What'sin Your Backpack? - Part 1

“What’s in Your Backpack?” That is the question which is asked by George Clooney’s character, Ryan Bingham, in the movie, Up in the Air. Bingham is a frequent flyer, who is approaching 10 million frequent flier miles, as he travels all over the country doing what executives of various companies are afraid to do … fire some of their employees. He is good at what he does, but is emotional detached from people.

He is also a motivational speaker and the “What’s in Your Backpack?” is the title of his speech. It is a motivational speech the addresses the virtues of a life free of relationships with people and things. From his perspective “attachments” drag you down keeping you from moving forward.

A simple analogy to this mindset is his niece who is getting married. She asks all of those coming to the wedding to take a cardboard cut of her and her fiancé and take pictures of them in all sorts of locations all over the country. When Ryan asks her why she shared that they didn’t have enough money for a honeymoon, but “at least we will have the pictures.” It is a testimony to the very life that Ryan is having – all the traveling with the expertise and efficiency to move through airport security as fast as possible, gaining all the frequent flyer miles without ever having any lasting experiences or relationships.

As I was watching this movie yesterday, while doing apheresis (the giving of platelets which are spun from your whole blood – extremely important for many in the hospital – it is something that you can do every two weeks and have two hours that you can spare to help others) – I began to think about all of the modern tools available to us to keep us connect – cell phones, facebook, tweeter, etc. – but these devices and Internet tools, while convenient only keep us disconnected. Absent from our busy lives is taking the time – real, hands-on, face-to-face time – visiting, sharing, laughing, caring with others that we have packed away in our backpacks. Oh, we share a lot of information about our activities, as well as a few pictures along the way … but that is all it is – information – no real human contact ... just the "pictures" without the actual experience.

I believe that we fool ourselves into believing that we are connected becoming more like Ryan Bingham every day – staying on the move, collecting our frequent “points,” but failing at the very basic necessity of any real life human experiences – stuff that Ryan has called unnecessary baggage.

The questions that I’ve been considering, since seeing this movie, are: Just how important are human connections in my life? Where has been my focus these many years? And, what changes need to take place in order to pack a better backpack?

(to be continued tomorrow when I consider just what we pack into our backpacks)

Quote for today: Not everything that counts can be counted. Not everything that can be counted counts. Dr. Charles Garfield.