It seems to me, that life is a constant state of MapQuest. Everything is rush and go, and if a website takes more than 5 seconds to load, you're hitting the Refresh button because it's going to slow. People at McDonalds start getting angry if their order takes longer than a minute. It's a stop and go society, or rather, a fast food society, where everyone is on the go and everything has to be portable and have zero net carbs. Seems like it's all the time driving to work, driving home from work, and grabbing a bite at Taco Bell before getting home to your exhausted wife, who spent the whole day rewriting the Johnson deal. You're too busy searching for the directions to go somewhere, too busy planning, too busy packing to actually remember what you are planning and packing for.
It's a lost humanity when people can not take the time out of their day to sit down and read a book, or take a walk at their local metro park. Even then, people have their pagers and cellphones at the ready, just incase the boss calls and says he needs you at the office, NOW! It's what we live for, if you think about it.
I remember as a kid, sitting down with my Grandmother and playing a game of Old Maid just because. We'd play Old Maid and Go Fish, War and Rummy until it got dark. We'd talk about life and what growing up was like for Grandma. It was wonderful. There was no sense of urgency, no sense of wasting time. Every minute I spent with my grandmother was time well spent. I wasn't worrying about getting to work on time, or rushing around to get everything done like I do now.
Even sitting down at the blog sites, I want to read something short, funny, and quick to get at what they're looking for. That's the problem here. In our urgency, we've forgotten the fact that we do live, and that we are alive. I think that if everyone could just stop, and be thankful for the lives we have, we might not be so eager to jump up and run off to the office.
These days, life is a menu problem. We're too busy living in the drive thru to live out the rest of our lives.
Just a thought.
NewspeakWordsmith