"Stop talking gibberish ...

... or just stop talking." - Relient K

Wise words from a great band. In the course of maintaining this blog, sometimes I find myself just trying to find something to post so that there will be something new on here. Most of the time I naturally find something that I want to write about, but if nothing comes up, I kind of force it. Is there a real problem with this? I think so. I think it is a symptom of of modern culture. We feel that we need to say something even if we aren't really saying anything.

Think about it. We say "How's it going?" or "What's up?" to people we don't know without expecting any kind of answer. It's just an acknowledgement of that person's presence. The media (especially TV and the internet) bombard us with meaningless information. Sometimes I wonder, if nothing especially noteworthy was happening, would there still be news? Of course there would! We would find something to be interested in because there just has to be something to entertain - or more accurately, distract - us.

We have music that only seeks to be catchy. We have AIM and email that allows us to talk to people without any connection. It's only text on a screen. Then we have blogs where we can simply repost what someone else has posted in order to say something.

It's not that all of these technologies are bad. The problem is that we are allowing ourselves to be pushed apart. We don't relate with people anymore, we just exchange information.
Is there a solution? Well, maybe we just need to understand that we are all people. Celebrities and policticians are included in that. When we grasp that everyone we come in contact with is a person created by God who thinks, feels and love - more importantly, wants to be loved - we will be able to use all of the gifts we've been given in a moral, healthy, human way.