LIFE IS A STAGE!

Many years ago when I was a child and radio and the backyard were the only means of entertainment, I loved Saturday morning radio shows.  On most all Saturdays, I rushed to complete my weekly chores so I could snuggle up on the floor by the radio at 10:30 when the fun began. 

Several thirty minute shows streamed together beginning with, Let’s Pretend, an enactment of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Inner Sanctum, a really gruesome, scary story, Lassie, a brave dog story, and the series ended at noon with my favorite, Grand Central Station. As is common in my December of life existence, sleep alludes me on many occasions. And memories from the past flow through those quiet sleepless hours. 

This morning the strains of music that introduced Grand Central Station tumbled through my mind with the voice of the host setting the scene.  “Grand Central Station in the heart of New York, a stage on which a thousand dramas a day are played out as people live them.”  And of course, the thirty minute story always had some connection with passing through the huge train station that still serves New York City today.

As I thought about the old radio show, other scenarios slipped into my mind as well.  How many dramas touch our lives every day? I thought of an incident I heard of at church services. A young woman and her 24-year- old son left on a cruise to celebrate his graduation from college. With no warning, she suffered a massive heart attack turning a wonderful trip into a nightmare for the young man.  He watched as they air-lifted her back to port and he could not go with her.  Later, the cruise ship returned to port. The son arrived at the hospital a few hours before his mother passed into eternity.  A sad story!

As a writer, I hear others stress about writer’s block, and I think, with the world as a stage filled with incidents and events to be recorded, time and energy are the only restrictions to block the pen. Hospitals, the stage where hundreds of dramas play out every day.  Some are sad, others are joyful.  Airports, where people of all nations interact in hundreds of incidents. The magical world of a child – sit with a group in day care center and listen to the stories, sweet stories, as told from the mind of a child. Rest in the common area of a city mall and watch the people, listen to their comments, drama on every bench.

 The doctor’s waiting room is filled with drama, patients anxious to discuss with anyone who will listen, the pain or miraculous events being staged in their lives.  The soccer field, the football stadium, the teacher’s classroom, the dinner table with your family, the fellowship dinner at church, the news room of your favorite television channel. Who doesn’t love the stories of returning military personnel surprising their families in situations that bring tears to your eyes?  All stories have merit and appeal for readers; stories of people, places, and events being performed on that world stage stretching before us.  So many exciting, joyful, sad, awesome accounts of human behavior begging to be shared with others. Who can forget the bus stop with Forrest Gump, a movie a few years ago?

Writer’s block – someone said the definition is “when the writer’s imaginary friends stop talking to him.” Cute, but don’t let it happen, writer. Stay alert, observe everything, nature, life around you, children, the elderly, the wonders of youth and young love, current events, the beauty of the sunrise just outside your window today, or on occasion, the sadness that also needs to be remembered and recorded. 

A passionate writer recognizes the endless presence of life events reaching out to be penned. He experiences the event as he pens the joy, sadness, intrigue, love, pain, anxiety, or adventure playing on that stage as in that radio series, Grand Central Station -  a thousand dramas a day on the stage of life.