At precisely 7pm in any given western society;


A train pulls away from an underground station, carrying a wide variety of professions amongst their commuters, who listen to their mp3 players, read the evening newspaper,start chapter 2 on a formula written book or look outside the train window at the roads clogged with cars like a blood clot, carrying peak hour commuters; their faces fixed in concentration of not making eye contact with another soul on the journey home.

A truck driver starts on his hamburger and fries at the roadhouse diner. He tiredly glances at his watch and notices a perfect numeric symetry. 15 hours to go until he finishes his shift, and 15 people sitting on their own in the diner, eating their way through their daily dinner.

An old lady, sits on her brand new sofa in her brand new apartment in the retirement home  and switches on the television set to watch the news. Her attention is not on the television set but of the calender directly above it. She smiles with the thought that only 3 days to go until she will receive her weekly telephone call from her daughter.

A office worker arrives home to his empty flat filled with empty memories, and contemplates whether he will put a packaged chicken or beef meal into the microwave oven.

A young girl,with 2 more hours to go until both her parents arrive home, sits in the chair opposite her greatest friend the computer, and searches on the internet for a definition of "Loneliness".

So what does it take to change the way these people act....pointing  out these problems are great....you nailed the social isolation our western civilization faces. But what can be done to change that? Is there something that we as outsiders can do? I personally put my little sister in the spot of the young girl, and from hearing this ill call her ....and continue to call her just to bother her and let her know im here...but the people feeling loneliness themselves must take that step to further their social boundaries...

Emo is in vogue these days.

Its a good post cauboi. I was thinking something similiar along those lines when I wrote the opening post.

I just think unfortunately that western society is moving more towards materialism and further away from family values, community spirit and fostering relationships. We are becoming a lonely society, fostered by our desire for wealth, because that is what society expects.

Booming businesses in western society are retirement homes and child care centres. I am not against these and think that such centres play an important part in society, but the absolute recent boom of numbers in such businesses indicate where our priorities are.

We have become experts at sub contracting out all facets of human relationships and human development, so that we can concentrate our efforts in other areas. At some stage it catches up with a society.

So much for Western society......

Why was this snapshot epitomized so horridly? There are lots of great feats that a snapshot of western society can offer.

Here's my snapshot.

At precisely 7pm in any given western society;

A train pulls away from an underground station, carrying a wide variety of professions amongst their commuters, who enjoy listening to their mp3 players, excited to read the daily happenings in the evening newspaper, start chapter 2 on an insightful and meaninful book or look outside the train window at the roads clogged with cars like a blood clot, carrying peak hour commuters; their faces fixed in concentration of not causing an accident because they are desperately trying to get home to have dinner with their family while on their cell phone explaining to their boss why they didn't need to stay late tonight. 

A truck driver starts on his hamburger and fries at the roadhouse diner. He tiredly glances at his watch and notices a perfect numeric symetry. 15 hours to go until he finishes his shift, and 15 fellow truckers fill the diner with a smoky air and languished laughter over a hearty meal and some mellow heart burn.  He pops a few tums and exchanges a few jokes.

An old lady, sits on her brand new sofa in her brand new apartment in the retirement home and switches on the television set to watch the news. Her attention is not on the television set but of the calender directly above it. She smiles with the thought that only 3 days to go until she will receive her weekly telephone call from her daughter and realize how accomplished she has been raising her.

A office worker arrives home to his empty flat filled with every entertainment device imaginable, and contemplates whether he will put a packaged chicken or beef meal into the microwave oven.   After a long hard decision, he plops down, puts his headset on and starts blasting away his buddies at halo 3.

A young girl, with 2 more hours to go until both her parents arrive home, sits in the chair opposite her greatest friend the computer, while chatting away to her friends on AIM and re-constructing her life on myspace.

This thread is scaring me...

Beautifully written, but it's all a bit...depressing, is it not?

Life is nowhere near as grim at that in this neck of the woods...

I want in too ... Here's my 7pm snapshot, I based it on yours, Pink Ticking Clock, I hope that's ok with you?

As dusk begins to settle the teenager enters the corner shop, holding the door open for the old lady who lives in number 23 and offering to carry her shopping back to her house for her.  He returns to his home slowly, walking at pensioner pace and passing the time of day with the elderly lady, knowing she enjoys his company and has since he was a small boy.  His mother looks out and calls a smiling hello to the pair, asking the neighbour how her cats are doing and if she needs another ride to the vet with them.  The boy's father calls as usual, this time to arrange meeting for dinner and discuss a much-anticipated upcoming holiday with the extended family.

Across town a young woman pounds the city pavement with her pumps, and enters the local coffee shop.  The aromas are inviting and familiar, she orders her usual -- cappucino .  It's perfect, just enough to take the edge off as she returns to her cluttered desk with her friends, chatting and dreaming of the guy in the corner office.  

Her co-workers are heading in the opposite direction to hit the bar for happy hour.  They call an invitation to her and she laughs and confirms she'll be there with them the second she can escape...She asks her boss if she can slope off early, he rolls his eyes but says ok.  She has plenty of credit on her flexi-time and it IS Friday...The bar is filled with exuberant laughter, strangers some, ecstatic to be sharing drinks and having a laugh in the release of Friday-fun company.  

At the end of the bar sits an unnaturally handsome man whose eyes convey a sense of waywardness.  Seemingly transfixed on the hot chick in the black dress, he turns to his friends and places a bet on his chances of getting her number.  They roll up laughing and agree the most he can hope for is to buy her a drink...they all stand watching closely at his antics as he moves in on the prey...She is onto him, but takes the drink and listens to his sad patter, quick-firing responses and destroying him piece by piece as his mates disintegrate into laughter.... ...

In a lavish bathroom 2 streets away, a girl is hunched over the ceramic basin as she forces her fingers down her throat to provoke and regurgitate what she gorged moments earlier.   The bitter bile stings and leaves a foul taste.  The pain and dizziness are unbearable, incomprehensible, and she swears she will never drink like that again...man it is fun but it is just not worth it in the morning...

She knows, however, that when her mad mates phone her tomorrow, she'll be out there nightclubbing like the world was gonna end tomorrow...

LIFE IS GOOD...