This story was told to me. And now I am telling it to you.

The young man was boarding a plane. He was pierced with all manner of shiny rings, covered in a quiltwork of tattoos. His hair was long. He wore black leather. Lots of zippers. He looked like an outsider. And he went to a lot of trouble to look that way.

He stowed his bag in the overhead bin. He took his aisle seat next to an old guy who was looking out the window. Not reading a magazine. Not writing on a notepad. Not doing any work. Just looking.

The older man noticed the younger, and he smiled.

The young man smiled back, but it was an awkward facial exchange. The young man was not much of a smiler.

He’d been going through a hard time. He had just attended his mother’s funeral. He had been estranged from her for years. He’d been living in a way his mom and dad didn’t care for. A lot of issues there.

“That’s a nice leather jacket,” the smiling older

man said.

The young man said nothing at first. Was this guy being sarcastic? Nice leather jacket? Was this some kind of joke?

“Thanks,” said the young guy.

“That jacket has a lot of zippers, I’ll bet you have lots of compartments to store things.”

The young guy was still trying to figure this cat out. He just stared at the old man, trying to read his face.

“Uh, yeah,” said the kid.

“Zippers are so wonderful,” said the old guy.

“Right.”

The kid tried to retreat into his mental cocoon and disappear. He did not want to have a conversation with this guy. He put headphones on his ears and listened to his Walkman.

“That’s a neat cassette player,” the old man said.

The kid just ignored him.

“You can listen to music whenever you want,” the old…

I woke up looking for God. I always look for Him in the mornings. Sometimes, however, He’s hard to find. Sometimes He hides.

I went through my morning routine. I made the coffee. Let the dogs out to pee.

I turned on the TV news.

The TV headlines are shocking. Mostly, about wars, rumors of war, and celebrity mating habits. The news anchor doesn’t smile as he recites talking points.

I feel sorry for Newsguy. Even HE looks sorry he has this job as he talks about the shootings in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Evergreen, Colorado; and the killing of Charlie Kirk in Utah.

I pour coffee. I go to my laptop. Time to do some writing. I have deadlines. Open web browser.

The computer is bombarding me with more news. I skim headlines.

Today’s headlines are nothing like the newspaper headlines of yore. They are click-baity, weirdly worded, as if their sole purpose is to get me to click and nothing more. As if the organization behind each headline doesn’t give a flying fig whether I read the actual

story, as long as I click the title.

“Click me,” I hear the headline whispering. “Come on, handsome. You know you want to. Just click me. Me love you long time.”

Here are some actual headlines I read:

“7 Products I Stopped Buying Once I Realized They Were Silently Killing Me.”

“Study Shows Hugging Can Cause Cancer.”

“Pamela Anderson Speaks Out; She Has A Lot To Get Off Her Chest.”

That’s not to mention all the stories about AI. Robots, robots, robots. If ever there was a trending topic in the news world, it’s the rise of AI.

Humanoid robots with water powered muscles. Robot humanoids being developed to possibly become law-enforcement officers. Humanoid robots expected to be operating within most American homes by the year 2042.

In the same vein, there are throngs of articles about “smart glasses,” and all they…