During one of my many escapades hunting down information on Jason Mraz, I was looking at videos he had posted of bands he advocates for. Most had a similar sound to his with the same air of just enjoying music and life. But I suddenly found myself overcome with a regret for life: there are so many people in this world that we will never have the experience of meeting. Think about it, out of even just the people in your city, your town, your neighborhood, all the people you pass on your way to work, maybe even some people you work with, you will simply never meet.

Celebrities, politicians, leaders in organizations, we will never know them. It just feels like such a sad part of being, knowing that although we are all connected some way, we're so far apart. Especially in this time, and I don't mean time of "war" or economic strife or any of that bullshit. I mean this time when we can't even walk down the street without trying to avoid touching someone else. It's inhuman.

Think about it, if someone bumps you as you are walking on the sidewalk or sitting on a train or bus, it feels almost alien, like an offense. We are so tied in to the idea that we need to "protect" ourselves we are loosing touch with what is real and important. It is inhuman not to feel and touch, to sense another being, sense mortality. We are afraid of what might happen if we open ourselves up when we should really be questioning what we are loosing by closing ourselves down.

We will never meet most of the people in this world simply by chance. Why lock out the opportunity to meet those we can, branching out and maybe learning a thing or two about ourselves in the end.

As lame as it sounds, I find artists like Jason Mraz striving for this way of life, of connecting to people for the sake of connecting, to feel that we are in fact still human. That may be the most important thing we can cherish right now.