A friend send a text from New York. She was at the Frick Collection and thrilled to be seeing three paintings by Johannes Vermeer in one place!

I immediately recalled the day we visited the Louvre in Paris. I followed the fold-out map to find this painting: The Lacemaker–the only treasure by Johannes Vermeer in the vast palace of treasures.  What a treat and privilege to stand before this masterpiece, just looking, pondering. There is no point attempting to express anything about it in words.

Suddenly, the back of a hand was thrust between me and the painting–to close to my face. A quick snap! And a running figure dashing off to the right. I realized the man must be running through the Museum snapping pictures of its treasures using his phone. Why? What’s the point?

Eventually, after THAT incident, I made my way…following the crowd to see the Mona Lisa.

And it was a crowd. A mob scene.

 

Most of the people in that crowd rushed past Venus de Milo and Winged Victory without giving either one a second glance.

 

 

Arriving at the gallery where most Louvre visitors seemed to be single-mindedly headed, I saw that there was a maze of stanchions and ropes reminiscent of the mob control pathways at Disneyland and airports.

I watched. Once people got to the front of the line. In their few allowed moments to stand before THIS masterpiece, probably the most famous painting in the World what did they do? Posed for selfies. How many used the time allowed to stare at Leonardo’s achievement? Precious few.

Like everyone else, I did take a picture. Of her. Lisa del Giocondo. What was she thinking while sitting of this portrait. What would she think if she could see her portrait today? In this gallery. Behind bulletproof glass. What would she think about this crowd? And their cell phones?

Perhaps we should all take a minute and think about  what technology has done to us. We’re all guilty. Or should I say, we’re all victims. Maybe we need to forget for a while–for as much of each day as we can–to forget about texting, and the making of selfies, and the perpetual compulsion to post thoughts of images to social media to see how many “likes” we get, forget  doomscrolling. Stop. And look around. Yes. Sure. We have to know what’s going on in the world. And we want to know what our friends are up to. But not every minute of every day. We’re here to live our lives. To be where we are and with the people we’re with, and with ourselves. Sometimes we just have to remind ourselves. In this moment: be present.