Solipsism

Seen on a rush-hour bus recently: young man, mid-20’s, curled up on a seat with head against window, plugged into his i-pod, notebook on lap, carefully and patiently practicing his own signature. As I stood there and watched this man, in deep concentration (a tongue sticking out the corner of his mouth may be an apocryphal memory), adding flourishes to his own name and oblivious to the life around him, an overwhelming feeling struck me:

That there could be no one scene more definitive of the individualistic, selfish, all-pervasive navel-gazing that plagues our society today. 

‘Really,’ I thought, ‘Could there be anything more depressingly solipsistic?’

And then I thought, ‘Yes there could: someone could write about it in their own self-important blog.’

So here we are.

Lord have mercy!