So, here’s the skinny: I’ve been thinking about writing and how often our perfectionism gets in the way of our words. And I figured, why not take 5 minutes and see what comes out: not a perfect post, not a profound post, just five minutes of focused writing.
Ala-ka-zam – Five Minute Friday was born.
We’ve all got five minutes – while the kids are wrestling, while the macaroni’s boiling, while the dog is doing his business, while the plumber is resuscitating your washing machine.
Sit down, think of the most unique person you encountered while you were out and about this week, and write them into life for us. In five minutes flat. I’ll go first:
START:
When you’ve left your husband home with two sniffling, feverish kids, you don’t make small talk with the pharmacist, you don’t browse the magazine racks, you don’t do anything but pace until the antibiotics – the liquid pink gold – is ready. And you rarely notice the guy who takes the script, packages up the meds, and hands them into your desperate hands.
But sometimes you do.
Sometimes the guy is dressed in a grubby grocery store clerk’s uniform and you can’t quite understand why he’s so eager to take your prescription and ask if there’s anything else you need. So you notice him.
You notice how his demeanor changes when he’s behind this counter. How his shoulders straighten and the interest in his eyes widens and he cares. And when he sees your defeat at the half hour it’s going to take before the meds are ready, you notice his concern, his conversation with the pharmacist and his care in telling you they’ll be working on it as fast as they can.
And when you come back after gazing at row and rows of chocolate covered cherries you keep noticing. You notice how he’s wearing another color coat now. How it fits what seems to be going on with his insides. And how he’s clearly meant to care, to have responsibility, to help desperate moms and old men who need their monthly pain meds filled.
STOP
OK, show us what you’ve got:
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here it is: took me 12!
http://bit.ly/hgMdJ6
*ahem* Now that I know that these posts go up while it’s still Friday for me, I shall wait until I have the prompt from now on ;)
I look at him. Funny, confident, smart, so unbelievably self-assured. Pleasant company. But who is inside? Broken masculinity. Subverted sexuality. Choices of death and emptiness masquerading as freedom and assertion of identity, cloaked beneath self-sufficiency.
And here I am, judging, shaking my head. And then helpless, what can I do? What can I say that would penetrate the sophistication? And I am just the same. Same sinfulness, only the manifestation is different. We need help! But we have it!
Romans 7
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Love this exercise, Lisa-Jo! I tend to go about a million words a post. (Or more…) So, it’s nice to give myself (and my readers!) a break!
Participated for the first time today. I love how you described the clerk. Makes me realize how much I need to slow down and notice the people I come into contact with.
Crazy-crazy day…but better late than never :) Thanks for doing these. FUN!
…and can I just say I kinda want to hug your pharmacist guy now. oh how I LOVE to encounter kindness. Have a great weekend :)
I’m going to do this too…loved how you ‘noticed’ him and saw so much more as you entered into study…
also wondered if you knew that CNN was featuring Ukraine in their I-list…my friend who’s a missionary in the southwest part of Ukraine referenced it on her blog:
http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2010/ilist/
I learned some stuff reading the profile and it reminds me of Hungary, of course:)
Your word brush just whips across the screen, painting people and emotion and thoughts… you gleaned so much from observing this young man.
I saw your 5 minute idea last week, and my first response was CAN’T. Perfectionist, maybe? So yesterday I decided that I HAD to. So I did. But I had not read this week’s post yet and didn’t realize you’d have a specific prompt Oops! {blush} I linked up anyway. Hope that’s okay?
Thank you. I was amazed by how fast it came out. It was 4 minutes 2o seconds and I knew I was done. I could not believe it. Apparently I have been standing in the way of my own writing. I think I need to do this regularly. Again, thank you.
Like Patti, I was a little intimidated to try this, but I saw the topic earlier in the week so I pondered it and gave it a shot. What a great exercise in noticing people and also in writing “on purpose”!! Thanks for the idea and inspiration!
Well, darn, I missed it this week…didn’t even crack the computer open on Friday…will have to give it a shot next week!
I wrote for 5 minutes. I spent the next 5 days thinking about how I could change it; make it better. Then I didn’t got on the computer until now, so it’s not posted. But I’ll copy & paste it here for you:
Hand in hand the couple walks, strolling down the tree-lined path. The path opens up, a small pond in view. A mother and her child, bread crumbs in hand, squat by the water’s edge. Together mother and son throw crumbs to the ducks and fish.
The couple sighs in unison. They look at each other and smile, thinking of their own children and the dreams they’ve had. In this moment, they also remember their dreams for the future. They sigh again, and keep walking.
Hand in hand, so in love, on this, their 60th anniversary.
Rachel…it is really beautiful…I hope you shared this week and link up!