IN TOUCH
For many good, sound, sensible reasons our modern
society makes up quite a package of points detailing why it is of vital
importance for us to "keep in touch" with each other at all times.
Along with such logical reason, we are now gathering
gangs of not-so-vital "why's" for wiring everything within sight for some
sort of sound, even as we burn the midnight oil trying to learn how to make
all such things wireless. The maze of communication gear into which we
have ensnared is, in itself, sufficient cause for wonder.
Are we "in touch" with our fellow humans? Are we over
doing it correctly" Are we, becoming involved in things which are none of
our business? Are we "in control" of others, or are we being held in hand
to do as others wish us to do? Over the recent holiday week-end ( I left
that hanging their unidentified so you can switch it to your favorite days
off time.) Maybe you can check yours out as I did: I made a survey of
our facilities for keeping in touch with each other.
I was led to question the validity of our enhanced
communications abilities. Are we up to date, or are we lagging behind
other nations which had the foresight to start making and using cell
phones years ago. We are just catching with the others and it has already
become a burden to many. Do we want to be ahead?
I think most U.S.citizens will agree that we have
lagged behind much of the world in this concept of cell phone usage and
with HDTV, as well..Finland, Denmark, and other nations have been well
ahead of us. You are old-fashioned if you do not have a Made in Finland
cell phone for steady use - or ringing away lustily wherever you left it.
The situation in our house surprised me in several
ways. Look around your family digs and let me know if we are
"average"."Typical" or whatever.
At our house we have four television sets - all color,
three with VCR add-add ons - and they are located on the average of about
twelve feet of each other with remote bars at hand. No walking required.
Radio - said to be from a by-gone era - runs about the
same. Three bedside radios plus a stereo set-up next to one of the TV sets.
duplicates in the family cars, too. along with three tape players and
recorders.
We have two standard phones, two cordless sets, and
two cell phones in family. I don' t have one yet, and, at times, I feel
slighted and I am driven to pick up any remote device lying nearby; hold it
to my ear and talk away so I won't appear to be the odd one in our family.
As a truly mod family, we, We have two old-fashioned 35-mm cameras, I
think. We have one good set of binoculars form keeping in touch with
Mother Nature, the mountains in the distance and the planes taking off and
landing at the nearby airport.
We have TV cable service featuring seventy-plus stations. We
have two computers ten-feet from each other and make good use of the
Internet.
We have outdoor motion-activated lights on a shed to keep in
touch with any invited or uninvited guests by night. They also come on
from raindrops in front of them; birds, bugs, bees and beasts of any kind
both day and night.
I'd probably find some others if I could think of them.
How does that compare to "in touch" mechanisms which clutter
your house?
a.l.m. May 31, 2004 [c577wds]
