Our Town and Les Miz

Our Town and Les Miz

By Ed Chasteen

            Two of my favorite plays. One about Grover’s Corner, a fictitious American town; the other, about the French Revolution. One is performed on an almost bare stage, only a stepladder in sight, just a handful of actors to tell the story of the Gibbs family. The other, the stage filled with mind-boggling, soul stirring, frequently-changing sets and more actors than anyone can count, portraying a national struggle. One low-key, slow moving, no action other than conversation between family members and friends. The other, filled with rousing music, angry people with guns and constant struggle to stay alive while fighting to overthrow a despotic government.

            Emily in Our Town asks a simple question that has never left me since first I heard it. “Does anyone ever realize life as they live it, every single minute?” And a song from Lez Miserables called “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” about friends killed in the struggle has haunted me from first hearing. And in this question and this song, to me, at least, these two plays, outwardly with nothing in common, reveal themselves to be coming at the insatiable urge we all feel to find meaning and purpose in life.

            And to my simple mind another thought occurs. If we had more conversations with one another as the Gibbs family does maybe—just maybe—we might not, everywhere and in all time, find fighting so inevitable. The world is filled in our time with religious mistrust, hatred and violence. We all are in danger of being swept up into it. Before that happens, to slow and maybe in some places prevent its happening, let us try the way of Our Town: quiet conversation about ordinary, everyday things.

            It might not help. But it could. We have nothing to lose by trying. It seems so little a thing to do against so overwhelming a problem. I would like to try it in our town and our church. Sitting together over a meal with friends of other faiths let us wonder about Emily’s question. Let us talk to one another about where we grew up, our parents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles; our childhood memories, our favorite foods, music we like, our hobbies, what we like to do for fun, our children, our hopes and dreams.

            If only a few of us will do this, we might become the yeast to leaven the loaf and make it rise. Our example might inspire and encourage those who witness what we do to make their own effort. If nothing else, our own lives will be enriched as we make new friends and learn to like people who are not like us. Or so it seemed before we began to talk.

            Will Rogers is remembered for having said, “I never met a man I didn’t like.” I’ve always wondered if he would have said, “I never liked a man I didn’t meet.” It seems to me that one purpose of life could be to meet every person we can and expect to like every person we meet. I long ago adopted such a purpose for my own life. I’m a rich man now. Not a lot of money. But friends everywhere. And more all the time.

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