Turn It Off

Ack. The noise! So much noise. What's it all about? The half-time show. The commercials. The clothes. The behavior.

It doesn't really matter what it's about. It's all noise. It amazes me that folks spend so much time being annoyed over something so unimportant. If you don't like it, TURN IT OFF. Have we forgotten how to do that? It's a simple action.

If your phone is driving you crazy, turn it off! We used to do that all the time. In my day, it was as simple as taking the phone off the hook. And you know what? We never stressed about missing a call, either. The philosophy then was straightforward. If someone really wanted to reach you, they would call back. That's still my take on it.

If a television show or radio channel is bugging you, change it. I've never understood people who watch something they hate and then spend days--even weeks--bitching about it. TURN IT OFF! When did we lose the ability to do that?

I have a theory...just my own idea. I believe all media is designed for misdirection. You know like a magic show. We're all so busy watching the magician wave his wand, we're missing the real action. So while folks are obsessing about stuff like some singer dressed up as a robot, the bad guys are robbing us with impunity. Why should they worry? No one's watching, anyway.

Maybe, just maybe, if we dared to turn off all the noise, all the distractions, all the misdirection, we would actually see reality. The hunk and I once had a discussion about the single most influential invention in the 21st century. I say it's the cell phone. Almost everyone has one. And because almost everyone is 'connected', there's not time to think, no time to dream, no time to ponder mysteries, no time to appreciate wonders. Instead, we're nose down to a small flat screen that robs us of nourishment and true communication.

It used to be kids learned important things from their grandparents and extended families. Time spent was time shared, resulting in passed on knowledge. Now, family gatherings consist of a circle of people all looking at their cell phones. And when the elderlies pass on, their wisdom and knowledge is lost for all time.

There's an old expression, "Don't reinvent the wheel." I think we keep having to reinvent because we aren't willing to shut down the distractions so we can hear the wisdom. We have an entire generation of folks who are more that eager to share what they've learned. But we don't have time because we'd rather bellyache about something we didn't enjoy. Interesting, isn't it? We don't have the moral strength to just turn it off and walk away from the trivial and short term. Sad.