You talking to ME?

A few weeks ago I stayed overnight at my daughter's house. I went outside about 6:30 am. the next morning to sit on the stairs and have a smoke.

A car pulled up across the street and a woman got out. She was talking to herself as she walked towards a neighboring house and in the morning's quiet I could hear her clearly.

"It doesn't matter," she said. "It doesn't matter. It. Doesn't. Matter."

I had about two seconds of thoughts rushing through my mind--My God, she sounds suicidal. Does my daughter know who she is? Should I say anything?-- before I realized she was talking on a cell phone.

Yesterday I saw two girls walking side by side down Hancock St. I won't say walking together, as each was on a cell phone talking to someone else!

I'm not a Luddite although I'm concerned about the consequences of technology driven by profit. But I wonder what it means that so few of us can stand to be alone with ourselves, Rather than cherish what little silence we have in our lives, we fear silence and try to banish it.

For a more cautionary look at cell phones, check out this Alternet article by Stanley Cox.