Look Around And See The World Before It Is To Late

I got up and went through my normal morning routine. It was a work day and I needed to be in the city by 8:30 AM. Dressed and ready I headed to the Bart train, earphones on, music blasting, just like I do a few times a week. The train ride was uneventful. One stop and off the train. Up the escalator and out onto the street. Three blocks and into my building, another normal day.

It was then that it hit me. I had become another cog in the wheel. A drone doing what we all seem to do everyday…report to work. Someone that no one notices because I look like everyone else on the street. When I was younger I was someone who stuck out in the crowd. Somewhere along the lines I have become a wallflower. Someone who melds into the world. No longer a stand out, no longer special. Just a cog.

Worse than becoming a drone I have become a conversationalist shut in. Not once in my morning routine did I have a conversation with one person. Not even a hello or how are you doing. I escape into my own world, listening to my music, minding my own business, and ignoring the rest of the world.

I noticed something else while I was walking down the street. I was not the only human-interface-shut-in on the streets. Everyone seems to be walking in their own world. The iPod revolution has turned us all into mindless drones. When I walk on the streets it reminds me of those old movies where you see everyone walking the same direction, all wearing the same outfit, no one talking, everyone in a hurry to get somewhere. How much longer before we end up living that movie scene. All of us on the street, same dark suit, same blue shirt, same red tie, and all of us with head phones on. How long until we can’t tell the difference between anyone in this world. How long until we only interact with people when necessary. How much longer before we become nothing more than a scene from an old movie.