聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 On a recent drive to Saskatoon, I had the radio tuned to a popular call-in show where folks had the opportunity to voice their concerns or air their beefs.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 My attention was immediately piqued when one woman phoned to complain about the overuse of standing ovations.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淵es!鈥� I wanted to shout to no one in particular, since I was travelling alone. Finally someone was brave enough to publicly say what many of us have been thinking but reluctant to voice.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Maybe if there were enough of us out there, I thought, we could put an end to this blatant misuse of a well-intentioned gesture.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The standing ovation, according to Wikipedia, is a form of applause where members of a seated audience stand up while applauding after extraordinary performances of particularly high acclaim.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But these days the quality of the performance does not seem to factor into the equation. Even after the most mediocre of acts, some over-zealous audience member will jump to his or her feet (quickly followed, I might add, by several other jack-in-the-box imitators) clapping enthusiastically for a less-than-stellar presentation.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Meanwhile those seated nearby squirm uncomfortably in their seats until they feel compelled to rise to their feet as well. Usually I try to wait out the uncalled for, over-the-top response, but invariably I succumb to audience pressure instead of appearing like some unimpressed concert snob and reluctantly stand up and join the admiring throng.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But I can鈥檛 help wondering that if the benchmark for standing ovations has become the ordinary, ho-hum performance, what does one do when a truly inspiring act takes place? How does one separate the mundane from the superb?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I suppose some enthusiastic whistles and shouts of 鈥淏ravo!鈥� might be in order. Maybe standing on one鈥檚 chair? But why should this be necessary when there already exits a means of acknowledging excellent performances 鈥� it鈥檚 called a standing ovation.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 By over-utilizing the standing O, we have rendered it ineffective and meaningless.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 We seem to be living in an age where instead of praising performances of high calibre, we are more focussed on bringing everyone to the lowest common denominator.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Maybe it鈥檚 time we stand up for, or should I say, stay seated, in order to make a point.
