This will be a bit of a departure from my usual science based stuff. Call this one observational.
Travel with me if you will to Houston International Airport after a recent flight in from our stem cell clinic in Guadalajara. I am looking for my bags and they are not on the specific belt that carried all the other bags in from the flight. I ask the lady in the baggage department what to do and she says, “its crazy out there go check belt 2!” I check belt 2 and of course no bags. I return to ask “what now” and the lady gives me an exasperated look. “Well the computer says it’s here somewhere so fill out a claim and when we find it we’ll deliver it to you.” Of course getting off her butt and looking was not an option. She would rather not bother and cost the company 5x as much to deliver it. I wandered around checking each belt and eventually found my bag face down under a few other bags on a stopped belt at the opposite end of the terminal.
Yeah it’s crazy out there.
I am in the pharmacy to pick up a script for a family member that was phoned in 2 days prior. The attendant can’t find it and does not know what happened to it. It’s obviously not ready. She asks me the same questions 2x on spelling and date of birth as if she never heard me. All of this info was on the voice message. “It’s crazy out there!” she says. I kid you not. After an hour they fill the script from scratch because they are completely befuddled by the process they themselves created.
Yeah it’s crazy out there.
What is truly crazy for a guy like me
Is how many people cannot even do a simple job in a fashion that even resembles adequate. That makes the ones who are actually present paying attention and in the moment stand out as exceptional, when 10 years ago they would have been the norm.
I grow more concerned about how few people are actually present and accounted for and how many people are living disconnected from reality, connected to addictive digital devices, forgetting how to talk. write and communicate in anything but sound bites. And don’t get me started on driving LOL!
And I am not just talking kids but middle aged adults. I can’t tell you how many families I see in restaurants and public places with their heads down texting away and not saying a word. Hell you might as well watch TV for 6 hours a day and kill your brain that way instead.
All of this reactive non interaction is bad for your brain. Couple that with low Omega 3 and poor brain nutrition and you have a recipe for a dull mediocre society that is easily controlled.
The good news is…
That if you fix that stuff you too will stand out for all the right reasons.
I think we all deserve a fulfilled joyous and healthy life. When people are overwhelmed by the simplest tasks and the slightest pressure you cannot count on them.
But you can count on yourself and your wonderful brain, especially when you’re giving it what it needs to operate at peak performance..
Dr. Dave