Waiting in the doctor’s office is never easy. Even though they try to make your stay as comfortable as possible, you still know that behind one of those ominous doors a doctor waits to take your vitals and give you the news. Good or bad.
A recent visit to the clinic, and we were surrounded by the typical décor of many waiting rooms. Two colorful pictures hung on one wall. Expressionistic paintings of fall colors replicated on a thousand other photos of the same scene. Magazines were on side tables, and in one corner a fake ficus tree was trying to present hominess and comfort. But the plastic leaves in the attractive pot fell short of duplicating a cozy home.
Although this tree was a better option than a blank space and cold antiseptic atmoshere none of us had to be told it wasn’t the real thing. How could we tell? The leaves, and the obvious absence of dirt and earthy smell. Try as we might to recreate the natural with replicas there is nothing quite the same as the real thing.
Take this leaf for example. Its corners are curled, the color is fading and the shape is not necessarily appealing. Yet we love to gather these fallen foliage and plunge headlong into their waiting arms. You wouldn’t find anyone doing that with a pile of Papier-mâché ones.
Although I thoroughly enjoy social media, it too offers the fake. There is nothing in the media that is social, as we once knew it. Although it can be a wonderful means of meeting up with old acquaintances and is certainly a way for companies to sell their goods it still doesn’t replace the authentic.
A real social experience is one where people meet together—one on one, as a church group, a restaurant gathering or at sports events. It is doing life together. And that means being real. It’s accepting the fact that we have curled corners, our color is fading with the fleeting years, and our shape might not be as appealing as it had been. But what matters, what counts the most is the real deal and not the fake—plunging headlong into an embrace, not a ‘like’ on an Internet site.
If we want to get to know someone, it’s the person beneath the façade that appeals to us. It’s time to get real and not stand in a corner wearing our fake. How about you? Ready to meet others face to face and accept them as they are?
By the way, may I introduce you to some genuine people? Dana K. Ray, Irene Onorato, Linda Robinson These writers are not necessarily well known, but they spend many hours trying to formulate stories that they pray will be a joy for their readers. I do hope you enjoy their work, but most of all I hope you get to know them as friends—they are the real deal.