Monday, April 14, 2008

My personal soap box

Last night I had the opportunity to listen to one of the most beautiful concerts to ever grace Salt Lake City. This opportunity was thwarted by the mindless minions that congregate and defile all that is beautiful.

Andy was invited to sing at the Cathedral of the Madeline with the University of Utah Choirs. They were performing the Monteverdi Vespers. The choir was amazingly clean and the soloists superb. This was a truly beautiful concert. The music was so touching and so inspiring...it makes me irate to think how it was received, at least by the people who were sitting around me.


First and foremost:
I DO NOT CARE WHAT YOUR FAITH IS, when you are in a place of worship, regardless the religion, you treat the building and the people in it with respect and reverence. Nothing makes me more frustrated than a person expecting others to show respect in his/her church when he/she refuses to do the same in another. How hypocritical can people be?

General Rules of Etiquette (all of these behaviors were present at the concert):

1. Do not speak audibly to your neighbor for two straight hours.
2. Do not allow your bratty child to bring his noisy game boy, psp, whatever, then proceed to tell him to turn down the volume while the concert is in performance.
3. Do not suck face during a concert, in a cathedral, or anywhere in public. Seriously. It is tacky and disgusting.
4. Do not use the pews or the kneeling benches as foot stools or lounge couches.
5. Do not make fun of names found in the program and proceed to laugh about it loudly.
6. When a performance ends, applaud. Whether you liked it or not, a lot of people put a lot of hard work into the performance and at least deserve to be recognized.
7. Do not grab the bible from the pew and make fun of the language in which it is written, laughing with your friends about the word 'ass'.
8. Do not sprawl your body over the pew to show how bored you are.
9. Remain seated during the performance. Do not get up and down, up and down to go answer your phone, go to the bathroom, and God knows what else. If you are over the age of 6, you have the ability to sit still for an hour.
10. Do not complain about how boring the concert is, how you want to go home, how long the concert is, what you have to do that is better...leave. Seriously. Complaining about it will not make it go faster, and you are ruining the experience for people who aren't as retarded as you.

I was deeply disgusted and disappointed in the behavior I witnessed at the Madeline on Sunday night. I was hoping that people had a little more class than what was presented. Instead, I saw an inexcusable display of ignorance. I was thoroughly ashamed and embarrassed by the audience at the Madeline.

5 comments:

Reagan said...

Oh my word! Im sorry you were there with a bunch of jerks...did you say anything to any of them? I hate it when people are stupid like that. I like your rules...we should post it all over the place...seriously.

Melissa said...

Oh hell no. I hate when people act like that...I remember going to Notre Dame Cathedral and lighting a candle and someone telling me I shouldn't do that because I'm a mormon...ok ya know what, God is God and Faith is Faith and people need to respect that. This same person told me that is was too bad that it was such a pretty building but had no beauty because of the corruption of the church...Notre Dame...yeah,this person is an idiot.

Anonymous said...

Oh my hell that is disrespect completely, this was a great blog. If only more people saw this point of view, to most there is only one church and it is whichever faith they are. I think you should write a book I love your blogs
-Ryane

Hilary said...

That is ridiculous! I hope you said something to them after. I don't care if you are in a church or a school gym, when you watch a performance you respect those who are performing...SERIOUSLY! "I love humanity but I hate people." -Edna St. Vincent Millay

Anonymous said...

Amen! Its good to know that people still know what respect means when your in a place of worship. Like you said regrdless of your particular faith denomination.

I have to go put your wig on now, but I'll read more later!

-Yancey