I Miss Paris

Something happened while in Paris. I have to say there isn't anywhere else I've missed so much as Paris. Sure, Manhattan is way cool and I do long for the day I get to go back, but Paris is something entirely different. It got me. It spoke to me about being a beautiful master over one's life in the face of never ending pressure to streamline and move at the speed of light in today's modern world.

Every now and again I am hit with the reality of how much I was affected by that place. We attended a funeral last Friday. We arrived at the church and it was one of those Arizonian churches built in the last 20 years, so it was in stucco and sleek in its design. It was simple... Really simple. It almost could've been a place of business rather than a place of worship, like it was sort of meek about being a church. And these observations were the ones from the outside of the building. Then I walked inside of the building and suddenly, like a ton of bricks, it hit me that the last church I was in was Notre Dame. Just like when I went to Paris and walked into gorgeous building after building and church after church and was stricken to the point of tears at the magnificence, now I was being struck at the lack of conviction and dedication we have in our modern-day churches. They're almost not churches in comparison to the cathedrals raised throughout history until the most recent two or three decades.

Nothing compares to real love, patience, dedication and service. You can't fake it. The buildings we erect now, whether of a religious nature or otherwise are at best a weak impersonation of architecture for the most part. We're so dedicated now to the dollar and to beating the competition to get ours done first that we've lost sight of the art of building the real deal.

That's what I learned while in Paris. It pays to not multi-task too much but rather to focus on one area and become a master at it. Throw yourself into what you do and resist temptation to be everything to everyone. This is hard to do in our society; be strong and resistant to the world's modern-day drive to permanent distraction and lightspeed productivity. Paris does this with grace. I love Paris.