This weekend we attended the PGA Championships. It was a brilliant day: in weather, golf and company. I can see where people find sacred time on a golf course. Birdies, bogeys, eagles and a few plops in the water, at the end of the day we had aching feet and happy spirits to take home as souvenirs.
At an event like this watching people is always a highlight. Golf's siren call beckons the name of all sorts of people and all sorts of people were in attendance. There was a particular group of people who caught my eye: the folks who love celebrity. Now granted, there were golfers who had been playing longer than many of us have been alive. How can you not notice, honor and admire people like Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer and Chi Chi Rodriguez for what they have given to the game? What I noticed was more than honor or admiration.
I noticed people would stop in their tracks, stand and stare as players walked by. Some would reach out to touch, or give a holler to the player seemingly in order to make some sort of connection. At first, I thought it might be about celebrating the game, through connecting with the player. Later in the day I happened to end up about 5 feet away from one of our past state governors, (who was also a wrestler,) and noticed the same thing was happening to him. Some people took a double take, realizing whom they had just passed and kept on walking. Others hovered around him, attempting to get in the conversation. Sometimes, not a word was spoken, but rather it seemed they were just relishing in being close to this famous person.
Why do we find celebrity so enthralling? My daughter suggested perhaps we think celebrities are somehow more important than “other people” and by connecting with them in someway, it helps us get a better standing with our friends. I thought there was a lot of wisdom in that comment. Perhaps in being close to someone we deem “important,” helps us feel like we are also important.
Celebrities tend to be very visible. They are on TV, the big screen or on our IPOD. However, there are numerous people in the world that are invisible. We do not see them, and often times, if we are honest with ourselves, we do not even look for them. We walk past them, not making eye contact. Maybe we do not drive down a certain street, in a certain neighborhood, so as to avoid “those people.” Perhaps when we encounter those that are different from us, in a way that makes us feel uncomfortable we may even pass by them as they “lay at the side of the road.”
If we, as a society, love to be close to celebrity because it helps boost our perceived level of importance, what does that say when we make a choice to not be close to other groups of people? Why do we not engage with people who are different from us? What does it do to our “level of importance” to hang out with the folks who may be at a different economic level than us? Or, a different ethnic background? Maybe they express their faith in a way that is very different from ours.
So, what could happen if I made a more focused effort to look past the “other” in the crowd, and began to look to see who they really are, not just the outward package? I wonder what would happen if I stopped thinking about the things that divide me from others, and make a better effort to see people for who they are, not how they might impact my “level of importance?” What would happen if I concerned myself less about my “social status,” and more concerned about the people around me?
I agree, there surely is something of the sacred on a golf course….
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