Quotable

Andrew Sullivan, a commentator on world affairs and culture, recently wrote a column (the full text of which you can read on his popular blog, www.andrewsullivan.com) about the breakdown of a sense of community caused in part by portable MP3 players and other media. It ends this way:

"It's hard to give up, though, isn't it? Not so long ago, I was on a trip and realized I had left my iPod behind. Panic. But then something else. I noticed the rhthyms of others again, the sound of the airplane, the opinions of the cabby, the small social cues that had been obscured before. I noticed how others related to each other. And I felt just a little bit connected again. And a little more aware. Try it. There's a world out there. And it has a soundtrack all its own."