My Grandma used to say, 'Look here, son of my firstborn son, when you pray to God, keep it short because He does not listen to anything that takes more than ten words to say, twelve at the most." She explained that God was very busy and He was also very smart. That was why He had a very short attention span. There was no need to bore him with long, drawn out prayers.
I was confused by what she told me and said, "But Grandma, the psalms of David that you recite towards the Mountains of Joun at sunup every morning are long." Grandma grunted and said, "Well, even David talked too much. All he had to say was, "Lord, I am a screw-up, but you are amazing and I love you. Bless me and destroy my enemies."
Grandma said even Jesus didn't need to say as much as He did when He taught the disciples the Lord's prayer. She said there were a lot of dummies hanging around the Lord, and he had to use too many words to make them understand what he was talking about.
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2006/09/27/theater/reviews/27drag.html
ReplyDeleteThe last line of this reader comment reminded me of this post:
"Many plays of late dabble with hideous racial stereotypes, ostensibly to construct biting social criticism. However, Ms. Young Jean Lee has created an entire debris field of volatile and ridiculous shards of stereotypes, rife with misunderstandings and hate. Her aesthetic is deliberately brutal and childish, but it's also riddled with disarming cognitive twists and Ms. Lee's sharp intellect and humanism shine through. Her title, SONGS OF THE DRAGONS FLYING TO HEAVEN, is borrowed from the first epic poem written in the Korean alphabet, commissioned by a farsighted and art-loving King. Ms. Lee and her utterly charming cast of six seem engaged in a similar pursuit: invent a new alphabet, write its first poem."