The Soapbox

Call it my pet peeve.  Call it my soapbox.  Call it "I can't help myself."  Call it whatever you wish, but know that when I see what I saw today, I have to speak words of calm and restraint to myself.  I went into an eatery to pick up a take-out and while waiting I saw this mother and her adult daughter having a late lunch together.  The food was on the table, they were sitting across from each other, but hardly a word was spoken between them because both had their fork in one hand and their cell phone in the other.    

They might as well have been sitting at opposite ends of the eating area.  I know I ended up staring at them, but they never noticed.  I wanted to go and tell them to pay attention to one another and the moment being given to them, but I knew it would have been a waste of time.  There was something on those hand held devices more interesting and more important than what could have been taking place at their table.   

The food and all the work it had taken to get it to the table was inconsequential and was being disrespected.  The Creator who had brought them together for a moment of sharing a meal, something sacred in itself, was being disrespected as well.  The only important thing was whatever was on the screen of those cell phones.  Maybe it was important, but it is hard to imagine anything more important than a moment of sharing love for another, showing respect for the food on the table, and expressing gratitude to the Creator for the gifts that were overflowing from the table, but seemingly never seen.