I arrived at the my morning hang out, The firehouse Cafe’ a little earlier than usual one day last week. It afforded me some time to catch up with Angela, who owns and manages our favorite little morning eating establishment. As I took my place on a bar stool at the counter and sipped on the first cup of coffee of the day, I could tell she was agitated about something. Do I dare ask? I thought to myself. The caffeine kicked in quickly and I was soon alert enough to inquire about the nature of her early morning concern. They have cancelled The Guiding Light, she informed me. Really? I wanted to say: And that is a bad thing? I chose to be a nice for a change.

I told Angela that my mother used to watch The Guiding Light and other soap operas, when I was a little boy. I am not sure she appreciated me referring to her now defunct daytime drama as a soap opera, but I thought it was funny. My sarcasm soon turned to self-righteousness. I had the audacity to tell Angela that I don’t have time to watch day time dramas, because I see enough of that stuff in real life. Patrons ordering their eggs over easy that morning should have started diving for cover, because lightening was about to strike. I left out a few details about my lack of affinity for dramas in the conversation that took just a sharp turn down self-rigtheousness avenue.

I failed to mention that I love classic dramas on the big screen such as: Casablanca, The Godfather, Dr. Zhivago, The Shawshank Redemption, Saving Private Ryan, and the list could go on…. Most of us like well developed dramas, because we can identify with the characters. We at least identify with the human emotions they experience. I…well I sort of left all of that out of the conversation. I was having too much fun giving Angela a hard time about the disappearance of her outlet for drama.

We like complex drama portrayed by good actors, but there is an interesting irony that frequently plays out in most of our lives. Friends or family members encounter difficulties in their relationships and we often respond by saying: That is just too much drama! I just can’t handle it. It is entertaining when it takes place on the Guiding Light. But it is more than we can handle when a friend is facing layers of personal issues? It sounds amusing, but it is really not funny.

Where are our friends going to turn, if we choose not to listen? What does it mean to be loyal, if we abandon the ship when things get too dramatic for our comfort? I find that there is some form of drama in my life on most days. One of my close friends is facing a major crisis on most any given day. There are moments when I am tempted to say: That is too much drama for me! You work it out. But I think we are called to a deeper level of loyalty.

You may get up tomorrow morning and sense that someone close to you is agitated. Do you dare ask what is wrong? I will let you figure that one out. I need to determine what drama I want to put in my netflix queue. And it would not be a bad idea to be nice to Angela tomorrow morning. She may need to a real guiding light one of these mornings…