Life is hectic – time is short. Everyone is trying to stay “connected” because they need to know what’s going on at every moment of the day and sometimes even at night when they can’t sleep. Your fingers are so busy using apps and texting that you have to wonder how the “old” world got away with just a phone or even a simple computer. You must think it was hard because what if someone tried to contact you asking what to wear or if they should reply to a “text” from someone they really didn’t like but also didn’t want to ignore because they had connections?
Silence is a word that many would order removed from the dictionary. It shouldn’t exist because it promotes getting away from the main “connection” and not knowing what happened in Africa or Asia at that very moment. The news cannot be longer than ten seconds or it is irrelevant. To the day, to the minute, and yesterday simply does not exist.
Homes stay connected because parents need to know everything their kids are thinking, who they’re talking to and what’s going on at every moment of their lives and kids need to know where mom is and where she’s going and what’s for dinner and. .. Dad can’t really focus on his work at work unless he knows what everyone is talking about so he can discuss any situation with anyone.
In ancient times I had a teacher who made a statement that I have never forgotten, even in my advanced years. She said, “if you can’t live with yourself in silence for a few moments, then there is something wrong with you, not the world around you.” These few words come to mind quite often lately when I see everyone doing anything but driving their cars on the roads. They stay “connected”. Nobody sits on the beach during the summer, or enjoys a walk in nature without checking their phones or using their finger to make sure they don’t miss a word of any conversation within a hundred miles of where they are. Once home, the TV is on and that handheld device is checking every minute because you never know if the world could just disappear and you wouldn’t know it in that very minute. Is there something wrong with today’s society, or has the world just decided to go the deep end but promised to keep everyone informed of every misstep? Violence is rampant, anger is criminal, and kids don’t even know they have imaginations and playtime is scheduled for them, so fantasy is old fashioned. Phones ring, no one leaves the house without their “device” and many have been known to walk in front of moving traffic and even jump off cliffs.
If we all took a deep breath and “stopped” being connected for a moment, we might realize that the seasons are changing, children are growing up, and grandparents are getting older. Perhaps we can remember that there is a God in heaven, and many are homeless and children go to bed hungry. Life is not programmed by your device, but you won’t know it because you believe that what is written in those sublime messages is also written in stone. People do not talk to each other, nor do they look at each other face to face: they send text messages. Families can eat together but they are not “together”. Each one has his equipment right there and keeps checking it without knowing that he ate the napkin and left the food on the table. Drivers don’t greet neighbors because they can’t see them on the phone. People don’t go on “holidays” because they have to be politically correct or so their I-phone told them.
In short, wake up before you fall off the cliff of your life. In the end, that phone stays here and you go to the place that your life destined you for and all the times that people needed you, life needed you, and your family languished not knowing what a “hug” was but you You made sure they had his cell number. Life is short and every day makes it shorter. Try putting down that “device” and look around you. You may find that there is life outside of that little box with real people, real needs, and real love. Try it, you might like it.
©Arleen Schindler
