What is today's Zeitgeist?

Defined as the general moral, intellectual, and cultural climate of an era, the Zeitgeist of today may be a belief (or an addiction, in some cases) to the power of connectivity.

Being constantly available via blackberry, internet, messaging, texting, phoning, tweeting, blogging, pinging, singing, whatever...we never leave home without it, it seems. It's like a virtual diaper bag and the baby? It's the ability to be ever connected. Totally plugged into our email accounts and our clients whims, our bosses beckonings and our spouses complaints, our kids' requests for cash and our parents calls for assistance...boy oh boy it's nice to be wanted. Needed. Loved?

That's the question, I guess. Just because we are pinged to death, does that mean we are more loved than the guy who parks himself at his local Panera, plops down with a bestseller paperback and sips decaffeinated coffee while zoning in and out of various states of consciousness all the while, I bother with my laptop and reply to texts and instant message my dog, 82% more often than I did last year. Who is better off and who is more loved? I'm so busy but he is so alone. From the relaxed look on his face and the harried expression I know I don, onlookers would best guess that he is better off and I? I may be Better Off Dead!

In the very least, I am finding that I may be able to be more connected to my connections when I take a moment or two or a day or three to TOTALLY DISCONNECT. Imagine that! Unplug the phone. Turn off the terminal. Lock up the iPhone, Blackberry and headset. And just breathe. And Not Say Anything.

Then, of course, dawns a new day...