“You know we leave for Vegas soon?”

”I know, I’ll double check our reservation.”

“You’re awfully calm, you know there was a horrible shooting last night in Las Vegas, right?”

”I saw the news”

“And….?”

”And what? This is who we are today.  You’re actually surprised by this?”

“Yeah, I’m shocked! Why are people like this?”

”My guess, they’re fed up. Nobody listens to anybody, there’s just too many people and their voice gets drowned out and forgotten. They feel irrelevant. Unfortunately, this is the world we now live in. I’m not even slightly surprised, actually, it wouldn’t shock me if there was a copycat within a week.”

”That’s terrible, people need to change. It seems so dangerous to travel anymore.”

”Yeah…unlikely.  We will still travel and we will still be careful. Nothing people do surprises me anymore. Humanity is capable of the worst kind of violence, so I stay calm and keep living.”

”You could at least act surprised, shocked or angry!”

”I am angry about a lot of things; politics, crime, the press, people in general. You know what does surprise and shock me though? When somebody does something that is truly altruistic and kind! That surprises me. The idiot news rarely reports about that. A shooting?  Sadly, just a daily reminder of life in America.”

”Ugh, that’s depressing”

”Cynical yes, but realistically true.”

”I’m going back to bed”

“I’m packing, life goes on”