C I P R I A N I

As I’ve mentioned before, I like to shuffle the songs on iTunes when I work and just listen, occasionally selecting one artist, but almost always letting fate decided what I’m going to hear.

When I updated the platform and it showed itself on my desktop, it looked flashy, but I didn’t know where anything was, things seemed different, I couldn’t find my songs and I immediately jumped to the conclusion the Apple had screwed up another product of their own that worked just fine, thank you.

I was angry. Angry because I was preparing to write, to work, and this seeming glitch completely screwed up my routine. I was angry about the change. I was angry because for a few moments, something familiar didn’t work the way I was used to it working. I even went so far as to “tweet” a snarky comment about the latest version of iTunes.

But after I cooled down, got my bearings and took a few moments to just figure it out, I found that it worked just fine and what the differences are…oh, Hell I can’t even tell now.

Does it work any better? I don’t know. I can’t tell. I can listen to my music and I quickly deleted my “tweet”.

…but man, I was pissed. I mean, I was really pissed. Angry. I couldn’t believe they changed it. Dropping F bombs left and right … Maybe my son was asleep in the other room. He might have been awake. Hell, I might have woken him. I didn’t care. I was angry. They changed iTunes and it worked just fine and…

A little insane don’t you think? Especially since for the most part, it kind of operates the same way, it just looks different.

So I got to thinking about difference of opinion. Politically, of course, but I’m talking about disagreements of all kinds, any matters of opinion – and yes, sometimes the “opinions” are facts countered by falsehoods, but I’m speaking more generally for the sake of empathy.

This furious anger that I felt because of initial failure on my part to take a few moments to just try and understand I think is the root of so much confusion because we often fail to simply take a breath and try to figure it out and those precious few moments may result in being able to hear the music just a little better.