So I was thinking a lot about the election of a new pope, and, watching the news all day, I really want to know who it will be! But why? I'm not Catholic, and I don't know who any of the candidates are. I don't know them personally or even from a distance.
What's more, is I really care about knowing how gun control is going to affect the country. This, again, has very little effect on me. I don't own a gun, I've only been shooting a couple of times, and if guns were banned my life would not be terribly different.
When people were stuck on a cruise ship, I wanted to know when they were going home and when they were going to be safe. I wanted to know if their living situation improved, etc.
Our technological age causes us to care so much about what's going on in the world. I cared that Hugo Chavez died, even though I'm not Venezuelan.
I did not care about Lance Armstrong and his steroids, but I knew about it. I do not care about celebrities or their divorces or their lives, but I know about them.
So all of this knowing and caring and blah blah blah got me thinking about my own life, the people I know, and the attention I give them. I care about my family, and my friends, but I don't necessarily know what's going on in their lives. This technological age lets me catch their updates on blogs and facebook, spending little time on the telephone with them. Occasionally there is a text, but generally we all are comfortable living our own lives, and touch base with each other, doing little to change or influence one another.
How can it be that I'm so wired in that I know that black smoke means a new pope hasn't been elected, but I don't know what my little sisters favorite subject in school is? I'm so wired in that I know about Lance Armstrong and other celebrities that I honestly could care less about, but I don't have a clue to get my family for Christmas when the time comes.
I love technology, through it I can talk to Joey every day, and I even get to see his face. It makes the long-distance relationship all the more painful, but at the same time much more bearable. He knows I'm thinking about him and I know he's thinking about me, but it's still missing something.
I guess what I'm trying to say is we can know everything about everyone through technology, but sometimes lose track of the people who really matter. There is something irreplaceable about daily interactions with our friends and family here on the earth.
Anyway, when I started that felt deeper than it does now, but I'm glad that I've started wondering if I'm too wired in (or wirelessly wired in).
