All The Music In Our Ears

I was on my way to meet Amy for a movie and shopping a couple weeks ago, and I was sitting next to this girl who had earphones plugged in her ears, just like I did. Sitting a few seats away was another guy with earphones plugged in his ears, and yet another few seats away, another guy had earphones in his ears.
And it suddenly occurred to me that that's what life has become for so many, me included. All we need are the music in our ears, and that's it for us.
In all the traveling I do from school and home, more often than not I'll find myself seated next to someone plugged into their portable player like me. There we both are, tapping our fingers to the rhythm that only we can hear.
Who's to say he's not listening to the same song that I am? For all you know, you could've missed knowing a fellow Michael Bublé or OK Go fan, someone you could've really hit it off with.
Then again, Singaporeans being Singaporeans, we just lead distinctly separate lives, even before the appearance of iPods in our sunny (aka hot) land.
But sometimes I wonder what others are listening to, and if someone is listening to the Train song that I'm listening to, too.
And aside from blocking the world from us, we should realize we're blocking ourselves to the world too. I remember I walked into the post office once, and there were these two people blocking my way in. I said excuse me a few times, each time getting louder and more annoyed before I finally tapped one of them. He turned, and so did the woman beside him - and then I realized why they didn't move. They hadn't hear me because (you guessed it) there were earphones in their ears.
I was okay with it, that they hadn't heard me. I'll be the first to admit that I've been oblivious to others because I'm plugged into my music too. But others might not appreciate being ignored for music, and yeah, it's understandable. It's pretty pissifying to be ignored, especially when you need to get somewhere and people aren't moving aside when you say excuse me.
I'm not saying iPods and Zens should be banned. (Are you kidding? I'd just keel over without music on the go.) But I think once in a while, we should put aside the players and just enjoy the sounds of the world. Of the people walking by, carrying on with lives that are so simliar and yet so different from yours. Of the interesting and inquisitive, albeit strange, nature of children when they ask the oddest questions that you don't think of. (Like this kid asking her mom on the train the other day why's pink called pink, and not red or blue. Good question too, if you think about it.)
I guess what I'm saying is who knows what you're going to hear when you're not plugged into an electronic music device?