The Small Things
My Shakespeare professor was showing the class a drawing of the inside of The Swan theatre in England. He said, "This is the only existing representation of the inside of an Elizabethan theatre. It is a prized rendition, drawn by a theatre-goer named Johannes de Witt. He drew it in 1596, then sent it to his friend back in his home country. The only reason why we have a an inkling as to what the theatres of the day looked like on the inside is because of this one drawing that was found in a dusty library in another country."
Hearing this information, I was suddenly struck by an idea. Here this guy Johannes probably went on vacation to London one day, and being a doodler, decided to draw the scene in the theatre while he watched a play. Maybe he was bored, or maybe he was drawing it for the sake of his friend, Arend van Buchell, who had wanted to join him on the trip. Maybe Arend became ill or didn't have enough money for the trip, or his wife's baby was due and Johannes had to go alone to London and decided to draw pictures of the sights to send back to his friend.
Regardless of why he decided to draw the picture and send it to this friend back home, I was struck by the idea that Johannes would never have guessed that his little sketch would be so highly prized for scholars hundreds of years later! His small act, drawing a sketch of a theatre, is so important to drama scholars today! Maybe Johannes thought he would be remembered by some other act or endeavor, or maybe he felt he lived an insignificant life and would not be remembered outside of his family when he died. I wonder what he would have thought if he had known that he would be responsible for providing a valuable sketch of historical significance, and college students over four hundred years after his death would study his sketch in classrooms and learn about the artist.
I wonder what things we do every day, throughout our life that will have lasting significance. What impact will you have spiritually, historically? Will it be because you are making a difference in someone's life that will be felt for generations afterwards? Anything could come from the fruit of our lives... the smile we give the grocer, the neighbor kid's bike wheel we fix, the comment we make to jog an idea in a writer's imagination, the letter we write to a politician or a sponsor child, the song we write in a moment of struggle, or the sketch we doodle while watching a play....
Hearing this information, I was suddenly struck by an idea. Here this guy Johannes probably went on vacation to London one day, and being a doodler, decided to draw the scene in the theatre while he watched a play. Maybe he was bored, or maybe he was drawing it for the sake of his friend, Arend van Buchell, who had wanted to join him on the trip. Maybe Arend became ill or didn't have enough money for the trip, or his wife's baby was due and Johannes had to go alone to London and decided to draw pictures of the sights to send back to his friend.
Regardless of why he decided to draw the picture and send it to this friend back home, I was struck by the idea that Johannes would never have guessed that his little sketch would be so highly prized for scholars hundreds of years later! His small act, drawing a sketch of a theatre, is so important to drama scholars today! Maybe Johannes thought he would be remembered by some other act or endeavor, or maybe he felt he lived an insignificant life and would not be remembered outside of his family when he died. I wonder what he would have thought if he had known that he would be responsible for providing a valuable sketch of historical significance, and college students over four hundred years after his death would study his sketch in classrooms and learn about the artist.
I wonder what things we do every day, throughout our life that will have lasting significance. What impact will you have spiritually, historically? Will it be because you are making a difference in someone's life that will be felt for generations afterwards? Anything could come from the fruit of our lives... the smile we give the grocer, the neighbor kid's bike wheel we fix, the comment we make to jog an idea in a writer's imagination, the letter we write to a politician or a sponsor child, the song we write in a moment of struggle, or the sketch we doodle while watching a play....
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