Why We Should All Get Selfie-Sticks
After standing in line for 30 minutes at what felt like a ride to Disney World, the doors finally opened and my group was ushered into a cavernous room. Painted directly on the wall in front of me was the Da Vinci masterpiece, The Last Supper.
It’s a surreal experience facing a piece of artwork you’ve only seen in books and movies. I felt a bit bashful, almost like I was meeting a celebrity. The fact that I had to reserve my ticket weeks in advance, and that each visit was strictly limited to 15 minutes only enhanced my “I-can’t-believe-I’m-here” state.
I approached the artwork and stared.
In a rare moment of suspended cynicism, a swell of spirituality washed over me. I felt certain that if someone born 500 years ago could create artwork such as this, surely the world’s 7.5 billion people could eventually figure out how to end world hunger and stop all the ice caps from melting.
Just as my emotions were cresting into some sort of existential epiphany that would unlock the secrets of the universe to me, I felt three taps on my shoulder. When I turned around, a middle-aged woman with short strawberry-blonde hair and a giant DSLR around her neck stood in front of me.
“Can you take a photo of me?”
She framed her request as a question, but by the way she was taking the DSLR off her neck and handing it in my direction, it was clear that her request was actually an order. I accidentally blinked and found myself with a camera in my hands and my “model” showing me the camera’s zoom features.
For a fleeting second, I considered giving the camera back and walking away.
But I didn’t.
Maybe because I have the utmost respect for social decorum; most likely because I hate confrontation.
I took two pictures of the woman posing with the Renaissance masterpiece before wordlessly handing the camera back. She took a quick look at the photos, seemed satisfied, and then wandered off to a different corner of the room.
I tried reclaiming my state-of-mind from a moment ago, but it was lost. Within a few minutes, my…
