Thursday, November 26, 2015

THE INVISIBLE FRENZY



by Ray Jason          

            It was a genuine “laugh until you cry” moment.  Two of my absolute favorite people and their son were sitting across from me in a plush Palo Alto restaurant.  Five minutes into our meal I looked across at them and was astounded.  Spontaneously, but quietly, I leaned towards them and said, “Good god, you eat like refugees!”  They laughed heartily and acknowledged that their lives are so dominated by the need to constantly hurry, that they barely notice how revved up they are.  
            This was my first contact with the phenomenon that I call “The Invisible Frenzy.”  I was a few days into a month long visit to San Francisco to enjoy the company of my wonderful friends there.  But I was already frazzled by the insane velocity with which they conduct their day to day activities.  Was it so unsettling because I had been transformed by the slo-mo pace of my life in the Archipelago of Bliss, or had the speed of urban living accelerated that much in the seven years since my last visit?  Probably, it was a combination of both factors.

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