Life Goes On

Life does go on as made sparkling clear by my Facebook and Twitter feeds. Between the posts about missiles falling and where, Israeli Air Force strikes, meetings with UN officials and heads of state, and images of children running to bomb shelters, houses turned to rubble, blown-up buses and Hamas thugs dragging suspected collaborators naked through the street from the back of a motorcycle, I discovered that the Twinkie factory closed down and lots of people were freaked out. And I guess General Petreus had an affair. Shocker. And a lot of people are  feeling the Thanksgiving spirit, grateful for health, family, friends. The Very Brady Christmas special aired on Wednesday. Traffic in LA is still awful. Shocker. A few friends got haircuts. Pretty good ones too. A few went to Disneyland. Some of you read some good books or made a new apron or baked cookies (in your new apron). One of you chipped a tooth. Ouch! A few of you had dim sum (and my heart ached for California). And Fiona Apple cancelled her tour to be at home with her dying pit bull.

A lot of people kept tabs on us via Facebook too. And a lot didn’t. I understand. Conflict or tragedy on the other side of the world feels distant. I kind of felt that way about Hurricane Sandy. Sure, I checked in with my family in New York but I never did contact friends in New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut or Massachusetts. I meant to, but life goes on. Online and otherwise.

A friend of mine here, another blogger, wrote an interesting post while the missiles were landing in the South but before Israel had retaliated. She wondered why no one was calling to see if she was ok. She said she thought fatigue had something to do with it and I agreed. Personally, I think hyperconnectivity has made us casual. And I think it also has to do with the fact that there is always something big and horrible happening and just because the technology is in place to know about everything the moment it happens doesn’t mean we have the emotional capacity to care all the time. Or we might feel a momentary sadness or hopelessness but then a new recipe for cranberry sauce pops up or someone’s baby girl dressed as a turkey and the sadness is lifted. It’s not a bad thing. It’s just life. The wonderful and the terrible are always streaming in real time. And no matter how bad it gets, there’s always something for which to be thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving America.