The REAL real...

It has become blatantly obvious to me that society as a whole, and I, more specifically, have become so distracted that we have lost sight of...well...everything. I realize this is not some great epiphany. What amazes me is that more people don't care, or don't have time to. Between practices, classes, work, and menial tasks, who has time to stop and smell the dirty diaper lost under the bed in the morning chaos, let alone roses?! We fail to pay attention to the things that matter. The REAL real. The things that time can't erase, memory can't supress...the look on your child's face when they discover why the water hose should always be pointed away from your face or that song... you know the one... everytime you hear it you are transported back to a place when all was good with the world...a time when you weren't on a schedule and you didn't care about your inbox. Aaahhh, the frivilous days of youth...have they escaped us all? Is it unrealistic to think that we could stop for a second to just breathe? I don't think we have a choice. The byproduct of this distraction fed to us by media and friends and society, is just the opposite of what we hope to achieve. In working to support our families we spend more time away from them...in over spending on what is trendy we swim in a sea of debt...we are rushed in to making decisions on everything from buying groceries to buying a home...all on 5 hours of sleep. On self-destruct mode, we race down the highways of life on a high speed chase to nowhere...leaving our hopes and dreams, family and friends, in the dust.

We are losing our children, our identities and our lives. Is this too high a price for the next best thing? The bigger SUV, the newest game system, the fad health craze...more emissions, lazier children, and higher health risks are the result. There are so many books in stores on how to live a better, happier, healthier life. Some guru you've never heard of from a small town in a land you'll never travel to telling you the secrets of life and how you can be the best you...20 books later, you awake one morning to find the only thing you've gained is 10 lbs from snacking on mnm's while unlocking the mystery to your soul. As crazy as it seems, they may be on to something...the common theme is to slow down, look at what is right in front of you. Unplug from the electric age and step into your life...put down the prescription and wine bottles, turn off the computer/tv/cell phone/ house phone/radio/ipod, throw away the garbage and take a deep breath. Listen.....do you remember silence? listen closer....do you remember birds and crickets? I do...

I can no longer ignore the grave reality of our "attention-deficit" world. Nor can I feed into a status quo that popular opinion decided should be my blueprint in life. I am turning off the static to hear the laughter of life...The REAL real...