Paper, or People?

Was recently having coffee in our local shopping Centre Food court and reading my newspaper, while my wife and first born had gone off to do some shopping.

I was sitting there peaceably minding mind own business, engrossed in my paper when all of a sudden I was grabbed from behind by a strong young man who said, “Give me your Paper or your Life”. To which I replied, “Hmmm, I will have to think on that!” To which our son just laughed and sat down with me.

I/ we were not expecting him there and so my mind was occupied elsewhere. Had he not approached me, I would not have noticed that he was there. I couldn’t help but wonder how many other opportunities I have had to connect with other people there, all because I have been engrossed in my paper and not alert to what else is going on around me?

My youngest is always complaining of this fact with me, and claims that I concentrate more on my paper than I do on her. Which is not true by a long shot but I do have an active mind and need to employ it in activity and often do miss some things, because I am engrossed in something, like the paper that can be easily put aside for a while and picked up later. Some people are forever being told to “Stop and Smell the Roses”. Some of us, I think, need occasionally, to be told to leave the Roses alone and move our attention to the rest of the Garden.

I am not saying that I need to do this all the time, but a little bit more would not hurt me and might even help me. What about you? Are you too, to busy doing “things”, to spend time on and with people? Like me maybe you may need to spend more time with people than with activity, no matter how informative it may be? Just a thought! Over to you for now. Walter