Connectivity. That’s all this is. And it’s brilliant. But is it worth the energy and attention of so many people the day Facebook goes public? Really? For what, money? The prospect of money? Because at our core, money and power are all we really desire as humans? I wonder what would happen if we allocated 10% of the energy we spend on the pursuit of money and power into ideas that would better the world for everyone. What about solving hunger? Or clean water? Or youth violence? Or quality education?  Why do we focus so much attention on the selfish things in life? Why? So we can say, “I won”? Or so that we can take trips to Europe where we’ll post pictures to our ‘friends’ on Facebook so that they’re jealous and they think we’re cool which would validate our ego and justify our existence? I sometimes don’t get us. And I’m just as much to blame as everyone else. Why do we care so much about status and so little about sustainability and betterment of our race? Where did we go wrong? Is this the effect of extremist capitalism? Or maybe all this attention is just the result of our petty little lives that prove we don’t have much more in common other than the digital mediums we congregate in.

Yes, there are some people out there doing great things in this age of connectivity. People who are using the mediums for important things that affect us all. But mostly we ignore that. Or else we throw five bucks at those things and continue focusing on getting that Lexus SUV so that the other ladies at the country club notice it as we arrive for our daily tennis lesson with Bjorn.

What is wrong with us? How do we fix it? Is there enough logic and love in the world to change our course?  Or do we just do the lazy thing and accept that our purpose and value in life is limited to what we can afford to buy as we become insignificant specs of dust on the timeline of the world.

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Jim Mitchem

Ode to the Mockingbird Outside My Window
Nine Days With Cancer

Jim Mitchem

Writer. Father to daughters. Husband. Ad man. Raised by wolves. @jmitchem on twitter. First novel, Minor King, out now.

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