I was minding my business this morning, setting up my laptop at the cafe when a middle-aged man sitting at the next table asked me, “Are you an intellectual?”
I replied, “Uhhh.” thinking that he would then be discouraged from continuing a conversation. But, no, he was pretty determined.
“Do you understand that we are in a crisis of unparalleled proportion?” he asked.
“Hmmm,” I replied again thinking that he would be discouraged by my lack of intelligible response.
“Nobody is asking questions. Look,” he pointed at a printed article from The Economist, “If these guys aren’t asking questions, we are totally screwed. Somebody’s got to DO something.” He was clearly agitated.
“There are a lot of people asking questions,” I replied. I could not help but be polite in the face of this level of anxiety.
“Your generation needs to DO something.” He clearly missed my age by a long shot as I am closer to his generation than any other. “There is just so much complacency.”
At this point Michael joined me at our table and the anxious man from the next table said, “Thank you for listening.” He bent over his papers, scribbling furiously and muttering to himself.
This encounter left me thinking, Is the sky falling or is upheaval a natural part of our evolution? I would not say that we are complacent, more that we get wrapped up in our daily lives. Most people that I know are very busy working, taking care of the kids, paying the bills, watching TV, trying to fit in time to exercise — doing whatever they need to do to get through the day. It is not so much smug, self-satisfaction as running a daily marathon.
What is happening in the world today can be looked at as a disaster or alternatively as a wake-up call. This may be an opportunity for us all to consider how we spend our time, our money and our personal energy. What is really important to us? Do we want to get wrapped into knots because the financial news is grim or do we want to count our blessings and give thanks that we have the basic necessities like food and shelter?
Maybe, rather than panicking about the global economy and our loss of financial security, we can consider what brings us joy and focus more of our attention on that. Is it spending time with friends and family, some creative endeavor or playing a game? Maybe that is all we can and need to do.
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