Let's get out of the chair

 

When we are getting ready for an event, the first and forthmost thing is to prepare enough chairs. Inadequate seating arrangement can spark complaint. A comfortable chair is an indispensable item in an office room as it is believed to enhance work efficiency. Likewise, after a hectic day, one desires nothing more than a leisure hour in the embrace of a cosy armchair, preferably graced with the massage function. In fact, the chair has become just as much a necessity as our clothing. However, despite all the comfort a chair can afford, over dependence on it can be harmful. And it is important to rid ourselves of the disease called chair addiction before it causes more harm. 

From a recent article entitled ‘Sitting is killing you’ in Reader's Digest, I have learned about an office which has undergone a ‘chair-free revolution’ and where the staff have all got used to the chair-escape program. The office is circled by a walking track, leaving enough space for ping-pong tables. The few chairs that are found are ‘architectural accents rather than dominant furnishing’. Seminars are organized to advise the staff on healthy living and walk-talk meetings are held to get them out of their chairs.

 

The program has reaped encouraging results. The office atmosphere is now more lively and ecstatic, with the office staff happily exchanging success stories of weight loss and health gain. Their more enthusiastic work contributions have also led to the company’s financial growth.

 

I have had a personal experience of a situation where the non-provision of chairs served a very good purpose. I was invited to attend a reception in celebration of a national event. Held in the Grand Ballroom of a posh hotel, the feast was glamorous with fabulous food, luxurious decorations and a performing live band. But one thing that struck me as unusual was that there were round pedestal dining tables, each of the right height for four or five guests standing around it, which also meant that chairs were not needed. I was at first put off by the idea of having to stand while eating. But I later realized that the whole setting was to encourage more socializing among the guests. I was approached by guests I met for the first time and soon found myself conversing freely with most of those present. If we had been sedentary, we could have gone home with hardly any memory of one another. 

So there is one more thing we can add to the list of health hazards. Its’ time we pulled ourselves out of the chair more often.

 

Not fitting in?

Lunching at a fast food shop can be an unpleasant experience when it is crowded with almost all tables occupied. The food is not the cause of displeasure as there is never much to be expected from fast food. The long wait at the queue, though pestering, is accepted as part of the package. What hinders the eating enjoyment is the noise all around. You wonder why people need to talk at the top of their voices while eating.

The noise is more tolerable if it comes from children. After all, shouting is their right. But often time you find yourself in the midst of a family discussion with every detail forced into your ears. I once overheard, much against my will, a presumably divorced couple complaining about their share of responsibilities over their child. The man asserted that he could afford his care of the child for only three days a week as his mother had regular appointments with her mahjong friends. Against this the woman, her face distorted with anger, protested strongly, condemning this as a violation of their divorce agreement. The worst part of it was that the argument was taking place in the presence of the young child, who was seemingly absorbed in his plate of food with hardly any expression on his face.

Another time I had the bad luck of being within earshot of a group of teenagers sharing about their school day. They wouldn’t bother to hide their roaring laughter with occasional outbursts of vulgar words. What’s wrong with teenagers’ happy talk? You may ask. Well, if only you had heard what they said! A boy boasted of his trick of hiding the cheat sheets up the sleeves of his shirt during a test. Another laughed at the poor eyesight of the invigilator. What enraged me was not their dishonesty but the shameless way in which they bragged about it, indifferent to the disapproving eyes around them.

It is a blessing to have quiet neighbors, of course. But the ‘peacefulness’ is not always the kind you desire. Quite a few times I found myself eating with the neighboring table occupied by a family. There was hardly any exchange of words among them. The daddy was absorbed in a magazine or newspaper. The mother was busy feeding a toddler, glancing at the cell phone from time to time. The boy, obviously the toddler’s brother, was lost in a cell phone game, unconcerned about the taste of the food he put in the mouth.

Ultimately, the trouble is not about eating in a fast food shop. Is it the social phenomenon that I find disagreeable? Or is it the trouble of not fitting in the present social norm? Is this another sign of aging?

The First Phone Call from Heaven - A Book Review

 

 

The First Phone Call from Heaven

By Mitch Albom

 

 

People nowadays seem to have got used to checking the cell phone from time to time for text messages or call alerts. How would you feel if you got a call from someone who had passed away? I got fascinated the moment I started reading the story named ‘The First Phone Call from Heaven’ written by Mitch Albom. A few residents of a small town on Lake Michigan claimed to have got phone calls from their departed loved ones, drawing wide attention from both believers and non-believers of religion. While curious crowds were flocking to the town, a single father was determined to find out the truth behind the mysterious calls. What happened thereafter kept me reading with immense interest.

 

I got hooked on the story for a number of reasons. For one thing, the characters are true to life. There is Katherine Yellin, whose deceased sister called and told her about her peaceful life in heaven. Quite taken aback, she felt bewildered at first, but the repeated call gradually drove away her fear and soon she found herself waiting every Friday with her cell-phone in her hand. Six others had a similar experience of receiving the Friday ‘call’ from heaven. They were deemed the ‘chosen ones’, objects of admiration, when the incidents became front page news and claimed network coverage. However, the response was not all positive. Someone with an incurable disease found Katherine’s experience so consoling that he overcame his fear of the afterlife and willingly submitted himself to death. Katherine was then harshly criticized for spreading false hope. Even the church was affected. The increased size of the congregation was no longer a welcome sign as it was doubted whether the attention was on Gospel preaching or on the attempt at actual contact with heaven. In real life, haven’t we sometimes suffered the loss of our dear ones and long so much to seek encounters with them somehow? Are there not people who seek to make a profit by overstating the phenomenon? Do churchgoers really care for spiritual enrichment and for pursuit of the truth? Indeed evidence of human nature abounds in the story.

 

The occasional reference to the invention of the first telephone also adds to the appeal of the story. The writer points out that, whoever the inventor was, the very first telephone conversation contained these words; ‘Come here. I want to see you.’ And ever since then this has been the intention of the users of the telephone. The seven ‘chosen ones’ in the story were so convinced of their contact with the departed souls mainly because of their eagerness to see them again. Bell was told to stop talking nonsense when he mentioned a wire that could transmit the human voice. Likewise, there were protesters who viewed the phone calls from heaven with contempt and disbelief. Then upon royal request, there was a demonstration of the telephone for Queen Victoria. And the event was in the news. Now there would be a TV show broadcast live in which Katherine would be sharing a phone call with the world. Would this justify her claim to the heavenly call? I think the writer has very cleverly made use of the comparison to convey the message that despite the great changes in the models and functions of the telephone, its main use of establishing a link between people remains the same and that our desire to connect and to stay connected is still there.

 

Of course, there is no shortage of thrills to keep the reader on the hook. As mentioned earlier, Sully Harding, the single father, was skeptical of the calls from heaven. He put his life at risk in his search for information that would justify his suspicion of a hoax. Out of the reader’s expectation, the truth turned out to be related to a past incident that had caused his wife’s death and his imprisonment. Did he succeed in solving the mystery? Were the phone calls really from heaven? These are the questions that kept me turning the pages. And you will have to read the book to find out the answers.