Get Wrecked for the Ordinary

Sometimes I hate this world. I don’t hate the world, it’s just that sometimes I get disappointed with the people in it. And then I get disappointed with myself for even noticing them, or being bothered by the subtle annoyances of a world that’s consumed by vanity, self-obsession, and a constant quest for material acquisitions.

I feel like I’m roaming among zombies, but instead of wanting to feast on flesh, they feast on electronic toys or cosmetics, tossing their store-bought purchases into their mouths, continuing to remain malnourished, hungry for more. And as long as they keep buying stuff, the hunger will grow inside of them, because the hunger cannot be satiated with the latest gadget or vanity product or even food item because it’s spiritual in nature. The gnawing inside comes from a spiritual malnourishment.

Plastic toys
You know who you are. You roam through this wasteland of America, pushing carts through aisles stocked with plastic toys made by slaves in third world countries. You toss this and that into the cart and line up like cattle, sliding plastic cards, and pressing buttons on automated checkout areas, or making small talk with the dwindling army of checkout clerks whose-days-are-numbered for they, too, will be replaced by automated checkout areas. You arrive home, turn on the glowing box and click through pages of information, casting your line out to make connections with people on Facebook, checking to see if there’s been positive comments left on that photo that you tried to pretend someone else took of you when it was just your right hand extended out as far as you could, hoping you wouldn’t drop the $450 dollar digital camera made-by-some 16-year-old-factory-worker-in-China into the Atlantic Ocean.

I’m just as guilty as you are.

There’s gotta be a way to get out of this mess of mass consumerism, cheap plastic-crap-made-in-China that, essentially, serves as a way to empty the wallet in exchange for soothing the restlessness, the hunger, the dissatisfaction from within …

Wrecked for the ordinary
There’s gotta be a way to get wrecked for the ordinary. To turn your world upside down. To become the person who doesn’t care about what other people think. To see beyond the ordinary. To suffer for something worth suffering for.

The hunger that we share cannot be satisfied by the things that we see on the horizontal level. Because we’re spiritual creatures with a soul, this hunger can only be satisfied on the spiritual level.

One way to get wrecked for the ordinary is to do something you wouldn’t normally do.

A visit
I did this recently when I visited an old friend at a veterans assisted living facility.

Last week, I visited Alan Patrusevich, a friend, who is a current resident at the Boynton Beach Veterans Assisted Living Facility. I’ve known Alan from my days living at the UUAC (Unarmed Underground Art Centre), a community living space that inhabited the walls of a series-of-quonset-huts, about 25 feet west of the railroad tracks in downtown West Palm Beach, Florida, in Flamingo Park, just south and west of Palm Beach Atlantic University.

Seeing Alan was kind of heartbreaking. He’s an intelligent and creative soul who is suffering the effects of cumulative alcohol poisoning, a condition known as wet brain (in which a part of the brain dies due to the combination of malnourishment and alcohol poisoning). Although his mind is sharp, his hiccup is that he still thinks he runs the UUAC, even though he sold it years ago. He also still thinks he’s active duty in the Navy.

By sharing this with you, I’m not trying to pass judgement, but rather let you know that there’s a world out there. There’s a world out there waiting for you to offer some time, patience, attention, a listening ear, a friendly chat, a hug.

Playing piano
I was so frustrated at seeing Alan in this condition, that, after visiting him for the second time, I drove further south on Federal to another nursing home, to play piano.

I had been here before when Thomas Bazinet, another artist who used to live at the UUAC, had stopped to ask for directions to Alan’s place of residence. It was then that I noticed the grand piano in the lobby. It was then that I asked if I could play it, and after I did, they invited me back to play some more.

I walked to the clerk at the front desk and asked if I could play piano. She said: “That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day.” I sat down and played some songs from Out of the Wilderness and even from Dumpster Diver the musical.

After about half an hour, I turned to look at the small gathering of people. They clapped. It was touching. I played a few more songs, then got up to leave.

“You play wonderfully,” an elderly lady said, as she approached in her wheelchair.

“Thank you,” I said. I leaned in to give her a hug and she kisses me on the mouth. Oh well. That’s cool. Old people are just young people in wrinkle suits. And, we all need love, and music helps, too.

I felt really happy as I left the nursing home that afternoon, as if all my frustration had been pushed into the keys of the piano and liberated through the musical notes, circling the small crowd of nursing home residents and staff in a merry-go-round of possibilities.

Use your gifts
We all have gifts in this life. If you’re reading this, you have a gift. Find out what it is. Sharpen it. Then, share it with the people who have been ignored in this world. You can find them at nursing homes, hospitals, and veterans care facilities in America and all over the world.

If you want real satisfaction in this life, start giving your life away. Use your talents to serve the less fortunate.

World out there
If you want real satisfaction in this life, sell, donate, or give your stuff away. Strip yourself of the material garbage that anchors you to the inevitable upgrade, maintenance, repair, warranty.

There’s a world out there, that’s ignored, that’s waiting for you, to listen, to be there, to care, to offer conversation.

There’s a world out there. Do something radical. Step outside of your comfortable routine. Get wrecked for the ordinary.

The best way to get wrecked for the ordinary is to live for something bigger than yourself, to find a mission that pays off in dividends that reach beyond this earth. Personally, I know that when I read The Bible and learn about the depth of God’s love for this world, a love so strong that he send his only begotten Son, The Lord Jesus Christ, to die on the cross so that through Him we might have Salvation and a future home in Heaven, I find that getting wrecked for the ordinary is something that happens naturally. For more resources, visit http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org.