Wake Up!

I saw something interesting the other day that has me thinking about the state of things in our modern rush-rush of a life. My husband and I were shopping at a local department store and I lost him. I decided to wait by the front doors and relax on the bench until he showed up.

As I sat there I saw a lot of people go in and out through those doors. But the thing that was so interesting to me was that a couple of times someone was leaving the store with their bags and the alarm was triggered. And absolutely no one reacted.

Now, I can understand perhaps the clerk that had checked that customer out not getting upset; after all they had just served them and knew they'd paid for their purchases. But no one else? The customer wasn't startled, no other customers were bothered by the ringing alarm, neither were any of the workers there.

Aside from the fact that it looked as if you might be able to walk out the door with merchandise without raising an eyebrow, I wondered about the impact our alarm ridden society has had on us. We have alarms, ring tones, honking and dinging going off around us all day long! Cell phones, car alarms, computers, MP3 players, stereos -- it's constant! To the point, I think, that we are numb to it.

Car alarms rarely alarm us. Most people react with "why don't they shut that thing off?" Obviously the store alarm had no affect. I know on my computer I usually have it muted so I don't have to listen to the beeps and dings coming from it. Cell phones annoy the living daylights out of most of us as well.

So my question is this? How do you raise the alarm? And what would get your attention these days? Anything?