John Aureli

“Busy” is our banner. And I think we’re proud of it. Telling of my myriad responsibilities, I struggle to keep a slight swelling of pride and competition out of my voice as I tick off my list.

We’ve got soccer practices, choir practice, Pilates, MOPS, church on Sunday, church on Wednesday, overtime, swim meets, board meetings, and band practice. Our lives are full. We are up to our necks in activities. And what’s left, our heads, we fill with iPod, iPhone, Wii, TIVo, Survivor, and American Idol. That’s it. We’re full up. We’re constantly moving, and when we’re not moving, we’re pumping our brains full of information or stimulation. Every second of the day. There’s simply no room for anything else.

And it seems that, as with individualism, our busyness sprouted from virtue. Americans are industrious. We believe in responsibility, in excellence. We believe in working hard to provide the best life possible for our families. We are a great nation, in part, due ot our work to achieve more than our parents did. But has our drive slowly warped into something ugly? Has our industriousness turned into selfish ambition?

“And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” - Matthew 16:26

- Hope Lives - By Amber Von Schooneveld

Perhaps many dreams have been fulfilled - a move to a larger house, to vice president, to a condo after the kids have finally moved out - but the soul has become like a boarded-up discount store in an empty parking lot with weeds rising up out of the pavement cracks.

- David L. Goetz, Death by Suburb