Perhaps today Chesterton would say, "Don't look at the faces on television or social media." Video, video, everywhere - and yet we walk by one another everyday and do not see one another. Why, I see this on Sunday mornings too; I've been in places called churches in which I am a stranger to everyone and everyone is a stranger to me. How can this be?
I have seen corporate executives visit branch offices and ignore everyone but the person they've come to "see". I've seen customers in stores not see the workers, and workers in stores not see the customers. I've seen receptionists in doctors' offices not see the patients, and patients not see the receptionists. I've seen government workers not see citizens and citizens not see government workers.
Tragically, I've witnessed husbands not see wives and wives not see husbands and I've witnessed parents not see children and children not see parents.
But we still manage to see video, video, everywhere - and our minds and souls are filled with video, sound, noise, images - most of them false, misleading, and blinding. Our souls are desensitized to the faces we pass everyday.
Alas, video, video in churches too - perhaps it has its place, but perhaps not. Can we not have a respite from the pixels? From the sound? From the images assaulting us?
Might we not speak a word to the face next to us? Might we not ask how the face is doing? Maybe there is a person behind the face? But again, perhaps we'd better not risk it - it might demand something of us...and it may make us late for lunch.
And yet, if God formed me (Psalm 139), then perhaps he formed the person I do not "see" - it might be interesting to actually meet another person who God created in His image. Perhaps I should show some respect and interest in God's work, in His image, in those for whom Christ died.
Perhaps, just perhaps, living faces are more important and vital than pixels on a screen.
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