At Attention Soldiers!

Attention:

1. Concentration of the mental powers upon an object; a close or careful observing or listening.
2. The ability or power to concentrate mentally.

So why do we pay attention to things? And why do we pay for it? Was it an early distraction from the harshness of life? To pay quiet adoration to a bird or the clouds or to another human being, and forget that there is food to harvest, water to lug, a fire to build, an essay to write? And why do we act the way we do when that attention isn't returned? Why do we lash out at the people and things that we pay so dearly to attend to? The phrase "you get what you paid for" doesn't always apply, I guess.

Or was attention our way of mastering out ability to love? To hate. Did we rise above other animals, not only by our use of tools and such, but also by our desire to be desired?

Or am I purposely using the topic of attention, in a flash of typical High School Irony, to ignore my Stats assignment, due tomorrow? You decide.