Too much time on my hands

I just got off the phone with a really good reporter friend of mine. She is working on a story about international organizations and the breakout of disease, like the recent SARS episode.

Out of curiosity, she polled the people at her gym and at a Fresh Fields-type market, about 50 people total, asking if they knew who Kofi Annan is. Only five answered correctly. FIVE.

She lives right outside New York City, not in some isolated burrough in the US. She has no reason to exaggerate, and I don’t doubt her after my own recent encounter with the couple who thought Ted Kennedy was running for President… well, enough said.

Are people too busy to care? Do I have too much time on my hands?