Current mood: thoughtful

Two weeks ago, I was on my way to the mall. I was sitting in the MARTA station waiting for a train and grooving to the sounds of my bro’s band Assumptions Debbie (now called The Heights. Check them out: www.myspace.com/theseheights) when a guy sat down next to me looking like he wanted to talk. There were plenty of empty benches in the place, so for him to sit down next to me, I feel like he must have wanted to talk about something. For those of you that know me, you know that I’m a very social person, willing to talk to just about anybody at any time, but in this situation, I turned away, trying to avoid eye contact at all costs. He got a call on his phone (or pretended to) and got up and walked away, but it got me thinking.

The week after, I was on the train again, no iPod, and someone sat by me on the train and we got to talking. The difference was not only the iPod (or lack thereof) but also the lack of this intense desire NOT to have to talk to anyone. Granted I’m not always in a talking mood, but I feel like having the iPod on makes it worse, or makes me not want to talk at a time when I would otherwise.

Maybe i’m making more of this than there really is, but it seems that everyone is so desperate to “connect” with other people these days, and I hear so many people talk about how lonely they are, yet when they’re out in the real world, they’ve always got headphones on, are talking on cell phones, are punching away on their laptops, etc., seemingly too busy to acknowledge their fellow human beings. Or too scared to.

I think part the problem today is that we have too many methods of escape, too many ways of forgetting that we’re all human beings, that we’re more the same than we are different. Too many ways of allowing technology to get between us. What’s next, virtual sex??

So if you’re reading this, I encourage you to stay off the iPod, the cell phone, the laptop, WHATEVER, for a day. Just try it. Talk to a stranger, at least acknowledge them in SOME way. We’re afraid of each other, and for what? I’m sure some of you think I’m crazy, and maybe I am, but isn’t is usually the crazy ones that turn out to be right in SOME way??