Alone in a crowd

"What's the difference? You weren't looking anyway." - What Dreams May Come

 

Try this experiment. Ask someone "How are you?" and see what they say. Most likely the answer will be "Fine" or "Good" and then the person will walk away. There won't be time for follow up and the answer they gave will most likely be a lie, or at least not the whole truth. Try this experiment again for the rest of the day and see what happens. Try if for a whole week but the results will seldom deviate. How many times have you answered "Fine" or "Good" to the question posed earlier? How many times has it been the honest answer?

 

We've become a society that doesn't listen and so we have also lost the inclination to tell the truth. We act surprised when tragedies happen, protesting that we "had no warning" but the truth is that we didn't listen. We didn't have the time, or more perversely, we didn't care. We bombard our senses until we are numb to the world around us and then wonder why we feel alone.

 

I tried the experiment above last week. My results weren't surprising as much as sobering. When I wanted to share good news, there was no one to listen. When I tried to provide comfort to someone I knew to be in distress, they were unable to share. It lead me to wonder what the point is in talking if no one really listens.