Being Performative

In his play “As You Like It”, William Shakespeare has his character Jacques utter these now-famous words: “All the world’s a stage, and all men and women are merely players.” If those words were true when first written way back in 1599, they are even more true today. Thanks to social media and smartphone technology, all of us, if we desire, can stand on stage twenty-four seven for all the world to see. And stand on stage we do, regardless of our age. That’s why the folks at Merriam-Webster added the word “performative” to the dictionary last year. The word refers to an action that’s done purely to make a positive impression on others. The practice has oftentimes been called virtue signaling. Our kids are especially susceptible to this practice as engaging in online performative behavior on the social causes of the day can gain them likes and followers. Teach your kids humility. Let them know that Jesus calls us to not even let our left hand know what our right hand is doing.