Life just... goes on

I have read two contemporary short stories recently.  I don't know that they are representative of the literature that will shake out as the sign of these times, but if they are, a couple of traits stand out.

The first story is about a high school girl sitting in class, bored out of her skull.  She is called from class by the police who inform her that her mother has died.  She is taken to the morgue to identify her mother's body.  The story at this point goes into a narrative of the girl's thoughts about her life with dear mom.  Mainly it was about all the dysfunction that happened between the two of them.  At the end the police deliver the young woman back to her school.  She goes to her next class, and the story ends.

The second story is about men at a barber shop watching a man being beat by a couple of other men.  The men make comments about whether people deserve the treatment they receive in life because of their own actions.  Finally, one of the men leaves the shop, stops the beating to ask directions of one of the beaters, then continues on his way.

The main feature of the stories is that life is mundane.  Even though important events happen, life is too strong, or even if events presented themselves where they could help to make the world better, they don't engage because life merely continues on its march through time.  People's actions to change anything are overwhelmed and buried over time, so nothing to change its course happens.  The other feature is about the main characters.  They have no cause in life, or they don't have an interest in engaging anyone or any event in order to brighten, change, or provide enrichment to their otherwise mundane, isolated lives.

While I do see those tendencies in a lot of people around me and in certain types of group behavior, I would hope that it doesn't form the core of a majority of society.  If it does, the world of 1984 will happen without question.  If it doesn't, the world of Star Trek and Star Wars, where good is still a cause worth fighting for, will have a chance of appearing on our horizon.