Chris Herrington, Contributing Writer
I’ve been thinking about what I would say if I were sitting in front of a camera and had the chance to say anything I wanted to say without anyone’s approval or validation. If you get all moralistic, it mainly falls on deaf ears since those people who agree with you are already nodding and since those who disagree with you have already plugged up their ears in disapproval. “Talk to the hand, the face don’t want to hear it.”
We’ve got so many problems that we face that people seem overwhelmed with the intensity of it all. The sheer volume is just stifling. The opposite of that is that there is so much distraction with sports, drugs, the Internet, entertainment, jokes and humiliation, and the sexualization of everything that there is hardly a moment when we take anything seriously unless it is so much of an emergency that it threatens to give us a heart attack or send us into a panic.
Between money and relationships and jobs and children, we seem to be drowning in our own concept of what it means to be civilized. And, too, we can hardly wait to be free of it by escaping: What happens in _________, stays in ________. Out of sight and out of mind. Out of your mind and everything is out of sight!
Our kids have caught onto this; they are definitely in the spirit of things. This is so much true that most of my readers and friends have cautioned me against saying too much, I mean literally talking too long. Can’t you just sum it up or something? I mean give us the low down on the DL, PDQ. LOL. Hmmmmmm. So, everyone wants everything in a pill, the shortcut, the sound bite, the shortened version, the tweet, the update, the blurb, the smallest amount of time and space it takes to get the point across so they can say they heard it so they can get back to actually not listening without the guilt of having not paid attention. So, why should I bother to wash the dishes when they are just going to get dirty again?
Okay then, the smallest shrinky-dink version of what it is that I have to say in the fewest number of words I can possibly think of: “Remember; don’t forget!”
Now, don’t you feel updated? Did that make your day? Are you now the 2.3 of you? Instant and enigmatic. No explanation needed. Just say it and move on, like a morning kiss while reading the sports page. Hmmmmmm. Not very satisfying.
“I, John Doe, having lived my life in a ripping big break neck hurry died without getting to know anyone and without ever really letting anyone get to know me. My wife was a hood ornament, and my kids were bumper stickers of my life’s work. I sold door knobs, and I knew how to handle myself!” Awesome!
Okay then, I will just shut it down, call it a day, and let you get back to what you were doing when I interrupted your speeding down the road. I know you know the type: He passes you on the road, uphill and over the double yellow line. After his having weaved in and out of traffic in his vehicle dodging logging trucks and kids in their cars on the way to school, 20 miles over the speed limit, almost having a head on with a family in a minivan, and swerving while texting, he finally lands in the lane next to you at the next traffic light. He was no further along, right? Now, the question is, “Is the life I am describing any different really than the one you lead?”
If nothing else, with the extra time you have today from my having made this only half as long as usual, slow down, see the road, share it with others, and don’t forget that the person you married and the kids you made together are not your personal property. They see you as someone who needs to slow down and take a look before the last traffic light you share together.
runningturtle87
