Preoccupation

It's the weekend.
That means the tinkling bottles return. But now the 7th day has passed, the sounds from outside fade into the distance -- now only are they sounds of reassurance and life from afar.
I instead turn my attention to the sounds inside the walls that encompass me. I know it's nighttime when the hiss of the radiator dominates any of the comforting noises from outside. Now the comforting noises are inside.
At home.
Yet the bustling sounds from outside do tell residents of life beyond their tiny, 1 bedroom worlds. The sounds are a reminder of travel, of entertainment, of movement.
Suburbanites (and others) are preoccupied with the daily pursuit of the comfort of their material lives. In many cases they literally wall themselves off into comfortable communities, both physical and social, in which they can safely avert their eyes from the ugly realites that afflict so many of our people.
They even forget who brought together our nation, who put up the walls of our cities, who made their Prada dresses and Jimmy Choo shoes, and who it was that suffered so that they could thrive in the tiny, selfish materialistic "luxury" world they live in now.
I have my tinkling bottles...my hissing radiator...my home.
I often wonder if the owners of those far-too-pricey products have these things.
I can only pray they too can be comforted by the outside world rather than only feel safe and happy in their tiny, selfish materialistic worlds.
But I'm not ignorant.
That's not safe or happy.
That's fake.
Deprivation.
Deprivation of others. Less for others, more for them.
Where's Chicago's Robin Hood?
To ease my troubles of wonders of the materialistic others, I place my head upon my pillow as my ears search for the tinkling from outside and the hissing within.
At least I'm lucky enough to have these things.