I’ve been thinking a lot this week about our need to be heard.
We concentrate so much on the need to be seen – what image to post, where to go so we can post said image, what to wear when we take said image, how we appear when we are seen.
But what about being heard? Have we lost that desire? Have we lost that ability? Have we lost that appreciation?
Let me tell you the truth behind my recent post about a restaurant you should absolutely go to.
When I showed up for my appointment, which included a personally-arranged Q&A with the owner, an interview with the beverage director, and a tasting of their desired dishes in order to produce tasting notes and photos, I was told that the owner was both “at Whole Foods” and “visiting his sick mother,” from two different people.
I can only presume his mother is an unfortunate piece of bruised produce of which the shelf life at fancy grocers is, of course, terminal and in need of your immediate visitation for salvation.
I was then also told that none of the food they presented to me was edible, save for the cabbage salad. “It’s just for photos…”
You wasted 8 dishes of high-quality (and sensibly unbruised) food that is all inedible?
“I’m a writer,” I told them.
“Oh. Well we can tell you how it all tastes,” they said.
Very fortunately, I had previously visited this establishment and had physically eaten remarkably edible food, and thus, was able to proceed. But I realized that the restaurant hired me because they wanted to be seen. And that I was thrown into a group of “contemporaries” who only want to be seen, and thus produce the desired visuals. Nothing more.
Let me be the one to tell you, I want to be heard. I want to be heard, in so many words.
And I am happy, and hopeful, that you’re here to listen.
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