Cream or sugar with that darling?

I’ve been reading through my normal barrage of websites, RSS feeds, and emails today and there is a common theme amongst most of what I’m looking at… its crap. The news is just about worthless, every single story is either an earth shattering news breaker about a cat stuck in a tree in the middle of a forest fire, prices of everything getting worse because the apocalypse is near, or the same old re-hash of a story that frankly… I’m tired of hearing. Email is even worse, when I fired up outlook today, 783 emails… I read half of one… half of a single email. I don’t want any more emails about forwarding it on to 10 people so that Jesus will help a child in a town that doesn’t exist. I’m all for helping people who are less fortunate, but do you really think that the son of God will show up because an email said so? If he does, then cool! Call Fox news or the United Press, but don’t tell me that someone will die because I don’t forward an email. I wonder what scripture in the good book covers chain email and threats of purgatory if you don’t use the forward feature within Outlook… Oh, and don’t even get me started on the RSS feeds, why do I even bother with those. Half the time they are never updated and when they are, you guessed it…. Crap. I don’t claim to say that what I write is any better, but come on. At least make the information worthwhile.

Whatever happened to the good news? Or a friendly letter in the mail asking how your summer or holiday was? Where did the visit to the corner diner for some coffee and a smoke go? When was the last time anyone ever just woke up, got dressed, grabbed a news paper at the corner stand, just to head into the local diner (not some chain money machine) to get a cup of coffee and TALK to another person about current events? Who cares if you even know the person, but damn it you were willing to listen to their views or story. Have we become a society so removed from the human element of interaction that we resort to staring at someone’s face with the tilted puppy dog look of confusion because we don’t see one of these " LMAO OMG :-) " attached to their forehead to know how they feel? Again, I’m not saying I’m innocent of these social crimes, but damn… I actually do enjoy sitting at a diner bar with a cup of coffee in hand sharing a conversation with a complete stranger. The stories you can hear… there is a passion within each and every one of us, begging to be let out. Some of us have stories of heroes, war, and fear… others of compassion, love, or heated lust. There is no such thing as an award winning writer… just a fellow human being who has found a way to share a tale with the masses. Just like some people say, if you are about to speak out, but are afraid to because those around you… you’re helping feed their fear of speaking out as well. Speak out. Stand up. Ask those questions. Share those stories. Complete strangers can be the most therapeutic ears in the world. They can’t judge based on any of your past. It doesn’t even exist, it never happened. But the now, the now is right in the face. BAM! There it is!

Often I wonder if what some cultures believe is true… about reincarnation. What if the body is just a shell for a traveling soul? Have I been shoved forward in time and the memories of a simpler time are slamming around in my mind’s eye? Does my soul yearn for something that is misses, is there something that was left behind? Or am I, as they say, old fashioned… would I even have the patients to write letters or WALK instead of drive somewhere if I had no other choice… If we do have souls that wonder from host body to the next, what is the point? Oh, see now I have done it… I have fallen into the trap door question of ‘what is the meaning of life’. Well, I’m not going there. It doesn’t matter anyways because I believe that once we figure it out, it’s too friggin late to share with others what you have learned. Not to mention, they wouldn’t listen anyways.

In a way I think I’m a blend of both, an old soul in a modern body that wants to experience the past it never had… if that even makes sense. I guess what I’m trying to get to is, do we have to be completely desensitized to everything that is around us due to the drive through society we live in. If someone fell while walking next to you would you laugh or help them up… this person you know nothing about who is down at the time… When was the last time a random person passing paths in a busy shop just said hello because you made eye contact… when was the last time you said hello first…