The other day a woman with her nose buried in her iPhone walked toward me. I moved out of her way when I realized she wasn't going to look up. Just as I was passing her a bus whizzed past and I saw her look up. She looked annoyed at the bus for having failed to stop for her. Since she wasn't paying attention she hadn't made it to the bus stop.
A woman preoccupied with texting pushed a stroller down the sidewalk. Her baby was looking up at her trying to make eye contact.
Sure it's easy to rationalize that those are just an ignorant few but in truth I could fill a book with instances like this because it's the ignorant mass. It crosses every race, ethnic or socio-economic line.
More than ever we are presented with opportunities to disengage, to abdicate our responsibility to participate in our lives. Burying our head, whether it's in an iPhone or the sand, is easier than actually giving a crap. Giving a crap takes time, it takes energy, it takes risk. Engaging in our lives means that we actually need to expend emotional energy. It's so much easier to give into fear.
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