Sunflower Seeds logo

Sunflower Seeds

 

Celebrating Everyday Spirituality

Sunflower Seeds

Celebrating Everyday Spirituality

Leafing through the Yellow Pages

The “yellow pages” arrived the other day. You know—the telephone book with the listings and ads for the businesses in the area. It’s a relatively small book: 8 ½” by 7” but thick: 560 pages long. It covers only two counties: Lake and Geauga here in northeast Ohio. Before I put the book on the shelf, I sat down for a few minutes and leafed through it. I wanted to see what this book says about our contemporary society and what it reveals about our needs, values, fears, and priorities.

The first thing I looked up in the Yellow Pages were churches. After all, I am a nun. I found 4 pages of churches. The Baptists have the most churches with 24. But if we combine the Methodist with the United Methodists, they have 24 too. The Catholics and the Lutherans come next with fifteen each. I saw no fancy ads for any of the churches. Just listings. I imagine the advertising budget for most churches is pretty small. Next I looked up restaurants. I found 28 pages of restaurants. I wondered: Are we more interested in getting physical nourishment than in receiving spiritual nourishment?

Next I looked up physicians. I expected to see a lot of pages for doctors. Sure enough, there were 12 pages worth of doctors. Then, I looked up dentists. There were 12 ½ pages of dentists. When I looked up insurance, I found 10 pages worth of insurance companies. That’s understandable. After all, we have many, many things to insure–most of the items falling under these four categories:  auto, home, life, and business. I noticed that florists had 7 pages of listings. I’m glad sending flowers is still important to us.

I expected to find a lot of pages for auto dealerships and repair shops. After all, we Americans love our cars and would be lost without them. Sure enough, the yellow pages had 19 pages devoted to car sales and car repairs. Heat contractors had 8 pages; air-conditioning had 6. Plumbers too had a respectable 6 pages. (I really value plumbers. We had water gushing from our living room ceiling a few years back, and when a friend showed up and made it stop, I was ready to kiss him on both cheeks!) I also learned that burglar alarms had 5 pages, computers had 4, and funeral parlors had not quite 2 pages.

But what profession do you think had the most pages in the yellow pages? Take a moment to think. (Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock). Ready? (Drum roll please!) The answer is: attorneys! Yes, our two-county yellow pages has 30 pages of attorneys! Many of them have big fancy ads. Now what do all those pages say about us and/or our legal system?

We can detect our society’s values in many ways—even by leafing through the yellow pages.

Did anything surprise you in this post? In what other ways do you detect our society’s values?

16 Responses

  1. It’s a gifted writer that can make reading through the Yellow Pages a spiritual exercise! Thanks for your post. Down here in Miami I believe they have stopped even sending out the Yellow Pages. Yelp.com is more practical now.
    I find another way to learn what a society values is in salaries. Sports players making millions of dollars a year? But who’s more important-the guy who fixes the gush of water in house, or a guy who might hit a homerun or might strike out? That’s what really interests me.
    PS You deserve a raise!
    Joan C

  2. Melannie, what a most interesting activity you took on. I especially enjoyed finding out who had the most pages as I read on. The tick tock and drum roll put me into the action state… Really great use of words in this writing. You are over the top with a special talent in writing on the most interesting subjects.

  3. Melannie, only YOU could write of something so mundane and at the same time give us food for thought. Thank you for that eye-opening perspective.
    My prayer group ladies think that you are “inspired,” and I agree. We have just begun using “When the Blue Heron Flies” for faith sharing and study. You write with great depth and insight but in a very readable and understandable way. Thank you for using your God-given gift.
    (P.S.) Would have love to seen you at the BBQ. Hope you are well.

    1. Dear Betty, I’m honored that your prayer group is using my book, “When the Blue Heron Flies.” Thank you for suggesting it! And I’m sorry I missed you at our annual cicken BBQ. I was there only the second Sunday working at the Book Nook. Sr. Melannie

  4. As always I enjoy your finding the Spiritual in the everyday things this life affords.

    Here in Charlotte, NC my husband and I went to a NASCAR race this past weekend. I was amazed at the number of $300,000 plus motor homes that were there; not to mention the cars they towed behind. Some even had a separate trailer for the car. I also thought of the amount and cost of gasoline they all took.

    I listen to the Catholic Channel on XMRadio (which is the only reason I have XM). Gus Lloyd touched on a similar topic this morning. What if we were as excited about our Faith as we do a sports team, favorite restraunt, wine, vacation spot, rock star ?….we could go on and on.

    Why are we so reluctant to be openly enthusiastic about His Precious Gift?

    Keep writing and making us all think!

    Peace & Blessings

    1. Dear Ellem, I like what Gus Lloyd said: what if we were as excited about our faith as we were for our favorite sports team, restaurant, rock star, etc? When I see our packed stadiums on Saturdays and Sundays, I ask: what could our church do to attract such loyal and enthusiastic crowds? Good questions to ponder. Thanks, Ellen! Sr. Melannie

  5. Who but you would have thought that the yellow pages could offer spiritual nourishment. Goes so much with the gospel priority of option for the poor in many ways. You could carry it deeper and deeper. You could definitely tmake an examination of conscience with it! Thanx much!

    1. Dear James, I like your idea about using such a finding to make an examination of conscience. We can examine our own consciences while reflecting on the conscience of our culture. Good idea! Melannie

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Blog Posts

One thing I like about praying: anything goes. I didn’t always believe this. As a little girl, I thought praying was mostly something you did in church on Sundays, or something you did before eating supper, or you did kneeling beside your bed every night. I didn’t realize that anything

Some of us will experience a total eclipse of the sun on Monday, April 8, 2024. The Cleveland, Ohio area is in its direct path. We will be privileged to witness this astronomical phenomenon from 1:59.20 PM to 4:28.57 PM (EST) (How’s that for pinpoint accuracy!) Even if our typical

Meet Sr. Melannie

Hi and welcome to my blog! I’m Sister Melannie, a Sister of Notre Dame residing in Chardon, Ohio, USA. I’ve been very lucky! I was raised in a loving family on a small farm in northeast Ohio. I also entered the SNDs right after high school. Over the years, my ministries have included high school and college teaching, novice director, congregational leadership, spiritual direction, retreat facilitating, and writing. I hope you enjoy “Sunflower Seeds” and will consider subscribing below. I’d love to have you in our “sunflower community.” Thank you!

Subscribe to Blog

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Loading

Upcoming Events

Finding God in the Ordinary and Amazing: An Afternoon with Sister Melannie

Sunday, May 19, 2024 – 1:30 – 4:00 Central – via zoom

Sponsored by the Portiuncula Center for Prayer – Frankfort, Illinois

Fee: Donation

For details visit: [email protected]

Weekend retreat at Villa Maria Education and Spirituality Center, Pulaski, PA
October 11-13, 2024

October 11-13, 2024

Details to follow

Retreat with the Sisters of Loretto, Nerinx, KY
September 8-13, 2024

September 8-13, 2024

Details to follow

Retreat at Lial Renewal Center, Whitehouse, OH
August 11-18, 2024

August 11-18, 2024

Retreat at Heartland Center for Spirituality, Great Bend, KS
April 14-19, 2024

April 14-19, 2024

Details to follow

First Friday Club in Youngstown, Ohio
April 4, 2024

April 4, 2024

Details to be determined

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.