It seems we have entered an age where attention spans are so short, distractions so plentiful, shallow busyness so unquestioned, and conformity so widespread that the real aspects of living - of love and sharing and communicating in openness and sincerity - have been relegated to the bin.
Who cares enough to set aside time to listen, to hear the voices of those we say we love? Who takes time to ponder anymore, to ruminate on thoughts and ideas shared by friends, then respond in kind? Who honestly desires to know their friends and family in depth, to share their joys and sorrows in the long-term, to take an active interest in what interests them?
I do. And I feel very alone in this.
My heart floats through the air expecting an echo of sincere response.
It rarely comes.
I am awake. I hear and see true life and its happenings. I focus on them. I hold them up to the light for inspection and glean all I can from them. They build me, form me, teach me. And they show me how to care and love and engage.
I long to discuss true life with others.
But others are too busy for what matters. Others are content with slap-dash living. Others have a thousand pointless activities in which to drown their time and thoughts. Others choose paper over china, junk over gold.
Shallow living is easy, as long as one remains anesthetized by the noise around them, and the denial within.
Living deeply, immersed in life and love, takes effort and time. But love compels the effort.
Perhaps the question, then, is where is the love that compels?
It is suffocated by indifference.
“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.”~~ Elie Wiesel
