Jam 'em in

I know it's sefira, I know I shouldn't be listening to music, I know people may judge me by this post, but....

I can't help it. Every time I leave the house, out comes the ipod. In goes the headphones. My ears are sore, my brain is sick of hearing the same music jammed over and over again, but it's a habit. How do you break habit?

As I'm walking outside, there's someone walking towards me. A stranger. I realize I don't have my headphones in, and in a split second, they are resting snuggly in my ears, for all the world to see. As I pass by this stranger, I look him in the eye. Ya, that's right buddy, I got headphones in. I'm cool, I'm confident, I'm in my own little world, and you can't bother me. But he already is.

It is my cacoon. G-d forbid I should walk out without headphones, and the world will think I'm a loner, with no life. I'm walking by myself. The choice is, pull out the cell phone, call home, bother the parents for a while, or any friend who's willing to hear me talk, or....the ipod. So I choose the latter.

Once, just once, I took them out. I walked down the street, head held high, just me. No ipod. It felt weird, I felt like something was missing....

But I heard things. I heard cars drive by, I heard birds chirping, I heard dogs barking. I heard people talking, conversing with each other.

And you know what? I felt so much more alive, so much more humen. I passed by a complete sranger, and I smiled. Hi, stranger. No, no headphones this time. No cell phone. Just me. Yup, this is me. Take it or leave it.

He smiled back. There are good people in this world. My ipod is sitting in my purse, fully charged, just waiting to be pulled out. But maybe I wont. Maybe, instead of plugging myself into a device, I will enjoy the natural sounds of the world.

It's worth it.