The Golden Buzzer
The anxiety. The stage. The nerves. The audience. The ambience. The performance. The whistles. The claps. The howls. The standing ovation. It all becomes a blur once a judge presses that Golden Buzzer- the ultimate acknowledgement in platforms like America's Got Talent or Britain's Got Talent. Those who have seen video clips or actual reality shows like these know exactly why the Golden Buzzer matters- it is not only a life-changing moment, but also your ticket to fame and maybe even prosperity. After maybe months or years of planning, preparing and practicing, participants come to such stages with high hopes of being recognized. When their talents and back stories create a vibe, the spectactors, including those watching at home through the TV or social media, get worked up with excitement for the performer. Tears roll down, smiles turn into laughter, and our hearts pump a bit faster because of these talent show. The Golden Buzzer creates a bigger impact as we rejoice in happiness when the participant gets the chance to go directly to the Finals, jumping over all the other rounds in between.
Humans have that inner desire to be appreciated always- applauded- recognized. That is the reason the number of likes and views matter so much for social media users and influencers. We keep checking our phones to see the numbers rising, comments pouring in and the 'fan following' increasing. Yes, genuine talents have to be promoted and encouraged for sure, and in today's world of digital spaces, anyone can be a star. Kids these days aim to become influencers, being influenced by them the most through YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and what not. But would the world function properly in 30 years' time of all these Gen Z's and Gen Alpha's become influencers only? Things are going in a dangerous direction and it is becoming more difficult to see our most confused, aimless, selfish, and unstable generation ever in the history of the world lacking ambitions, determination, incentives and motivation to aim higher. Who is going to tell them that they are running to get the wrong kind of approval in life?
Being Christians, we have a huge responsibility to lead the way, to show the truth and to live the life God meant for us. But when the world says something else and glitters glamorously, it is not easy to attract people towards principles and models that are thousands of years old. When our phones take up so much of our time in a day, how can we build up a better relation with our Savior and then model our lives on Him? When the evil distractions of our 21st century lure us, even further apart from our own personal relationships which should matter more, how can we live pleasing to the Almighty? We see success in different lights, prosperity as a fascination and branded stuff as glittering gold. Heaven comes nowhere near our list of destinations we want to travel to. We think we have all the time in the world, plan to become 'spiritual' once we retire, keep church as just an 'option' on Sundays and as the singer Josiah Queen says, we keep the Bibles on top of our shelves, all organized and stacked up, only to collect dust.
How are we going to wash all these sins away? Our sins, ignorance and disinterestedness cannot be collected in the laundry basket and dumped into the washing machine on weekends, or worse, whenever we want to. We rush to work to get there on time, send our kids to school on time- but even thirty minutes late to church has no effect on our punctuality the next Sunday. There is so much toxicity inside our churches, arguments on petty issues, disrespect to the clergy and leaders, some people think of these as normal and do not realize how much it pushes away people from attending whole-heartedly. It is also painful to witness how vices and evil, queer living and immoral relationships, erotic songs and music videos, corruption and murder- are all normalized around us so much, a new generation is growing up thinking that living like that and watching all that is OKAY. The YouTube kids, including my own daughter, listen and learn songs, love them because they are so catchy, but have zero idea what they mean deep inside. It's like the Half-time show of Super Bowl this year when a Spanish artist performed and the whole audience, plus the millions watching at home grooved with him, not knowing how vulgar his songs (due to a foreign language) and even the supporting dancers actually were. Super Bowl is an all-time American family show every year- but this time, those who watched the interval entertainment welcome the devil right into their living rooms, if you were among the 124.9 million who watched it all. I wish Jesus could have come for a visit, see how wayward humans have become and give verbal bashings left and right straight to our faces to bring some sense into us- something like He did at the Jerusalem Temple when such illegal and unwanted events were happening at the House of God and with God's people.
As a teacher, it pains my heart to see the upcoming generations stray away from righteousness and even decent morality. I totally understand that kids will be goofy and irresponsible to a certain extent, but when that bar is crossed, when they defy the bars of decency, swear through the corridors, are prone to violence at the slightest tone they cannot tolerate, and when things get uncontrollably out of hand for even adults to handle, the future seems even more uncertain. To think of how these kids will be in ten or thirty years' time, whether they will be contributing to the society or not, whether they will even respect their fellow beings or not, whether God will be in the picture or not- are all questions we cannot fathom to answer now. To think of this world itself- not just to blame kids and their parents- how much AI will change the very framework of our communities, how many responsible world leaders will be there to guide our nations, whether another world war will happen in our lifetimes or that of our kids, whether the woke agenda stretches too far in the name of progression and inclusion and destroys the base thread of our existence- more questions to gather thoughts on.
Let's now think about our lives- normal lives- with no Golden Buzzers buzzed for us by anyone. What's our Golden Buzzer moment? Who's praise do we crave for- our partner's, our children, our co-workers, our family members, our fellow parishioners, our friends on social media? Why do we consider someone's acknowledgment so important? While striving to achieve worldly accolades, bank balances and acknowledgment, do we not forget what ultimately matters? While giving importance to the education of our children, do we not need to make sure they are grounded in the Word, too? Who do we wake up for? What is our life's holy grail? How does this world seem to be tired of being good and doing good?
There is a poem I taught in Grade 11 CBSE syllabus- 'Childhood' by Markus Natten. The poet tries to discern when did he stop being a child and grew up- at which point did he lose his innocence and childhood simplicity. One verse says: Was it the time I realized that Hell and Heaven, / Could not be found in Geography, / And therefore could not be, / Was that the day! The typical liberal, radical thought. When we think about God and heaven and salvation, we should realize that there are some things that are beyond our human understanding that can make faith and hope in Christ possible; that can make eternal life an aim in our life. While in this world and busy with our little lives here, we think success on earth is important and strive to win and achieve more. But while doing that, we should not forget that our life's ultimate goal should never be a secure life, or a huge mansion, or a Tesla car. Our bodies will decay and become food to worms, but whether our souls will live eternally or rot in hell, is decided by our own thoughts, words and deeds while living here. If we let the human in us lead, then our souls lose the battle for eternal life- and will miss out that moment of trumpet sounds, angel choirs and celebration in paradise.
Imagine if you were given the chance to see what happens within five minutes after you die- where you see the LIGHT, the GATES, the SAVIOR- whatever awaits you after this physical existence- would you not come back to life convinced that you have to live for God, righteously and faithfully, till your last breath? Would you not be excited to tell everyone you know about this salvation? Would you not prepare yourself, as if you were to perform on a reality show and anxiously wait for the Almighty to press that buzzer and let you in? How much rejoicing can we do together, if we change the trajectory of our lives and live towards this goal, rather than worldly, temporary, flimsy ones? Even if someone who was dead could visit us and tell us about this salvation, would we not change our lives and aim for the prize? Wait, didn't Jesus do that already?!
Aim for your heavenly Golden Buzzer moment, and your life's puzzle pieces will find a way to solve on its own, as the Hand of God is upon you. Still doubtful? What do you have to lose- other than the worthless, vicious, shameful experiences of this world? Why follow the degenerates of the 21st century when you can become an upstander for God's purpose? Why be anxious about the things of this world, while attaining a ticket to heaven should be something you should be more anxious about? Jesus said, "Do not gather together for yourself riches of this earth. They will be eaten by bugs and become rusted. Men can break in and steal them. Gather together riches in heaven where they will not be eaten by bugs or become rusted. Men cannot break in and steal them. For wherever your riches are, your heart will be there also." (Mathew 6: 19-21) Listen to Him for once, people. Listen, trust and obey, as there is no other way.
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