Three out of five people on any street in New York City are not there. Doesn’t make sense? My unsubstantiated survey from visiting New York last week revealed that approximately three out of every five people I passed were connected to a device – listening to music, talking on the phone, intently texting or searching the web. That included a security guard, man selling newspapers in a kiosk and a mother pushing a stroller. I was curious and a little jealous about their important and engrossing conversations.
Why does everyone want to be somewhere else? Do the people they are talking to wish that they were on that street? What is so appealing about ignoring the people around you? And what happened to “Be here now?” Is the new norm “Be anywhere but here?”
I brought my new southwestern attitude with me, smiling at people passing by, but no one looked. I thanked the ladies’ room attendant and offered a piece of chocolate to our taxi driver, much to my daughter’s embarrassment. This might seem naive and unsophisticated, but it has its charm. I can also do fast-paced cool and aloof as well as the next guy.
I guess that everyone has a right to experience New York in their own way. I still love it, the lights and excitement, abundance and excess, bravado and entitlement, ethnic fragrances and, yes, even the harried, distracted people whom I passed on the streets.
So true! And I think it is easier to be aloof and somewhere else rather than participating in the moment. Oh well.
If they only knew how good being here now feels to your soul!
I actually think offering the chocolate was very sweet!!
Ellie, you nailed this issue on the head! You should expand this observation into a book, much like the original Be Here Now. Your thoughts are so clear and you have great suggestions on how to alter our disconnectedness. You probably brightened that cabbie’s day considerably! People are ready to read this book. Doitdoitdoit!
Thank you, Anne! I am working on another book which will be just as inspiring, I hope. Share, share, share this post, please!