slimmer, faster- the confusion between us and our machines

I just saw a headline- new Iphone- thinner, faster.

It is disturbing that our society values the same characteristics for our machines as we do for ourselves.  We want to be slim, sleek, and quick.  We run, we diet, and if that fails, we wear spanx.

Is that why we disregard both the unborn and the very old?  They do not fit in with our accepted adjectives.

We talk about ourselves being connected, plugged in, wired for certain things. 

What happened to the things Jesus compared us to- lilies, birds, sheep?  Simple things with profound mystery to them.

Instead of being connected to everyone, anytime, anywhere, can we just sit in the quiet and be still with the One who knew us from before the creation of time?

Can we?

I am not thin, I am not fast.

I can sit. I can pray.  I can listen to the God who made me and will be here when all the shiny trinkets are gone.

a moral dilemma- what would you have done?

This happened to me last week, and I am not sure how I should have handled it.

I am pumping gas and a truck pulls up on the other side of the gas pump I am using.  The woman is driving, and the man gets out to pump the gas.  The woman's window is rolled down and she lights up a cigarette and smokes it there, 3 feet from the gas pump, dumping ashes out the window.  I am on the other side of the pump from her, probably 5 or 6 feet away.  My kids are in the car and I am standing there pumping gas, smelling the gas fumes, watching her smoke and reading the NO SMOKING signs posted everywhere.

I don't want to tell anyone what they should do, but I also don't want me and my kids to get blown up.  Where is the line between respect of others privacy and self-preservation?

What would you have done?