I haven't got it. Not a thing to contribute. Not a thought to be shared. Not a philosophy to follow. But is that a bad thing?

I've been reading about health care reform for months now. I saw all kinds of charts & graphs & statistics. I read about selling the idea to the American people. Lots of banter. Lots of posturing. Lots of politics. What happened? Ted Kennedy died, and the whole shebang goes up in smoke. Did we need all of that for something that was so fragile in the first place?

Remember when George W. went on about changing social security for months, and nothing happened? Pie charts, graphs, Powerpoint presentations. For nothing. Just a bunch of chatter. Was it all to say that they tried to do something, even though there wasn't really any chance of accomplishing anything? Could we have just said nothing and accomplished the same thing?

I used to watch Sports Center a lot. A lot, a lot, a lot. When Keith Olbermann & Dan Patrick were the dynamic duo, there was no more entertaining way to be given sports information. That was about fifteen years ago. Now, I don't watch SportsCenter so much. At least half of the banter is about conjecture, opinions and flat out gossip. I just want to see sports highlights. I watched the Super Bowl, but none of the hype or post-game reaction. It's just a game. I liked the game. I don't like all this chatter about what might happen, what did happen, and what could have happened.

Radio waves are full of talk. Sports, politics, religion, you name it. But do we need all of this talk? Do we need all the Rush, all the Rome, all the Robertson? What are they saying to us? Why do we listen and then regurgitate it to others, as if it means anything at all?

Money talks and bullshit walks. I like it when a phase can sum it up like that.

It's not just TV & radio & the Internet & newspapers, you know the media, it's a lot of people. They can just go on about anything and everything like there's a stop watch on them and they can only win if the say most amount of words in the shortest amount of time.

They come into my cab everyday. To people's credit, most of them don't instantly babble incessantly, and I always feel them out to see if they want to talk. Whatever makes them comfortable. Some folks hardly get in the cab before telling me their life story along with their neighbor's.

My own family is no exception. My dad is a history professor, so he has degrees that permit him to rattle off all kind of historical information, one class at a time. My mom, who came to visit my budding family last week, can talk to anyone about a variety of subjects whether you ask her to or not. It's not bad for a day or two, but it really does wear you down after a while.

The most disheartening thing about all the talkers in the world is that for as much information they spew at you, they really aren't good at stopping and listening to others. At best, they are just taking a break to catch their breath, so they can unload another round of chatter at you. We'll be back right after these important messages.

Do we need all of this? Are our lives better for knowing about unsuccessful health care reform or why Haiti deserved their natural disaster? When was the last time someone truly changed the way you thought about something through a constant bombardment of chatter?

In fact, the more people talk to me, the less I listen. If you can't sum up your thoughts quickly and concisely, you probably aren't as convincing or interesting as you think you are.

So let's turn down the gab for a while, shall we? Maybe step back from all our views and opinions, and not let all this over-explaining overwhelm us. Just sit back and listen to the quiet for a moment. You might realize this world goes on quite nicely whether we say anything or not.

Chris Jungle is ready to hush.