The Honorable Beggar?

In acting class, we were asked to bring in something, an object, that had special meaning to us. Before we shared our objects, we were asked to repeat a simple line requesting a peanut butter sandwich in whatever way we chose. Everyone gave their little performance of the line and we moved on to object-share time.

Nothing could have prepared us for how moving the sharing of the objects became. One girl shared her baby blanket and the stories that she'd made with it over the years. Other people shared pictures of their best friends, things people had given them that had meant something unique. One girl shared a stuffed animal she'd had since she was two that her father had given her. Her father passed away a couple of years ago. Half of the class was in tears after that one.

The point was that the simple displaying of our honest feelings about something we really cared about was much more interesting, engaging, and moving than the little peanut butter sandwich 'performance' we'd each given. The point was well-made and a very interesting idea to ponder. It leads me to this question: Is the beggar man on the corner who holds up the sign that says, "Keepin' in Real: I Need Money for Weed!" more honorable than thosebeggars who come up with the sob story of the century?

I'm not so sure about that. But as far as acting goes, this class was right on the money.