Paying Attention

                                                               Sandy Cove, Newfoundland 

Last week we visited a wonderful beach called Sandy Cove, on the Eastport Peninsula. It is part of the outport of Happy Adventure, perhaps the best name for a community anywhere in the world...but I digress...

While we were walking the beach we passed someone who appeared to be a tween, a girl standing ankle deep in the water, looking out to the spectacular view. Except that she was looking down at her cellphone, scrolling away. After we'd strolled on a safe distance I muttered "this generation is screwed." Of course this was a crass generalization yet I can't help but feel that we've aided and abetted a technological hell for young people that will be almost impossible to change. 

As school resumes (two of our grandchildren are already back) we're hearing about the provinces, including Ontario, banning mobile phones in classrooms, to mixed reviews. I've heard kids of all ages who are supportive of these bans, as well as parents and teachers, while others are vehemently opposed. Some teachers are rightly concerned that the guidelines for enforcement are vague and put them in a compromised position with students who may be belligerent. There are the hovering parents who insist that they must be able to communicate with their children at all times, even though calling the school office might just do the trick. 

What these prohibitions are trying to address is the crisis of attention we are facing as a society, not only with young people but across the range of ages, myself included. I feel that this is a spiritual crisis because the ability to attend to the world around us is essential to soul-health. To be fair to our youth, on Sunday mornings there are three teens whol are regularly part of worship, one who teaches Sunday School and two in the choir. I never see them with a cellphone but I've notice adults sneaking peeks during the service. 

I'm with the late poet Mary Oliver who wisely made the connection between attention and devotion and prayer. God be with the students and teachers in classrooms across the country. 

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is. 

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, 

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, 

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do 

with your one wild and precious life? 

Mary Oliver from The Summer Day