Through the years, I have noticed it takes more and more to stimulate people’s interest. It takes explosions, car crashes and steamy sex scenes in movies to hold our interest. I have observed my grandkids in movies and they don’t even flinch when someone is being bludgeoned or hacked to death. They don’t even blink when a scary figure makes the scene. I don’t know how they can stand to watch golf or poker games on TV.
There are some boring topics and events that confront us in daily life. The most boring subject today is global warming and the debate over whether man made carbon emissions are having a detrimental effect on climate. It takes a tidal wave or a devastating hurricane to get our attention, then we quickly forget about it. Global warming makes a good bedtime story to put kids to sleep and may even be used to disperse mobs rather than high-pressure water from fire hoses.
The Presidential debates are a pretty boring event. I think, even the participants are bored. Some sermons I have heard rank high on the most boring list. The above picture shows all the characteristic signs of boredom. There is a blank stare into outer space, the eyes droop and the mind wanders into a maze of disassociated thoughts. Boredom can be as effective as an anesthetic without the nausea.
Viewing photos and slides of somebody else’s vacation can be as bad as a dry sermon or a lecture on medieval history. People try and break the boredom by talking about when they saw the same place or what else they saw when making the same trip. I recently tried to spice my vacation pictures by making a slideshow with music and even added interesting tid-bits of historic information. It didn’t work. I still couldn’t hold the attention of most of the family. For someone to be interested they have to be personally involved. Just a picture of Old Faithful won’t work unless it shows somebody being scalded to death or blown away by the geyser.
I miss my old collie dog. He used to listen to the stories of my trips and look at the photos. He seemed to enjoy the experience, but then, he enjoyed most everything as long as it was with his humans.
From now on, I think I will just show my pictures over and over to myself while rocking on the porch. Reminiscing is a very pleasant thing, even when done in solitude. I guess it’s just part of senile rapture.