There comes a point in time when you even have to say, "Dude, Earth, wtf?".
Hello, good friends. Joe Reagan here and there is one question that has bugged me all week. And please excuse my crassness. What the hell are we doing here, Earth?
This story of thought begins, like so many others, on my daily journey to the faux happy place we call our jobs. Racing the other work-bound rats to beat red lights and make Nascar calibre cut-offs, I decided to give the radio a turn on. Nothing wakes you up in the morning more than the oddly chipper and speed-induced voices of AM radio news people.
AM Radio Woman chimed in on the news headlines, starting in on something that got me going. "Bush asks for another $50 billion for Iraq...". You see, those words gave me a mild piss off. Not so much at the levels to where Hulk angrily smashes kittens and all things cute, but enough to make me roll down my window and flip the finger in the general dirction of our nations leaders. Rotten bastards.
A bit flustered, I continued my journey. As I continued my flipping off DC politicians, it seems an old lady thought my finger was meant for her. Like a champ, she did everything in her ancient powers to keep me from switching lanes. And it's at this point, as I'm drag-racing Granny Oldsmobile down the road, the radio lady continued on to the rest of her stories. "US Politican hates gays yet scrogs them in bathrooms, 100 folks killed here, the US dollar sucks there, yada yada." All quite bad and serious stuff, things that are all probably discussion worthy. But alas, there was an unprecedented segway...
AM Radio Guy: "But for today's call in, we'll feature a very important news item. David Beckham, recently acquired star of LA Galaxy, may be out rest of season. This news..."
What is this? That's top interest for the day? I was confident people would mob in, ShoutWire style, and brutally flame the radio people. We have failing money, Bush's administration is shady and dropping off like flies, countries are near war and making new missiles, Zeus' house itself nearly burns down in Greece...we're talking zombie-apocalypse level issues here. Yet, everyone was all too eager to chime in about Beckham and his, and let's get this straight, rodent looking wifey Posh Spice. Yes, as much as Sarah Jessica Parker is a horse, Mrs. Beckham somewhat reminds me of a salon groomed mouse, with boobs. She is not attractive. But I digress.
It was unbelievable. Dismayed, I reached down for my phone to call give a call. I had an epic diatribe prepared, was even going to suggest people log into ShoutWire to see how to properly discuss news, but the station must have been on to my ruse. I didn't get in and meanwhile, Granny Racer was still somehow pacing me and now flipping me the bird. Her Oldsmobile was deceptively fast and nimble. This day was not going so well.
Reaching work, I eventually had time to talk to the usual suspects and see if anyone was down with heading out for a night of bars and poker at Joe's. Still flustered from the morning drive, and literally having to pull a General Lee to cut off the old lady, I thought we'd have water cooler talk about a key issue.
When did people become so jaded and stop caring about important news?
Off all people, it was my boss himself, a true Lumburgh to the core, who provided the most interesting thought. "Joe", he said, obligatory mug in hand, "it's the internet. It's all the communication. Society is over-saturated, constantly, with too many horrid headlines. There comes a point in time when people just get desensitized to it all."
And giving it deeper thought, it seems to an extent this is very true. The more I see death, destruction and mayhem, the more I get the "whatever, dude, whatever" vibe going on. I'm sure if you think about it, you have experienced the same. The reverse of the good tv caused when widely launched in the 60s, it seems now our global communications could be somewhat working against us on a personal level.
After calling down my required quota of TPS report reminders to those in cubicle land, I clocked out and headed out with some folks to a bar. I was unusually bitter, thinking back on the day and how we Americans are stupidly ignoring pressing issues. These issues are surely going to bite us in the butt down the road.
The usual suspects were at the bar that night. Our good buddy Ted (big John Goodman type fella') was there, ordering up copious amounts of drinks because "Joe's looks like he's spitting a period." That's his way of calling me a woman or thinking too deeply. Chuck was also there, along with a few other friends and folks I haven't mentioned before.
Knowing political talk is banned at poker night, I brought up the thought of the US being too jaded to important news around the bar, just to see what drunken responses I'd get. I expected Ted to come up with something blatnatly wrong yet insightful, but surprisingly, a shady, seedy frequenter at the bar -who we only know as "Crackhead Bob"- spoke up. And this brings us to the point of today's question.
Speaking for the first time I really remember, Bob -a hardened older, yet wiry, guy I'd say around 60- told us some dark stories about growing up in Eastern Europe, coming to the states to only live on the streets and about his wild and drug crazed adventures. His stories are novel worthy. There is one thing, however, he said about human nature; a dangerous aspect that stood out.
"No matter where you go, and who you see, one thing is for sure. People have to actively make the choice to care or to not care."
Think about that for a bit. He went on to tie it into everything that's wrong on Earth. There was a point of Bob's life where everything hit him so hard, he just stopped caring. He abused his body and those around him. He just didnt' care. "Now imagine what happens, when you get entire neighborhoods (he was referring to ghettos/inner city) that reach that point, where they make the choice to stop caring. What happens to families?"
"What happens to nations?"
At that was the kicker. In a planet full of minds, and people who have to face the good and evil of humanity on a daily basis, there could be a point when - in general - humanity just stops caring. The problem is not isolated to your household. It's not isolated to just the US, or Europe. We ignore the needs of others, and at times ourselves, and fill our minds with idle words, plays, and banter. We let David Beckham's ankle become our live's thoughts, while we make the choice stop caring about everything else that has overwhelmed us.
So the point today is this. In life, you will be overwhelmed from time to time. You will hear disastrous news, you will have your old ladies cut you off as you drive to work. At times, your troubles will be serious and personal, affecting you and your loved ones. One thing is certain in all of this. You have to make the choice to care and not ultimately ignore the problems, no matter how they may snowball and pile up.
As you go on this week, take time to open your ears to the news. Close your eyes and just listen. Don't let the important stories, the ones affecting the lives of people, gloss over. Stop and think of the lives involved. Also, take a chance to take a break from your life. Just sit back and reflect. What's been building up on your plate, things that you have been trying to ignore for God knows how long. Make the choice to not ignore what's important, but rather remember and reflect. It's through this we can achieve solutions. We can even prevent a crazy zombie-apocalypse of corrupt senators, burning cities and human needs, at home and through the Earth.
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Joe P. Reagan=
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