What’s not to say about lackluster?
Whenever I hear the word, I think of some pent up critic, wearing a black turtleneck, sitting somewhere in a small apartment in New York City, writing his review for the Times. And he types on his spindly black typewriter, for the umpteenth time, “His debut Broadway performance was a bit lackluster.”
But aren’t we all, at times? Just a little lackluster?
Lackluster.
adjective | LAK-luss-ter
Definition: lacking in sheen, brilliance, or vitality : dull, mediocre
Some days we are full of luster. And some days we lack.
I was talking the other day to someone who said they were having trouble motivating liked they used to. They had all these tasks and projects to work on, but didn’t have the drive they had when they were a bit younger.
I considered this. And bananas. As we get older, we start to lose that youthful glow — perhaps on the inside as well as the out. And bananas of course, can go from green to black in a matter of milliseconds if you are not watching.
Then I thought about a 1955 Chevy at a car show, also getting older by the minute. It seems to get more sheen, warmth, and nostalgia with age. And, maybe that is a part of us too. Especially when we get all waxed up for a particular occasion.
I think it just depends on where we are standing. In the fruit bin, or at the car show. Some things seem much easier, and better. Other things are a little more difficult, or challenging.
Maybe Tom Petty said it best. “If you’re not getting older, you’re dead.” Of course. He died. And that was a real heartbreaker.
Anyway, there are all sorts of weird phenomenon that occur when you get older. I consider myself to be of average intelligence and rationality. However, in my mind, I still think I’m 25 years old. Yes, that’s the age. It’s not like I walk up to people on the street and say, “Hello. I’m Polly and I’m 25.” No. It is more like an unspoken agreement I have with myself. An accord. And I try to do things that my 25 year old body used to do. Of course, it is always a huge mistake, because I find my performance not only lackluster, but reproachable as well.
Lackluster.
I applied this to age, but there are all sorts of things that are lackluster in this world. Many people’s integrity seems to be lackluster, if you ask me. Behaving in the dullest of ways, believing in things, that only a brain lacking in brightness and sheen, could believe. Lackluster is a pretty nice word for it, actually.
So we see that span, from dull, vapid, and insipid, to inspired, brilliant, talented, and supreme.
I think which way we go, depends on the task. If we feel like being a bit lackluster when we shovel snow, so be it. But when we go out into the world, with that one thing that is important for us to do today?
Go brilliant, all the way.
=======
“We are what we believe we are!”
― C.S. Lewis
=========
“It’s amazing what you can see when you just sit quietly and look.”
― J. Kelly
========
“It was the possibility of darkness that made the day seem so bright.”
― Stephen King, Wolves of the Calla
===========
