When was the last time you sat down, alone, without any gadget in hand, without a TV or laptop before you, just staring out into the distance, eyes unfocussed, mind unoccupied, oblivious of time?
When was the last time you did nothing for hours?
Remember those idlers by the roadside, hanging out, chatting, passing remarks at the passers by and laughing? Well, they are extinct - or on the verge of being so. Look around - at the corner of the road, near the tea shop, beneath the tree, by the isolated park bench. They're there all right, but they are all gazing at their handsets, huddled together or alone. They're sharing jokes through their phones, they're listening to songs, they're laughing.
So what, you ask. You're a true child of the age. What's with the idle mind, the silence, the gazing into nothingness? What am I talking about?
Does anyone remember solitude in its raw, original form?
When was the last time you did nothing for hours?
Remember those idlers by the roadside, hanging out, chatting, passing remarks at the passers by and laughing? Well, they are extinct - or on the verge of being so. Look around - at the corner of the road, near the tea shop, beneath the tree, by the isolated park bench. They're there all right, but they are all gazing at their handsets, huddled together or alone. They're sharing jokes through their phones, they're listening to songs, they're laughing.
So what, you ask. You're a true child of the age. What's with the idle mind, the silence, the gazing into nothingness? What am I talking about?
Does anyone remember solitude in its raw, original form?
I do, I do.
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