Illusion

It's the first of November and we all know what that means, we are now entering the 'dark months' . Months of grey miserable skies and not much daylight to compensate. I always find Autumn and Winter a time for contemplation, a time to look in the mirror and take stock. Spring and summer are the times to be playful, zestful and even maybe irresponsible. But Autumn and Winter bring out the amateur philosopher in me. So please excuse me while I indulge.
In these days of 'social' networks and twitter fame, a lot of people (me included) get drawn into the constant stream of bickering, adulation, shit throwing and narcissism these networks offer. We count 'likes' 'retweets' and 'followers' like it actually means anything, as if  it will make us happier or more contented -spoiler alert, it doesn't. If anything, it makes us more resentful toward those with a different argument, more success better photos etc etc etc. It's as if we are now all screaming to be heard, we ignore the people around us and use our time to impress people we will never see, meet or have any sort of relationship with, we now have the (illusional) power of creating a new 'us', we can play 'pretend' on line in real time. Try to show people the 'real ' us, who we would like to be, we learn how to pose for photos that will show how hip and trendy we are, what a great cook we are, what great parents we are, how fantastic our children are, how fantastic our life is , and so it goes on and on and on. We sacrifice the real enjoyment of life as it is, for what we want others to think it is.
We forget to enjoy the moment we are actually in because we have to pose for photos or post statements on what we are doing ,so as to impress others, others we don't even know.
The way we are becoming seems to be a shift in our evolution, I'm curious where it will lead us, but I won't live long enough to see the real change. future generations will have only known this as being reality.
I ,along with most of us on this planet ,have no power over how we act and react to things, I can tweet,post, and comment as much as I want on-line but it won't change the outcome of the problems we as a species are facing. What I can do, is be aware and live in the real world I live in, be critical and honest to myself about myself, be aware of the real people around me, not the ones that only exist in the 'on-line' world. Change what can be changed, take responsibility for personal failings or situations and live life.
The 'allotted' time we have on this planet is short, when looking back. One day we will all just be memories, photos, or gravestones. We should be aware, every day of the clock ticking away the seconds toward our end.
Today is the 1st of November, all saints day in the Catholic calendar , a day when a lot of people visit their deceased relatives, or friends, put flowers on graves, walk through fallen leaves in the graveyards and where not one headstone gathers likes or followers.