Don't be driven to distraction, people!

This morning the Mad Lady was on my bus again. This isn't the mad lady who befriended me and bought me a shirt with my flag on it (which I still don't have as I haven't seen her for a while and although she made me take down her phone number I have to admit I haven't used it!) no, this is the mad lady who burst into my office a few weeks ago, ranted for a few minutes then bid us all a good day and stormed out, slamming the door hard enough to rattle the entire wall. This lady is on my bus occasionally, and thankfully has never recognized me from that morning. This pleases me as I'm not really into awkward confrontations with people of doubtful mental health.
So this morning she is sitting on the bus with her back to everyone, her back hunched over as she stared out of the window and muttered to herself. She was making lots of cooing sounds too, like an owl, progressively getting louder and louder, not quite to the level of an emergency vehicle but not too far off. There was a man sitting near her who I recognize from his habit of hanging out at traffic lights begging from drivers and sitting on a crate (which he carries with him) when he gets tired. He must make a fairly decent living at it; his trainers were spotless and new looking, he was wearing clean clothes, can obviously afford to ride the bus, and his build is, how do I say this; well nourished! Anyway, this guy isn't quite the full ticket either, and even he was looking at the mad lady with a wary and bemused expression...(probably hoping she wouldn't compete with him at his favourite traffic light!).
I turned my music down so that I could hear her better in case she said anything entertaining or profound, and the only phrase I caught clearly was "People, don't be driven to distraction."
Actually, for a mad lady's rantings, I did think this made a surprising amount of sense.
How many of us get so caught up in our daily lives, working, paying bills, doing chores, that we do indeed get too distracted to appreciate what we have? How many of us are too impatient to wait 30 seconds for a video clip to load on Facebook or Youtube, so that we never see the tiny elephant, the smiling dog, the heartwarming act of kindness, the advert for an oh so important cause? How many of us don't listen to the partner or child who is trying to tell us about their day? How many of us fail to make an effort with something because we are too distracted by something else? How many of us fail to look at the stars because we are too distracted by TV? How many of us don't sign that petition online or donate money because we are too distracted by the advert for shoes next to it? Modern daily life is enough to drive most people to distraction, and yet at the same time we can all make the effort to simplify our lives and our surroundings so that we can find the time and the energy to appreciate our loved ones, our life, our planet.....
So today, I seriously think we should all take the advice of a Mad Lady: don't get driven to distraction people.