I ride public transport to work five days a week. I have a "bus" friend who I chat with for most of my journey. I have had some amazing moments where I connected with someone for a few stops. But mostly what I find is that people have "tuned " out to this type of connection. Most have ear buds in with music blaring so loudly that my past training in hearing testing makes me cringe at what they are doing to their hearing cells.
But worse than that I fear what is happening to our ability to connect to one another. I was speaking to a coworker the other day who reminded me that in the past, people used to not need internet dating sites- they would meet on the bus, planes, trains and other public places. But if everybody is wandering around with their sense of hearing occluded, what does this mean for our ability to care for and be in tune with one another.
Instead of minimizing our senses, I would like to see us expand them, particularly those that we as a modern society have lost- our sense of wonder, our sense of awe, our intuition and the knowledge that there is so much more out there that we can see, feel, smell taste- and hear.
So while I can't stop others from tuning out, I can do my part to turn on to the world around me- the beautiful sunrise I see as I ride the train over the bridge, the snow covered mountains I see on my way home and the curious eyes of the baby in the stroller beside me on the bus... and to be grateful for the conversations I have with my bus friends that make my commute a little less monotonous and my journey that much more fulfilling.
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