Is Mobility Good?

Do you ever wonder if the mobility that our society enjoys is a good our bad thing?

I was sitting in the Atlanta airport watching the mass of people rushing about and thinking about this. Transportation hubs are an interesting orchestra of motion. Some people are in such a rush, others do not seem to have a goal and are just wondering, others are just waiting. Even funnier – most of them are in a huge rush for a few minutes and then are at a dead stop waiting for a few minutes until the next rush.  Reminds me of what we used to say about the Army: “Hurry up and wait.”

I’m pretty old fashioned and I miss the days when families and communities stayed together.  A trip to the nearest city was the big event every few years.  The children were raised around people that knew them and loved them.  They had the benefit of their grand parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Seems like so many children today get to see some of their relatives once every year or two at best.  I find that very sad.

Back to “mobility”… I wonder if it is another of the things that we have been led to believe is “good for us” when in fact it is really destroying us (along with many other things). I suppose it started with ships and trains, then Interstates and buses, and finally the airlines and commercial air travel.

I wonder what might happen if we all slowed down, stopped jetting back and forth across the country, and made an effort to LOVE more. I’m sure some businesses would suffer but would families benefit? I think so.