Has the World Gone Mad? Or is it just Me?

I was at Wal-Mart tonight (the bastion of all things and people a little loopy)...and there were people out in the parking lot standing around like it was a cocktail party! I don't mean in one place, I mean several clusters of people all around, like it was normal behavior to stand out in a parking lot at 10 pm at night. The saddest part was that it made me a little uneasy. Were they just waiting for friends and hanging out? Were they there to have a Tea Party meeting (and not the kind like we had when we were kids!)? Were they plotting to blow up the Wal-Mart?

That's when I realized that the world is indeed going mad, and I unfortunately may be being dragged right along with it!

After leaving Wal-Mart proper, I went to the gas station out front. As I drove over I was thinking how sad it is that our "personal safety radar" has to be on high alert at all times. My mind still pondering the group behavior in the parking lot next door, a woman comes up to me as I am getting out of my car and starts with "excuse me...." Now the last three times that has happened to me, it was someone asking for money as s/he was "almost out of gas and needed to get home to another state" (interestingly enough, the same guy was there the next week....either he still hadn't raised enough money to make the trip "home" or he was playing on people's good nature...sigh...). My radar already on high alert, I turned to the woman and said "no thank you" and turned away, surprising myself with the gruffness of my tone. I heard her walking away saying "I was just going to see if you had a bottle of water or something."

I immediately found myself flush with thoughts...Geez! Did I really just turn away someone who really needed water?! Wait, wait, wait...Wal-Mart has water fountains...stop being silly! How horrible would it be to have no other resources than to stand at a gas station asking strangers for help? What was this woman's story? Was she really that desperate, or was she someone who chose to live this way?

While pumping gas into my car, I watching this sad looking older woman approach others getting out of their cars with the same question...many times being responded to much like I had responded to her. How else can we respond when we no longer trust other people? How has the world devolved into such a spiral of fear?

I do think the world has gone mad...I'm just going to have to find some sanity for myself at least. Who's with me?

Until next time....