Priorities

I've always been an observer.

Watching the world go by and how people act in it. Seeing how they react to one thing, while ignoring another. Pondering people's actions as they choose to help some and chastise others.

Lately my observations have shown me that as a society our priorities are fucked.

If I turned on any news network in America right now I would know the latest celebrity gossip, hear more "breaking news" about how we haven't found a missing plane or see death and destruction in whatever form it has shown up in today.

Go online and there will be proclamations of the death of a social network, link baiting posts galore and more selfies/healthies/besties than you can shake a stick at.

Last weekend, I could barely get any attention for the sustainability work we were doing with A3, but if I wrote a post today on the Top 10 Ways to Maximize Your ROI Through Innovative Content Marketing Initiatives I'd have hundreds of retweets without people ever reading it.

Did you know that while you were complaining about whatever is bugging you today, over 200 girls were kidnapped and are still missing in Nigeria? Or that while you were snapping a photo of your lunch that there was a Ebola outbreak happening?

Every day I read about a new startup being given a pile of money. I'm all for businesses growing and succeeding, but when I see tens of millions of dollars being given for an idea just so that they can build a huge office and play beer pong it bothers me. Why can't any of those dollars be given to organizations trying to improve education, find cures to diseases or trying to make the world better than it is right now?

I miss the days when we shared what we were thinking about, listening to and working on rather than always trying to be a critic and expert.

I miss when the news was about journalism before ratings.

I wonder if our elected officials will ever remember that they work for us and begin working together for the good of our country instead of working for those who write them the biggest checks.

I wonder if enough people out there remember what it is like to live their lives without a piece of technology in their hands.

The world is a big place and each day it feels a bit smaller thanks to the hyper connected nature of technology empowering us. This also shines a light on actions, decisions and mistakes by everyone around us.

People seem to have forgot how to have good manners, treat friends with respect and do business on a handshake.

The rain continues to fall outside my window. The linked filled updates with no real meaning continue to fall down my screens.

I know where my priorities lie and I'm comfortable with them. I just wish more people took a long hard look at their own.