Episodes
Wednesday Jul 13, 2011
Abundance Light July 10
Wednesday Jul 13, 2011
Wednesday Jul 13, 2011
LITERATURE OUT LOUD
Click here for a complete INDEX
LITERATURE OUT LOUD -- see and hear great literature Audio narrations with synchronized visual text
This is the entire episode of Abundance called Light from July 10 including: An Adventure Into Accident from Dane Allred's "A World of Hurt" Light by Dane Allred from "Bright Space" Forgetting My Anniversary from "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Dane Allred" Marry Me from "Dane Allred's Partly-colored Dreamcoat" Chapter Three of "The Plodder's Mile" by Dane AllredThe Complete Collection of
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
all 154 poems $3.99 DVD with FREE shipping
Click on Amazon, Paypal or Google Payments button to order
Essential Oils -- create your own business -- click on the logo to begin
Click on the player to hear an audio version of this piece The Devil's Little Brother-In-Law by Parker Fillmore from "Literature Out Loud"Wednesday Jul 13, 2011
Light by Dane Allred
Wednesday Jul 13, 2011
Wednesday Jul 13, 2011
Bright Space
by Dane Allred
Light
There is light and darkness
Joy and suffering
Lifeand death
And so many opportunities to experience the extremes in this life.
As we journey along the path our life leads us
Wondering what each day will bring
We rejoice at the times our lives are filled with light
Remembering what happiness the glow can bring us
And how it makes us filled with light
It makes us feel light
And we want to hold onto that feeling forever
There is a reason we love the light
And fight against the darkness
There is a reason we are drawn to the light
Dancing like moths before a flame
Trying to reach the light
Hoping to become the light
Wondering how something so glorious
Could exist.
We are light.
We were in the Bright Space together
And knew the joy of the light
It filled us and inspired us.
Our work was to celebrate that Bright Space
Where all of us experienced the joys of every individual
But a time came when knowing all there was to know was not enough
Being together limited what we could know
And there was no way to learn anything more
Unless we came here on our own to experience the light and the dark of our individual lives.
We remember vaguely the Bright Space and the happiness we felt when we were all together
We remember vaguely our association one with another in that glorious light.
When we bask in the light of the day,
We recapture a bit of the joy we once had
When we struggle in the darkness, we are reminded of the journey we are making
To learn all that we can learn
Until our journey is finished
And we return to that Bright Space to add our voice
With our own experiences.
Then we will truly know all there is to know
And the light within us will compliment the Bright Space
And we will no longer have to live on borrowed light.
LITERATURE OUT LOUD
Click here for a complete INDEX
LITERATURE OUT LOUD -- see and hear great literature Audio narrations with synchronized visual text
The Complete Collection of
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
all 154 poems $3.99 DVD with FREE shipping
Click on Amazon, Paypal or Google Payments button to order
Essential Oils -- create your own business -- click on the logo to begin
Click on the player to hear an audio version of this pieceLight
Tuesday Jul 12, 2011
An Adventure into Accident
Tuesday Jul 12, 2011
Tuesday Jul 12, 2011
AN ADVENTURE INTO ACCIDENT
While many people have accidents, most people are fortunate to have these inconveniences limited to a few during their lifetimes. Some accidents are so big they end a life. My problem is that my life has become an aggregation of accidental slips, falls and mishaps that have massed into an incredible list of near misses. But wait - isn't a near miss a hit? I think that's what you would call my chronicle of misadventures into the self-administered accident.
Mostly hits, with a few misses. Most of the accidents I have been involved in are my fault. I've never had another car run into me, a person knock me down while hurrying to a plane, or even been the victim of a stray bullet.
I take that back. I was the target of an arrow once, and when it hit me right next to my eye, I bled a little. I made the mistake of telling my mother, who immediately decided I needed the dreaded tetanus shot. I have had a few of these shots since then, but if you have never had one of these, it is much like getting a shot of peanut butter through a giant hypodermic needle. It hurts like crazy and makes a painful mound that takes a while to subside.
The bad news is that you only need a tetanus shot, according to what I have heard, if you have in fact had your skin penetrated by metal - like a rusty nail. I forgot to tell my mom that it was only a wooden arrow until we were on the way home. I don't know if she was madder than I was. She had spent money she probably didn't need to, but I had a sore butt and eye.
I have also been the victim of an errant snowboard. The guy crashed into me so hard it knocked me out of my skis. People stopped to see if I was dead, but I only mumbled I would be bruised. He shouted back at me as he careened down the mountain, “Sorry man, I can’t carve!”
This chronicle of pain focuses mostly on the mistakes and missteps I have made, but I've also included some of the adventures of my family. I think now that I've got grownup children I would rather the pain and suffering occur to me, but why does there have to be so much pain and suffering? I guess it's better me than them, but if you stop to chronicle your accidents and mishaps, I hope it's a few less than the 50 I will be discussing.
That's right. Fifty.
When I started the list, I was surprised at how fast the list of my tales of misadventures grew into many pages. I was overwhelmed at thinking of the pains and stresses I have survived. Now that I'm over fifty years old, it seems I have had an adventure for every year I've lived.
Maybe writing those down will end the run. And I'll include some of the other good experiences I've survived, too.
You may have heard of the Darwin awards. It's a collection of people ending their lives in stupid ways which also ends their ability to keep reproducing. This cuts down on inherited stupidity, but that doesn't help in my case. I've already reproduced. Maybe I'm going to be up for one of those awards someday, and as you hear about these mishaps, you'll wonder how it is I have survived as long as I have.
If I do end my life in some spectacularly stupid fashion (which seems more likely to me the more I write about these adventures), I only ask that someone would take the time to change the name of the award.
It could be called the Danewin Award.
This topic could be required reading as a precautionary tale about stupidity and a genuine lack of brains (more about that later). If I win, that's means I'll no longer be around to suggest the change, but maybe you could suggest that they change it to the Danewon Awards. I think you get the idea. These tales are way too much about me, and very little about the other important people in my life. But at least most of the damage happened to me and not them.
You can also sit back and say to yourself that at least none of this ever happened to you. Or if you have had similar adventures, at least you will have the satisfaction of knowing you are not the only one on the planet who survives despite your own best efforts.
Maybe you were the guy on the snowboard who couldn’t carve. At least we’ve already bumped into one another.
Let the adventure begin.
LITERATURE OUT LOUD
Click here for a complete INDEX
LITERATURE OUT LOUD -- see and hear great literature Audio narrations with synchronized visual text
The Complete Collection of
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
all 154 poems $3.99 DVD with FREE shipping
Click on Amazon, Paypal or Google Payments button to order
Essential Oils -- create your own business -- click on the logo to begin
Click on the player to hear an audio version of this piece An Adventure Into AccidentWednesday Jul 06, 2011
Abundance Keys July 3
Wednesday Jul 06, 2011
Wednesday Jul 06, 2011
LITERATURE OUT LOUD
Click here for a complete INDEX
This is the complete episode of Abundance from July 3rd which includes the following episodes: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Dane Allred -- Tracker Towing World of Hurt -- Car Wash part one World of Hurt -- Car Wash part two Bright Space -- Keys Biography Out Loud -- O. Henry Literature Out Loud -- The Ransom of Red Chief by O. HenryLITERATURE OUT LOUD -- see and hear great literature Audio narrations with synchronized visual text
The Complete Collection of
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
all 154 poems $3.99 DVD with FREE shipping
Click on Amazon, Paypal or Google Payments button to order
Essential Oils -- create your own business -- click on the logo to begin
Click on the player to hear an audio version of this piece Abundance KeysWednesday Jul 06, 2011
Keys by Dane Allred
Wednesday Jul 06, 2011
Wednesday Jul 06, 2011
Bright Space
by Dane Allred
Keys
We wander through life wondering why we are here.
Walking down our own road
We look for answers to the many questions
Filling our minds.
What is the key to finding our purpose?
When we left the Bright Space
We forgot all that we knew.
We forgot we were all together
Waiting for a chance to be here now.
Hoping to accomplish all we were sent to do
Hoping to remember we are all working toward the same goal – returning to the Bright Space
So we can all share what we have learned.
We knew all there was to know before we came here.
But unless we tried this stuff called life on our own, That shared experience was not enough.
As we realized we needed to experience
This world on our own,
The key to our success was to forget all that we had known.
To venture on our own.
To find our own way.
But we are here together
You may be the key to my success
Or I may be your key
To unlocking the reason you are here.
Billions of individual stories circling on this spinning marble
Wondering about our futures
Considering our part
Hoping to make a difference we lived here.
But remembering we were once together
Might be the key to end the fighting
The tension
The conflict.
Problems we encounter need our solutions
And the best news is our solutions
Are fellow travelers with us.
Turn to those around you to find the key
To those thorny problems you may be facing.
The key to your success may be only a step or two away.
One or two steps in physical space
Or a step or two searching the wide world.
If you wander wondering why you are here,
Look around yourself as you walk that road.
I was there with you.
You were there with me.
We are here to learn all that we can learn
And return to know all that we can know.
LITERATURE OUT LOUD
Click here for a complete INDEX
LITERATURE OUT LOUD -- see and hear great literature Audio narrations with synchronized visual text
The Complete Collection of
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
all 154 poems $3.99 DVD with FREE shipping
Click on Amazon, Paypal or Google Payments button to order
Essential Oils -- create your own business -- click on the logo to begin
Click on the player to hear an audio version of this piece KeysTuesday Jul 05, 2011
Car Wash part two
Tuesday Jul 05, 2011
Tuesday Jul 05, 2011
Dane Allred’s World of Hurt
Car Wash Part Two
In Part One, I had just been thrashed in the car wash by the brushes and completely soaked. After pushing the car back up onto the sensor, the wash resumed. I sat cursing about my stupidity. After a few moments, the car wash stopped again. I waited for a moment to make sure all was clear. I had decided to go to the back of the car to push it out of the bay. The bump on the front of the sensor was big, and I was certain it would take quite a shove.
I got low to the ground and put my shoulder up against the tail lights. With one mighty shove, the car went forward perfectly - back up onto the sensor. This time I was behind the car, and the frenzied foaming brushes followed me right back to the driver's seat. I had fallen for the same joke twice. The car had come off the sensor twice. I had been wet before, but now I was completely soaked. It felt like I had 30 gallons of water poured on me while 100 foamy whips tried to catch me.
As I sat and watched the brushes move around and over the car, I was glad it was getting clean. I also decided that this time when the car wash stopped, whether the wash was done or not, I was going to push the car backwards out of the bay. I may be slow, but I am not totally stupid.
When the suds stopped flying I sat for at least a minute. I rocked back and forth inside the car to try to get it to go again. I looked around to see if anyone was waiting for the wash and laughing. After seeing the coast was clear, I pushed the car out the back of the wash. Except I pushed so hard that I couldn't turn the wheel inside fast enough, so it got stuck in the bend of the entrance. This carwash had a semicircular entrance, and here was my soaked car being attended by its sopping wet owner stuck on the concrete sides of a curving entrance.
A Samaritan was lurking close by, and without commenting on my wet clothes and the fact that I was trying to exit from the entrance of the car wash, he helped push the car back and forth until I could turn the wheel and free myself from the carwash of disaster. We pushed the car back another 30 feet into a parking space and I thanked him for his help. I told him the battery was dead, and that seemed to silence his questions about me being dripping wet. I can imagine his conversation at home that night. "See, the reason I am late dear is that this guy's battery died in the carwash and I helped him push the car out of the entrance. I don't know why, but this guy was all wet, too." This would be where the significant other starts smelling the breath of the good Samaritan.
I stood there by myself for a minute. The car was dead and dripping. I was soaked but not defeated, but I was standing next to the newest mall in the city in sopping wet clothes next to a wet car. I decided that it was time for me to go to the nearby Kmart and get a new battery. Even if the old one was fine, I was not going to stand around and wait for the both of us to dry. I guess I figured that if I was walking around not near a wet car people might think I had just been at a water party. It was August after all, and I was only a few miles from the local water park.
I walked the two blocks to Kmart. The good people there must see mostly everything because no one said a word about my wet clothes. By the time I had walked the battery back to the car (try carrying a car battery two blocks inconspicuously), I was starting to feel refreshed. I was clean; I had just taken a bit of exercise; I was ready to repair my car.
The battery was the only problem. With my trust crescent wrench I removed the old one, put in the new one, and the now dry car started up like a dream. I confidently went back to Kmart and got my core refund for the old battery and drove home in style, ready for a new school year.
I didn't share the story for a few days, just to let the humiliation of the event drain off a bit. I have been back to that carwash since then, but as yet, I have not had to get out again mid-wash.
LITERATURE OUT LOUD
Click here for a complete INDEX
LITERATURE OUT LOUD -- see and hear great literature Audio narrations with synchronized visual text
The Complete Collection of
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
all 154 poems $3.99 DVD with FREE shipping
Essential Oils -- create your own business -- click on the logo to begin
Click on the player to hear an audio version of this piece Car Wash part twoTuesday Jul 05, 2011
Car Wash Part One
Tuesday Jul 05, 2011
Tuesday Jul 05, 2011
Dane Allred’s World of Hurt
Car Wash part one
My oldest daughter was married in my back yard. Preparing for the wedding was when the infamous spading incident happened. Everything went well at the wedding, but one of my cars sat unused for a couple of months. One of my favorite cars, the Mazda was still around at this time, but the battery was completely dead and it hadn't been running all summer. During the school year we usually need two cars, but summer is a different matter, and the pile of grey metal just sat in the driveway waiting for me to replace the battery. A few days after the wedding, I decided it was time to get the car going since fall semester was quickly approaching. I talked Debbie into pulling me around the parking lot with a rope tied to the Tracker, and after a bit the engine kicked in and seemed to be running fine. I went up to Debbie and told her I was going to charge up the battery by driving the car over to Provo and back, and disconnected the rope and went on my way hoping the battery was recharging.
The car was running fine, even after sitting for more than a month without being used. It was terribly dirty from summer storms and swirling dirt, so as I filled the tank I noticed the gas station also offered car washes. I filled the tank without turning off the engine for fear it would die and wouldn't start again. I kept looking at the sign that said to turn off your car before fueling and wondered if I was super-flammable or just regularly-flammable. But the car wash distracted me and I decided to get a car wash while I was there.
I hadn't turned the car off and figured I could keep it running in the car wash and then just drive it home. From the reading on the battery gauge I wasn't convinced the battery was recharging and I didn't want to get stuck somewhere where I couldn't get pull-started again. But I decided on the car wash anyway. What could happen?
I pulled in and as soon as I settled into the slot for the front tire I let the clutch out. Habit. The car promptly died. I winced and I tried to start the car again as the car wash started up. The battery was completely dead and only a new battery would solve the problem. I decided to make the best of the situation and just sit and enjoy the carwash, determining to push the car out of the bay after the wash was done. I looked behind me and was glad to see there was no one waiting for the bay that would see me pushing out my sopping wet car.
I took my foot off the brake and tried to relax. Perhaps I could get a battery at the local Kmart which was only two blocks away. But then the car wash stopped and I was faced with the prospect of pushing a wet car over the sensor.
I got out of the car and noticed that the giant brushes which wash the side of the car were aligned just at the back of the car. I didn't think much of that, but instead jammed my body into the crack of the partially opened door and heaved. The car went forward a few inches back up onto the sensor.
The car wash started up again. The six-foot foam brushes started spinning in circles just behind me, and thoroughly soaked me with their water spray. As I started to hop back into the car, I was whipped several times by the wet, foamy, soapy tentacles of the beast. It was like being beaten with a giant mop.
As I soaked slowly in the driver's seat, I realized what had happened. I had been parked on top of the sensor and when I took my foot off the brake, the car rolled back off the sensing pad and stopped the wash to avoid damage to the equipment. The car wash designers didn't want cars backing up into their expensive machinery while the wash was going.
I felt like an idiot. Plus, it really took quite a bit of effort to get the car just back up onto the sensor. As I sat and waited for the wash to finish, I cursed my stupidity and was also thankful for my luck. I could have been severely injured by the moving parts of the machinery, but my guardian angel was simply laughing at the wet guy sitting in the car.
Seriously, I wonder at times just how I have survived these many accidents. Stupidity may be the key.
You may think this story is at an end, but in Part Two, I’ll get the final rinse.
LITERATURE OUT LOUD
Click here for a complete INDEX
LITERATURE OUT LOUD -- see and hear great literature Audio narrations with synchronized visual text
The Complete Collection of
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
all 154 poems $3.99 DVD with FREE shipping
Essential Oils -- create your own business -- click on the logo to begin
Click on the player to hear an audio version of this piece Car Wash part oneTuesday Jun 28, 2011
One Life
Tuesday Jun 28, 2011
Tuesday Jun 28, 2011
Click here for a complete INDEX
One Life
by Dane Allred
Short or long, one life is all we have been given
Time to sing
To dance
And walk a while.
To learn and love
To touch the lives
Of those near and far.
Each day unfolds as
A new hope.
Another possibility.
To do all the things we have to do
One life to do all the things we are here to do
One life to do all the things we want to do.
This day to smell the flowers
Watch the sunset
And breathe in the sweet air of life.
LITERATURE OUT LOUD -- see and hear great literature Audio narrations with synchronized visual text
The Complete Collection of
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
all 154 poems $3.99 DVD with FREE shipping
Essential Oils -- create your own business -- click on the logo to begin
Click on the player below to hear the audio version of this piece. One LifeMonday Jun 27, 2011
Clean the Screen
Monday Jun 27, 2011
Monday Jun 27, 2011
Dane Allred’s World of Hurt
Clean The Screen
I’m positively done with the negativity. I’m not going to listen to the naysayers and doomsday prophets anymore. To symbolize this change, I just cleaned off my computer screen and the world is looking much, much better. Don’t have a screen to clean? Think of it this way. Wipe that mud off your face and walk away from those throwing the mud.
I’ve made a conscious decision to stop participating in the mud fight. I’m sure others will keep on throwing the mud, but that doesn’t mean I have to stay and get dirty along with them.
Without sounding too negative in my newly designed positive world, I’m talking about all those people who trade in words like “can’t”, “failure”, “never”, “no”, “futile” or “stupid”.
I confess to listening to those words spouted by the “experts” for many, many years. But I’ve had it. You’d be surprised how much your attitude changes when you embrace what is possible and delete the “impossible” from your language.
As an example, here’s a list of past “impossibilities”. Humans can’t fly. Humans will never walk on the moon. Humans will never cure polio, measles, small pox, etc. I’m taking my new marching orders from someone you may have heard about. Albert Schweitzer was known for getting things done, not for nattering about the negative. His attitude was one of positive thinking, action, and an indomitable spirit.
Here’s a summary for those who doubt. He studied to a theologian. After his training, he could have preached goodness and light for the rest of his life. But he wanted to roll up his sleeves and be part of the solution. So he went back to school and became a doctor. He spent seven more years gaining the knowledge and aptitude to put his belief into action. At the ripe old age of 37 he started practicing medicine in an old chicken coop in Africa. He spent his life trying to get us to stop worrying about the end of the world and get busy making a positive contribution. He didn’t listen to the harping chorus of “no, never, pointless, worthless, ineffective, fruitless, futile, stupid, etc.” Oh, by the way, while doing all this, he also became one of the world’s greatest organ players.
Still not convinced we don’t need to wallow in the mud with the others? Here are some ways I’ve learned to deal with negativity in practical, everyday life. As a worker, I am often presented with problems to be solved. I’ll bet your job is much the same. You are given a problem, your job is to find a solution, and fix it. Then you move on to the next problem. You don’t cry and whine it can’t be done – you find a way to do it or you don’t have your job for very long.
I’ve chosen to accept criticism since I am also a performer. I’ve acted in dozens of stage productions, commercials, and films. When the director offers criticism of my performance, I accept it with a polite “thank you” and figure a way to improve. If that doesn’t work, the director gives me another suggestion, which I accept with “thank you” and the process continues. I don’t throw a tantrum and crawl on the floor, blaming everyone but myself. I accept the shortcoming, and look for ways to overcome it.
Much better than mud throwing.
You can change the channel – can you tune away from the negative and find a way to channel some positivity? You’ll be surprised how optimistic you’ll become listening to your favorite music or watching an inspiring movie or program instead of the continual broadcast of trash talk.
Give thanks – rejecting negativity doesn’t have to be rude. You can remove yourself from the conversation or change the subject. But don’t forget to say “thanks” for the efforts of others. Remember, being positive doesn’t mean throwing mud back. We can choose not to participate, and instead focus on how to fix perceived problems.
Be a solver -- start a solution. I have my way of trying to make the world a better place, and so do you. I hope what you achieve is more than just the same-old name-calling. It’s one of the reasons you are here. We need your help and creativity, not negativity. Why whine, when you can create? Why moan when you can move toward a solution? Let the mud-throwers enjoy themselves as they throw mud, but don’t forget to invite them to the celebration of your success.
There was a time when Dale Carnegie told us to get a “positive attitude”. I know that ingenuity, faith, trust, hope and hard work will always defeat fear. If you are with me, turn this resolution into a physical act. Clean off your screen as a reminder to make the change. Or just wipe that mud off your face.
LITERATURE OUT LOUD
Click here for a complete INDEX
LITERATURE OUT LOUD -- see and hear great literature Audio narrations with synchronized visual text
The Complete Collection of
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
all 154 poems $3.99 DVD with FREE shipping
Essential Oils -- create your own business -- click on the logo to begin
Click on the player to hear an audio version of this piece Clean The ScreenThursday Jun 16, 2011
Make A Positive Contribution -- Part One
Thursday Jun 16, 2011
Thursday Jun 16, 2011
My Best Self
by Dane Allred
M -- Make a Positive Contribution
Eleanor Roosevelt once said “When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.”
We are here for a reason. There is something only we can do, because the universe decided we needed to be here at this time, occupying this body in the place we appeared. There was no one else who could be us, with our unique collections of experiences, problems, pains and perceptions. We are the amalgamation of all that we have experienced. Our unique perspective from which we see the world as we look out at all the other people in the world is truly only our own.
The M in My Best Self is a great starting point to reaching our best self because it makes us get outside ourselves. To be our best self, we may need to consider what we do for all the others who are on this spinning marble with us.
This doesn’t mean your positive contribution can’t be something you are doing all the time, or that you can’t make money doing it. But making a positive contribution is more than having a job which will generate taxes for governments to use for others. It means specifically thinking about making this world a better place not just for ourselves, but for others, too.
These don’t have to be world changing events. They can be small, medium or large, but the impact is still the same for us. We are doing something we value and trying to make a positive contribution to one person or more. It doesn’t matter if it changes the world; it may only matter because it changes us.
Your contribution may be something small, and though it may seem small to you, it should mean something to someone else besides you.
I like to garden. I have plenty of free time in the summer since I’m a school teacher. I have a nice yard, and time to do the things it needs. People often ask me in a joking way to come over to their house when I’m done if I want some more yard work.
It’s funny, but it does prove the point. Most people don’t like doing yard work like I do, or maybe I just have a positive attitude about doing something I know needs to be done. I also know that if I do it, I’ll feel better about myself and the yard – a true win/win.
This week I weeded around my mailbox, but since I have been taking care of it for a while, there wasn’t much to do. Technically, my mailbox is right on the edge of my neighbor’s yard, but I couldn’t let the bare patch of weeds stay that way for long. As the flowerbed around the mailbox grew, let’s just say the only direction it could grow was away from my house.
So when neighbors saw me outside weeding a flowerbed in front of my neighbor’s house, they actually said to me, “Why are you weeding someone else’s yard?” To myself I said, “Why not?” If the neighbor didn’t like it, they could tell me to stop.
I spent another couple of hours this week weeding another flowerbed we share along the property line by the mailbox. The couple who owns the house is away during the summer, and I took it upon myself to make what could be a weedy patch look more like a flower garden. A little at a time, I have weeded, planted and watered this strip until it really compliments both of our yards.
And some may say I was doing this only to make my own yard look better, but making a positive contribution can also benefit us. It may not seem selfless, but I really didn’t have to do it. I just wanted to. I put in a couple of hours, and for the rest of the summer, everyone will get to enjoy some flowers instead of the weeds.
Here’s a medium example along the same lines. My neighbor around the corner fell and hurt his back at work, and though he probably could have hired someone to mow his lawn, I decided to do it instead. I didn’t ask him for permission, but just mowed it one day. No one came outside and protested, so I did it again the next week.
It’s more than a couple of hours weeding, but it really isn’t a tremendous amount of time. My lawn is huge, so I spend an hour cutting my lawn every week. Mowing his added about fifteen minutes to my lawn-mowing. But that fifteen minutes were incredibly productive.
It made me feel good, and it made a positive contribution to his life, too. I probably mowed it twenty times during the summer. I didn’t mow it the next summer, but by then he was able to take care of it himself.
So the difference we make doesn’t have to be a lifetime commitment. It may be an afternoon weeding, or a summer mowing. I like to perform, and I feel my talents are best used when I get the chance to bring some of the characters from the stage to life for others. There is a great feeling when you perform, and it’s not just the endorphins rushing through your body. I feel at home on the stage, and delight in making people laugh.
But I don’t usually get paid to perform. I have acted in dozens of stage plays and musicals, and the majority of them have been my volunteered time. The venues do collect money for the performances, but most stages work with thread-bare margins so those would be wiped out by paying a salary. So most of the people I work with in stage productions are also not paid.
So perfecting a role for the stage is probably a medium effort, since it involves many weeks of rehearsals at night and on week-ends, plus the time spent during performances. The show I am currently doing started rehearsals about four months ago. We spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights rehearsing, plus some time on Saturday mornings. As the performances approached, we were rehearsing every night for three or four hours. Now that the show is up, we are performing three times a week – about nine or ten hours total.
But the rewards of this kind of effort are off the scale in terms of returns. I am having the time of my life, playing a part I have really want to play. The theatre is enjoying the fruits of our labors, and may be able to continue as a community theatre for another fifty years. This kind of a contribution can extend into the future, but if it shut down tomorrow I would still have volunteered the time.
Plus the audiences get to see a good show – even if it is vain of me to say so. We are getting so many great plaudits from audience members I want to remind them they paid to come and see this and deserved a good show. But in some way, they know they are getting more than their money's worth, and the want to acknowledge it.
LITERATURE OUT LOUD
Click here for a complete INDEX
LITERATURE OUT LOUD -- see and hear great literature Audio narrations with synchronized visual text
The Complete Collection of
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
all 154 poems $3.99 DVD with FREE shipping