Lovers and Other Strangers

Week Ending 3/24/07:
"I love you." "Luv you." "Love you too." With all this love in the world, one wonders how we have so much conflict. Of course, maybe folks really don't love everyone, but only those who make their cell phone address book. That's right, I'm talking about the almost universally accepted and expected protocol for ending a phone call. It's particularly evident when someone on the train makes or takes a call, which unfortunately, is almost always for some railers. What's more, we have become a nation of verbal exhibitionists, with no need or desire for privacy, just take that "verbal leak" anyplace we feel like it. The train offers little shelter to filter or shield our conversations anyway, whether intimate or not. Of course, no matter what the context or subject of the main conversation, always close with you know what. It has become epidemic. Wall Street types, hip-hop types, college kids, 20-somethings, 30-somethings, even sixty-somethings are caught in this cultural "cupidity." While we know virtually nothing about the person sitting next to us during our morning or evening commute, we should at least take some comfort in hearing their expression of affection for someone other than themselves. Of course, one can ponder whether these same mysterious creatures only slip the "L" word out there first, with the desire and need to hear someone acknowledge that they are the object of another's ardour. "Je t'aime, mon cherie."