Non Sequitur

Non Sequitur is on the money again—social networking and blogging that begs someone, anyone, to please pay attention to every thought that slips out of a blogger’s, tweeter’s, facebooker’s head. We’ve always been a nation of talkers instead of listeners, but now we have virtually no listeners and about 600 million talkers. Every new cell phone should have an ap that beeps when a caller stops talking for at least five seconds. Then the call receiver can take over while the call initiator puts the phone in a pocket until the beep signals it’s his/her turn. There. Everyone talking, no one listening. That’s sort of the way this blog works: I talk and talk about almost anything, hoping that someone out there is listening (reading it). And then I hope that someone would hear their beep and begin talking back. In other words, I’d like this blog to be a two-way street, an “I talk” then “you talk” avenue. Facebook does that . . . sort of . . . but the back and forth conversations are so brief and all too often meaningless. Okay, so Facebook informs us of someone’s impending birthday or anniversary and we respond with a “happy bd bro, hope you have a good one.” Whoopie do! Who needs that? It’s like an emoticon or two can substitute for real feelings, or an LOL can take the place of real laughter. I want a card in the mail, a card made by the sender instead of Hallmark bought, a card that required some personalized thought, not just a standard greeting. A $4.95 card does not buy my gratitude, even though it buys a lot more than a Facebook “Happy bd.” All right, then, blog visitors, on November 28, I’ll be celebrating my eightieth birthday. I want lots of caring cards, hard copy in the mail or at the very least, e-mail salutations: jertrav33@aol.com. Mark it on your calendars. Less than two months from now I want to hear from you.