Everyone wants to change the world...

...But maybe it's fine the way it is.

When people want their voices heard, they speak louder. Have you ever stood in a crowded, loud room, and while everyone else is having a conversation with someone, you attempt to drown out the noise with your own voice? The first couple of tries, no one hears you, and so they go on talking, blissfully unaware that you had something to say. You try louder the next time, straining your vocal chords so much that it hurts your throat. But hey, that time, everyone hears you.

What does this say about the crowd? What does it say about you and your tenacious desire to be heard over the din? Could you have tried another way to reach the same audience?

Most of the time, yelling over the noise is simply obnoxious. This of course depends on what one wished to say. For example, it would not be obnoxious if the one shouting was trying to alert the gathering of a fire. On the contrary, I'm pretty sure everyone would be grateful for that set of strained vocal chords. But what about yelling over the "noise" in our current political setting?

If you have brothers and/or sisters, raise your hand. Do you remember the arguments you used to have with your sibling(s), and, at times, how out of hand they were? You'd try yelling, then the other(s) would sense your competitive spirit, and in retaliation they would yell louder. How close would that bring you to solving the issue at hand? My guess is not very.

Now, place a group of politicians trying to change the world on a stage, and you might as well have a mirror image of that same fight between the young siblings. Each of them has something to say these days, and each with a different, and louder, approach than before.

Well, to be completely honest, I'm beginning to tune them out. I just don't care anymore what any of them have to say. The yelling has morphed into white noise, and suddenly silence is more appealing than anyone's high-decible revolution.

If the end of the world is truly on its way, if global warming is going to kill us all in a matter of decades, and if all household germs really do carry the plague, then I guess I'd just rather go out with a bit of peace, concession, and quiet.

So, this election season, I choose to read a book in the mountains, far away from the polls and voting booths. The rest of the world can have its change. I'm happy with my life, just the way it is.