The Fleece Exchange

Are you the type of person who prefers a crowded room?

This time of year is flat out crazy. People seem to be running around everywhere, shopping, dining, and traveling.

I headed back into town today and knew I had tons of errands to run. First of all, I had a great Christmas. I received a lot of great things; my family and friends were overly generous.

So tell me, do you also have trouble returning items you didn’t like or maybe didn’t fit?It’s weird, it’s almost like when you go out to a restaurant and what you receive, just isn’t exactly what you ordered.

Well, today I had to exchange a gift. Funny, you think that after a long holiday shopping week, and with Christmas over, that things would lighten up.

Yeah, that wasn’t the case today. I turn into the parking garage, and my search for a spot went from optimistic, to frustrated, to flat out “mission impossible-like” strategic.

My mid-afternoon visit to the mall would begin as I nosed my car up to the seventh and final floor of the parking garage.

This whole experience started to get me thinking about strangers and people in general. What is it about large volumes of roaming strangers, that changes a person? People go nuts this time of year. Why?

Anyways, I was briefly at the food court, and realized that there was not nearly enough seating for number of dining customers. It made the trafficking through, equally as enjoyable as finding the parking spot.

Off to the department store I went, to make the exchange. As I walked, I looked at the unfamiliar faces all around. I thought to myself, why is it that I at times find myself more interested in the people I read about in books and magazines, or even as to the extreme as those that I think of, that are named on a dedication wall, or in a cemetery?

Generally speaking I think we as a culture are so tied up into our own lives, and the people and things that revolve around it, that everything outside of that is normally not of interest. I think we have become so narrow focused that our peripherals have become blinded.

It doesn’t help that we have twenty things rolling around up in our heads at one time. And that our attention spans are limited to maybe five minute intervals.

So I thought again. How can we want to care more, or be more interested in those outside our bubble of life? Does it matter that we don’t want anything to do with them? Should we engage the unknown?

Frankly, I prefer the road less traveled. I am not excited when I have to wait in any type of line. Sometimes I just think that waiting in line is just another way to test our patience. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a complete disdain for lines, I just notice myself having to more consciously control myself.

I think there is something to learn though. Whether we are out at the local shopping mall, fast food restaurant, movie theater, metro station, school function, or even a local pub; we need to be more aware of those around us. To respect them, their issues, and their lives.

Just some thoughts that came out of my trip to the mall.