An Evolving Life. Searching.
In Memory Of
Susan E. Miller
1954 - 2014
Searching
Everyday we’re bombarded with round-the-clock cable TV and radio news, podcasts, texts, email, etc. Yet right now the most potent, the most powerful platform is social media.
At lunchtime last week, I happened to sit down at an organic cafe beside the store manager, a 32-year old man who formerly worked in banking with JPMorgan.
At the counter, we struck up an easy conversation that quickly turned to social media. “It’s the zombie apocalypse,” he proclaimed with a sad smile. The narcissism and endless selfies projected by social media reflect the vapidness of our technology-ridden times.
“I’m so lonely.... and always searching for something more,” he confessed. Desensitized, we sit beside one another in waiting rooms, coffee shops, even our own living rooms, staring at screens instead of talking with one another, he lamented. Furthering his search, he and his girlfriend are considering taking five to six months off to trek the 188-mile-long Adirondack Trail.
Here’s Biker In Yellow, part of my PHANTOMS series, started back in 2010 when I began to express the very same sense of disconnection. Taken outside of Charleston, South Carolina, the biker is Sue, a dear friend who was struggling at the time and yes, searching. Sadly, she is no longer with us. Her journey ended a few years later.
And here is the artist statement for PHANTOMS written in the form of a poem:
As I move through life,
human beings seem to be disintegrating.
I see a face here, hear a voice there,
but then they're gone.
Blurred, garbled, disjointed.
They're all around me.
Sometimes I see them, smell them, touch them,
sometimes not.
They walk by,
sometimes we connect for a few moments,
sometimes not.
They pass by in cars, in the mall, in the park, on the street,
sometimes not.
They’re in my heart, my mind,
but mostly on my phone and my computer,
sometimes not.
Please click on the image to enlarge.
Biker in Yellow
An Evolving Life Series
2019 Posts
Searching (This one)
2018 Posts
Learn more about how it all began! Click here to read An Evolving Life posts from 2018.
