'm still learning, but am happy for all the insights you're getting.
Nice insight Chadwick. I am glad you were able to see it that way. I don't know if I could have...
and thank the Lord for friend who can see what we can't- and are willing to share with us! That was helpful Chad. I don't know what my thoughts would have been standing there, but I doubt they would have been as charitable as yours.
"Turgid and tortured prose" is vivid and apt.
There's no NEED to be boring! It's like "The Emperor's New Clothes" or something! Give them Strunk and White's Elements of Style if they need educated justification for minimizing noncommunicative forms of language. Grrr!
And thanks for the insights.
-Lisa
Amen, Lisa!
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