Balancing Acts

Balancing Acts

( Anywhere in the world.  A major catastrophe has forced a large influx of people from different backgrounds, beliefs and experiences to temporarily live under the same roof.  A high school has managed somehow to sidestep the dilemma facing homes and businesses in the surrounding areas.  Its structure is unaffected and it is the only place for miles with electricity and running water.  In the large gymnasium people are desperate but relieved.  Strangers hold cautious, guarded conversations, and as the days pass a great divide seems to quietly orchestrate itself between the young and old, parent and child.  The atmosphere is tense but not for the apparent reasons.)

Girl in blue pajamas

(Girl is trying frantically to get her cell phone to work. Frustrated she almost throws it down. Looking around she begins screaming)  Mom!  Mom!  Can you freakin’ hear? Are you deaf or something? Jesus Christ get a clue.  You think I’m talking just to hear myself speak? (pause)  Well you need to do a better job of listening.  What do you mean more important things to worry about?  My cell phone’s not working.  That’s pretty damn important to me. I swear to god you parents are so out of touch. Everything is about rules. How long are we going to be here? I could be partying with my friends. (pause) What do you mean I’m probably safer with family? This family is a pain in the butt. Mom! Mom! Where are you going now? All these freakin people. Miss could you please move I’m trying to get through!

Man in coat and tie

What do you want me to say?  That’s the way I was raised.  Kids should be seen and not heard.  We’re in a crisis and you want me to worry about his feelings?  That’s the problem.  Yeah that’s the problem with these young men, mommy’s always holding their hands and looking out for their feelings.  He needs to grow up and stop being so sensitive.  If he doesn’t like my rules he can get out here, make something of his life and be as sensitive as he wants to be in his own place!  How about that? But for the time being find a place for the kids to lay down and give me some space to do what real men do: Get things done!

Exchange student

(Visibly shaken) Do you think this will go on for very long? I did not expect to be in this situation again. In my country things such as this bring out the worst in human beings. I have seen it time and again. The weak are exploited by the strong, by those in power. I do not like the feel of this. It feels too normal and normal for me is followed by tears and some kind of travesty put upon those who have no defenses, no way of safeguarding themselves from the maniacal whims of lunatics and sadistic monsters. Does anyone know when power will be restored and we can return home? Anyone? I apologize for my edginess but this circumstance brings about too many bad memories of which I do not want to revisit

Elderly man

Please let me move out of your way so you don’t have to knock me down. So disrespectful and vulgar in their language are these computer generated youngsters. Did you happen to hear how that one over there spoke to the person I assume is his mother. I’ve known people to speak more kindly to a dog than that. Hey put that down! That belongs to me. Where are your parents? Have you ever heard the phrase that if no one bought it for you it’s probably not yours? Ever heard that? No. Well you have now so go find your parents and share it with them. Go! Get away from my stuff. Did you see that? The little brats were going to take my blanket, just take it! My god where is the sense of shame? How old were they 6, 7? No remorse, no understanding that they did something wrong. What kind of human beings will they be in twenty years? I shiver to think. What does that say about our society when the children have no role models even in the home.  My god where are we headed?

Runaway

Damn this is cool. Man I didn’t know where I was headed. Everybody’s calling it a catastrophe but for me it’s a straight up blessing. Warm water, some food and a place to lay my head, life is good man, life is good. I wasn’t going anywhere in particular, just had to get out of my parent’s house. You know how it is with parents they want this for you and you want that. Just a constant battle. I got tired of the questions about school. I don’t like school. Never have. They both have big degrees and they are both miserable. They hate their jobs but stay because it gives them status and puts them in a certain financial bracket, so they go on playing that game. Lying to themselves and to all of their so-called friends, who are probably doing the same thing. That phoniness just made me decide that I wasn’t going to go through life pretending to be happy. Going through the motions because society said it looked good. I want to find true happiness and when I told them this they both lost it. Said I must be experimenting with drugs or something. I told them that I hated drugs and alcohol but I hated fake lives even more. I could tell this really hurt my father and he told me with tears in his eyes to find my own life if I hated their fake lives so much. I love my parents but I don’t want their lives. I don’t even believe they want their lives but they feel stuck, stuck by their own success.

Woman in yellow scarf

(Holding a blanket and pillow)  Is there room enough here? Thanks so much. Wow, look at all these different people under one roof. Probably wouldn’t happen under any other circumstance. Tragedy, suffering and war seem to be the magnet that brings the universe’s children together. Such a sad commentary on the progress of world affairs. Look at all this potential packed like sardines because the will to survive is more powerful than religion, race, ethnicity, political affiliations, gender and all the differences the world is so adept in creating. You know when you break those differences down and put them under a magnifying glass they seem trivial and silly, but for some reason we love to stand on each other instead of with each other. (pausing) What’s that? Oh yes I have some concerns. The main one being what will each one of us take from this. Of course it is an inconvenience from the day to day stuff, but sometimes to grow we need discomfort, some foreign lens to offset our worldview. Something to make us question a long held belief, either making it stronger or, causing it to crumble altogether, under the weight of new information. Believe it or not I’m looking forward to next few days. I wonder where my lesson is coming from. Because its coming, in fact lessons float around us like oxygen all the time, it’s up to us to breathe in and do something with them. I’ll let you sleep my friend. Time to breathe in the lessons (laughs).

(The large room has been made more manageable by dedicated volunteers. Food and water are portioned out without incident. Everyone is anxious to return to their homes but details about that are hazy at best. Discussion groups begin to manifest as much from boredom as anything else. The subjects vary and are at times a bit tense. Usually these groups attract common interests: Age, gender, religion, etc. but on this particular occasion six lives seemingly unrelated strike up a conversation that take them beyond any of their wildest dreams. As different as any individual stars these separate entities merge into something called understanding)

Elderly man

And I said you don’t have to be so rude. She’s your mother for god’s sake! Where do these young people get their sense of respect? My god anything goes…

Girl in blue pajamas

First I wasn’t talking to you and…

Elderly man

But I was speaking to you young lady. And I was speaking to you in a respectful manner

Exchange student

Excuse me. Do either one of you know when we’ll be able to go back to our homes?

Man in coat and tie

(walking by within hearing range) I heard one of the volunteers talking to one of the families over there that in a couple days they think power will be restored to eighty percent of the homes and businesses.

Exchange student

Eighty percent? That sounds good, thank you.

Runaway

I hope I’m in that twenty percent (laughs).

Girl in blue pajamas

Is that funny? That’s pathetic! You want to stay here with all these old people, with all these little brats running around, people in the way all the time? I can’t wait to get out of this place. I haven’t spent this much time in the same room with my mother in about five years, and now I know why.

Elderly man

That is so sad. Listen to what you just said. You haven’t spent any time with your mother in five years. Do you know how many lessons you’ve probably missed during that time? Lessons that would probably make your life a bit easier

Runaway

See that’s the problem. Everyone assumes parents have all the answers. That they…

Elderly man

No one said parents had all the answers. My wife and I raised five and we were scared to death about the answers we didn’t have. But we felt it was important to be in their lives as grew, not living in the same house with everyone in their rooms with the door locked. I don’t know much but I’m pretty sure no lessons are learned that way. At least not family lessons

Runaway

Yeah, but sometimes parents are so suffocating. They don’t let you breathe. Always skeptical about the friends you have, always trying to give advice that you don’t want.

Exchange student

It is so very different in your country from mine. In my country it is the family that gives one strength. The time spent with one’s parents is cherished because at any time it can be snatched away from you. All the children are aware of this at a very young age. It is all one has literally.

Girl in blue pajamas

Well I don’t know where you’re from but here all I want is my phone, my internet and my door locked. Parents are valuable till you’re about ten, after that they become the biggest pain.

Elderly man

(shaking his head) You know when learning stops? (everyone looks at him without replying) The moment no one can tell you anything. The moment you take offense to advice from those who love you something strange begins to manifest in your life

Runaway

What do you mean something strange? Just because you don’t take your parent’s advice doesn’t make you strange

Woman in yellow scarf

He didn’t mention parents. He said people that love you. That’s a very important element in life choices. Do we know who truly loves us? I mean think about it. Who really loves you? Do your friends really love you? Think about it before you answer. Go over in your mind all the people you think you know. Drinking buddies, your get high crew (everybody laughs), your partying friends, coworkers, your internet connections and on and on. We could go on forever discussing the people we all know, but that list would grow very short if we broke it down to those we honestly felt loved us. And this is what I believe this elderly gentleman is trying to say (elderly man nods). Anybody in their right mind knows some people make lousy parents. The newspapers are full of them. But …

Man in coat and tie

I know I’m not a perfect parent. My wife tells me all the time that I’m too strict, too callous. Maybe she’s right, I don’t know. Sometimes we repeat as parents what we were given as children. Bad or good, most of us repeat the cycle. I know I’m guilty of that. But I do my best

Exchange student

I’m a bit out of place here because my cultural background is so different, but I think the goal of anyone who loves you regardless of the country you were born is to have your best interest at heart. Attending college here I witness students who are so happy to be away from their loved ones. I cannot parallel those feelings. I cried for two weeks when I knew I would be coming here as an exchange student. I knew it would improve my life in the long run but being near my family and especially my parents was a strengthening aspect of my life. Seeing war and death everywhere give family a totally different meaning. Here I think everyone assumes family will always be there no matter how much grief one causes. In my country you really don’t know from day to day. Literally day to day

Girl in blue pajamas

Don’t get me wrong I love my family, but I have a life and they get in the way.

Exchange student

How do they get in the way? I don’t understand

Girl in blue pajamas

I mean I’m a junior in high school and they want me to be in the house at a decent time. That’s embarrassing. My friends go and come as they please. That’s what I want to do, I’m not a baby

Elderly man

No you aren’t a baby but do you realize how much you have yet to learn? It amazes me how badly young people want to be older, instead of enjoying the stages of life they want to get to the end right away. Trust me young lady there is nothing happening at three o’clock in the morning that’s going to make you a better person

Girl in blue pajamas

Yeah but it should be my choice to make

Elderly man

Just make sure you make wise choices. The world is littered with bad choices

Girl in blue pajamas

Whatever

Man in coat and tie

(looking around) Hey I think they got power back on over most of the city

Girl in blue pajamas

Thank god! I’m outta here. Mom! Mom! Can you freakin hear! It’s time to go. But first we gotta go by the phone place. My phone’s not working. Mom!!!   

The End

By Jeffery Martin