This week, I would like to talk about the concept of finality. Pretty broad term right? I'm not really quite sure what I want to say about it yet, but we'll see... wherever the page takes me.
Hmm, let's talk about things ending. That seems like an ironic place to start. SO. I clearly chose to write about finality because this is the final blog post and the semester, and year, are both coming to an end. How quickly time does pass...
Things ending definitely have a lot of rhetoric behind them. Thinking about the end of school fills us with feelings of joy for the summer, yearning for the end to come to pass and stress for all the work we know has to be done before we get there. Then, over the summer, we look forward to the end of our jobs or the end of our chores so that we can hang out with friends or go to dinner with parents etc. etc.
Then, when it gets close enough to August, we begin looking forward to the end of summer. We itch to come back to State, to see all of our friends, start new classes and begin a new adventure. Then about 3 weeks into the semester we realize, "Damn, where did summer go? I want that back, I can't wait 'till next summer."
We seem to always be looking forward to the end of things don't we?
Then, come graduation time, there will be tears of joy and tears of sadness. There will be nostalgia, reminiscing and pictures with friends we know we may never see again. There will be happiness for the collective accomplishments of the class of 2015 and there will be fear for the next unfamiliar step in the staircase- because we can never be quite sure just how far up we will have to step to stand on it.
But on this day, we don't think of the fear. We don't think of the next step. We don't think of the internships and jobs we may or may not have lined up. We try not to think about the future without some of our closest friends.
On this day, we don't think about the end.
On this day, we truly live in the moment- and we are happy.
I think Henry David Thoreau hit the nail on the head, it's all about living in the moment. That is the key to happiness. If you're always worried about the next thing, you'll never appreciate what is good right now.
And almost everything that is good is only good now. Memories are nice, but they are even better (and much less necessary), if you really enjoyed yourself while it was happening.
Living in the future?
Impossible.
You will never experience anything if you are always waiting to experience something, whether it be good or bad.
Well. This surely didn't take to the page how I expected. But I'm pretty happy with it. Guess I was just living in the moment while writing it huh? (<-- see what I did there?)
Here's a final remark for my final blog post which is on finality: I am NOT saying that you should never have plans or expectations or indeed, that you should never look forward to something. Sometimes, the anticipation of an event is on of the best parts. HOWEVER, there is a difference between keeping those things in your head and focusing on them.
Example: Right now, everyone is undoubtedly looking forward to the summer for one reason or another. But if you let it control your thoughts, you will not live for now and you'll probably lose focus on school which, though we hate to admit it, is what's most important when we're not on break.
Anyway. I hope this wasn't completely incoherent and maybe it was mildly enjoyable. I wish you all a lovely end of semester and an even more lovely summer. I hope it is safe, productive, fun, ridiculous, miraculous, fantastical, emotional and all sorts of other adjectives.
But mostly, I hope you live your summer for the moment. That way, when Fall semester rolls around, you're ready to go and you're not wishing to get back what you feel like you missed.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Let's talk about something...
You know what's an interesting concept?
Individuality.
It's interesting for a couple reasons:
1. I think we can agree it's considered a virtue by some
2. It's strived for by many
3. I don't think anyone really knows what it is...
This last reason is the main point of interest to me. In past posts, I've discussed or touched on this idea of individuality, but what is it really? Let's see if we can't put a dent in the definition.
So the first thing I think about when I hear the word individuality is being your own person. For example if someone asked me how to be an individual, I would tell them: be true to yourself. Basically, don't do things that YOU (your true self) wouldn't do.
This raises a new question: How does one stay true to themselves?
This seems like it should be pretty easy to do right? Just do what you think is right. And who knows you better than you... right? This is where the tricky part comes in. Cause this is where outside influence comes in.
Can you be an individual while still responding to outside influence?
Yes.
Can you be an individual while letting yourself be ruled by outside influence?
No.
This, I believe, is the difference. You are who you are. You know it better than anyone. From the way you wear your hair to the shoes you buy, to the house you live in, the things you say, your minor movements and indeed all of your mannerisms and every aspect of your personality and every fiber of your being. That is you.
But the part of you that plays the most influence in individuality are your choices. So if this is true, it would follow that since individuality is about one's own self, then your choices (if your aim is to be an individual) must be your own.
So how do we distinguish our own choices from the ones made for us? Earlier, I said that you could respond to outside influence while still retaining individuality. So if you must make your own choices to remain an individual, then how can an individual still be affected by outside influence?
Good questions. I shall do my best to answer them.
I think that influence is inevitable. It would be absurd to think that someone could live purely on their own influence. That's just ridiculous. So, the question becomes not about rejecting all foreign influence, rather deciding for YOURSELF (<--you can tell it's important cause it's in caps) which influences are good and bad. Which ones you will choose to let influence you and who you are, and which you will not.
Make sense?
I'll give a quick example of what I mean and then wrap this up.
ex. 1: Being an individual: Johnny Smith sees an ad on TV for a pair of shoes. He likes them. He thinks, wow, I would look swell in those shoes. So he saves up some money and buys them and wears them when he wants to.
ex. 2: Not being an individual: Johnny Smith seen an ad on TV for a pair of shoes. He doesn't really know what to think about them. But all of his friends have this pair of shoes, and he wants to fit in. So he shells out the money for this pair of shoes that, really, he might not have wanted in the first place. Johnny wears the shoes.
I hope my thoughts on this have been clear. Questions, comments, arguments, praise, qualifications and all other sorts of response to this entry (as always) are more than welcome.
P.s. RANDOM THOUGHT: If every "J-Walker" at Penn State got a ticket over the course of one day, how much money do you think State College would rake in? (If you're commenting, please don't just respond to this, I'm really very curious about the concept of individuality and this last question I thought of literally a minute ago, thanks!)
Individuality.
It's interesting for a couple reasons:
1. I think we can agree it's considered a virtue by some
2. It's strived for by many
3. I don't think anyone really knows what it is...
This last reason is the main point of interest to me. In past posts, I've discussed or touched on this idea of individuality, but what is it really? Let's see if we can't put a dent in the definition.
So the first thing I think about when I hear the word individuality is being your own person. For example if someone asked me how to be an individual, I would tell them: be true to yourself. Basically, don't do things that YOU (your true self) wouldn't do.
This raises a new question: How does one stay true to themselves?
This seems like it should be pretty easy to do right? Just do what you think is right. And who knows you better than you... right? This is where the tricky part comes in. Cause this is where outside influence comes in.
Can you be an individual while still responding to outside influence?
Yes.
Can you be an individual while letting yourself be ruled by outside influence?
No.
This, I believe, is the difference. You are who you are. You know it better than anyone. From the way you wear your hair to the shoes you buy, to the house you live in, the things you say, your minor movements and indeed all of your mannerisms and every aspect of your personality and every fiber of your being. That is you.
But the part of you that plays the most influence in individuality are your choices. So if this is true, it would follow that since individuality is about one's own self, then your choices (if your aim is to be an individual) must be your own.
So how do we distinguish our own choices from the ones made for us? Earlier, I said that you could respond to outside influence while still retaining individuality. So if you must make your own choices to remain an individual, then how can an individual still be affected by outside influence?
Good questions. I shall do my best to answer them.
I think that influence is inevitable. It would be absurd to think that someone could live purely on their own influence. That's just ridiculous. So, the question becomes not about rejecting all foreign influence, rather deciding for YOURSELF (<--you can tell it's important cause it's in caps) which influences are good and bad. Which ones you will choose to let influence you and who you are, and which you will not.
Make sense?
I'll give a quick example of what I mean and then wrap this up.
ex. 1: Being an individual: Johnny Smith sees an ad on TV for a pair of shoes. He likes them. He thinks, wow, I would look swell in those shoes. So he saves up some money and buys them and wears them when he wants to.
ex. 2: Not being an individual: Johnny Smith seen an ad on TV for a pair of shoes. He doesn't really know what to think about them. But all of his friends have this pair of shoes, and he wants to fit in. So he shells out the money for this pair of shoes that, really, he might not have wanted in the first place. Johnny wears the shoes.
I hope my thoughts on this have been clear. Questions, comments, arguments, praise, qualifications and all other sorts of response to this entry (as always) are more than welcome.
P.s. RANDOM THOUGHT: If every "J-Walker" at Penn State got a ticket over the course of one day, how much money do you think State College would rake in? (If you're commenting, please don't just respond to this, I'm really very curious about the concept of individuality and this last question I thought of literally a minute ago, thanks!)
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Whaddup Social Norms
So. Last week's discussion of a strange social norm was so much fun I decided to pick another one this week, so here goes.
This week I'd like to discuss social norms related to strange ideas of personal privacy (or something along those lines, you'll see...)
First, let's talk about eye contact. The first thing I think of when I hear the words "eye contact" is a conversation. In a conversation, eye contact is important right? It tells the other person that:
1) You're not rude
2) You're actually paying attention to what they're saying
and 3) It tells them a little bit about what kind of person you are (especially in an interview setting, things like eye contact, hand shakes etc. are very important to the interviewer)
Another thing is, when someone is avoiding eye contact with me while we're talking, I either don't trust them (what they're saying) or I get self conscious that there's something wrong with my face. Do I have tomato sauce on my lip? A pimple? WHY WON'T YOU LOOK AT ME??
Anyway, what I'm trying to get at here is that I think it's fair to say that eye contact is something we really value in this society.
So then why are there times when eye contact seems unacceptable? Take this scenario:
You are walking down the sidewalk, maybe walking to or from class, perhaps you're listening to a good song on your iPod. It's a nice day outside, you're looking around at the trees, at the sky, at the buildings on College Ave... and then... all of a sudden, you look (for maybe no other reason than that is simply where your eye went) at a person walking in the opposite direction of you on the sidewalk... you make eye contact.
What do you do? You look away right? Maybe you look at the ground, or try to make it seem like you just happened to look at this person on your way to look at the interesting something to the left of their head, maybe you pretend you just got a text message, I don't know. But the point is, for some reason it's not acceptable to maintain eye contact with this person on the sidewalk.
Other places that eye contact is generally seen as breaking a social norm:
-Classrooms
-Hallways
-Bathrooms (Speaking of which, I'll be getting to a bathroom social norm next)
I just think these sort of unspoken "rules" are very interesting.
Okay- bathroom social norm. *DISCLAIMER* I am only talking about the dude's room. I have no idea what goes on in the ladies' bathroom. Promise.
So in the men's room, if it can at all be avoided, you do not take the urinal next to someone who is already there. Reasonable? Maybe not, but definitely justifiable. However this holds true when there are dividers and even when you move to the stalls.
Can you think of anywhere else where this same thing holds true? (the ladies can answer too now)
In my opinion, just about everywhere. In classes, you don't take the seat next to someone, you take the seat all the way over. On the bus, unless it's full, you take the seat one over from someone who is already sitting down. When eating, you tend to sit as far away from others as you can without seeming like you're trying to do so.
Isn't this weird? I think this is bizarre. I mean, what kind of privacy do you think you're protecting? Do we think it'll be awkward if we sit next to someone? Isn't that what the damn seat is there for?
It's very curious...
These kinds of things are all very curious...
This week I'd like to discuss social norms related to strange ideas of personal privacy (or something along those lines, you'll see...)
First, let's talk about eye contact. The first thing I think of when I hear the words "eye contact" is a conversation. In a conversation, eye contact is important right? It tells the other person that:
1) You're not rude
2) You're actually paying attention to what they're saying
and 3) It tells them a little bit about what kind of person you are (especially in an interview setting, things like eye contact, hand shakes etc. are very important to the interviewer)
Another thing is, when someone is avoiding eye contact with me while we're talking, I either don't trust them (what they're saying) or I get self conscious that there's something wrong with my face. Do I have tomato sauce on my lip? A pimple? WHY WON'T YOU LOOK AT ME??
Anyway, what I'm trying to get at here is that I think it's fair to say that eye contact is something we really value in this society.
So then why are there times when eye contact seems unacceptable? Take this scenario:
You are walking down the sidewalk, maybe walking to or from class, perhaps you're listening to a good song on your iPod. It's a nice day outside, you're looking around at the trees, at the sky, at the buildings on College Ave... and then... all of a sudden, you look (for maybe no other reason than that is simply where your eye went) at a person walking in the opposite direction of you on the sidewalk... you make eye contact.
What do you do? You look away right? Maybe you look at the ground, or try to make it seem like you just happened to look at this person on your way to look at the interesting something to the left of their head, maybe you pretend you just got a text message, I don't know. But the point is, for some reason it's not acceptable to maintain eye contact with this person on the sidewalk.
Other places that eye contact is generally seen as breaking a social norm:
-Classrooms
-Hallways
-Bathrooms (Speaking of which, I'll be getting to a bathroom social norm next)
I just think these sort of unspoken "rules" are very interesting.
Okay- bathroom social norm. *DISCLAIMER* I am only talking about the dude's room. I have no idea what goes on in the ladies' bathroom. Promise.
So in the men's room, if it can at all be avoided, you do not take the urinal next to someone who is already there. Reasonable? Maybe not, but definitely justifiable. However this holds true when there are dividers and even when you move to the stalls.
Can you think of anywhere else where this same thing holds true? (the ladies can answer too now)
In my opinion, just about everywhere. In classes, you don't take the seat next to someone, you take the seat all the way over. On the bus, unless it's full, you take the seat one over from someone who is already sitting down. When eating, you tend to sit as far away from others as you can without seeming like you're trying to do so.
Isn't this weird? I think this is bizarre. I mean, what kind of privacy do you think you're protecting? Do we think it'll be awkward if we sit next to someone? Isn't that what the damn seat is there for?
It's very curious...
These kinds of things are all very curious...
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Narcissism
Have you ever walked past a reflective surface like a mirror, a window or a car and looked at yourself?
If your answer was something like, "No. I have never done that."
YOU LIE!
Everyone looks at themselves when they pass by their reflections, but for whatever reason, everyone is embarrassed about it. When you walk by the surface (unless you're in a bathroom or something of the like) then you always try to sneak a peak without really looking at yourself. You kinda look out of your peripherals while continuing to walk at normal speed.
Even though everyone does it, we don't want anyone else to know when we do it. Why is that? If we're all so vain, why do we care?
Maybe it's that we don't want others to know how much we care about our appearance. Or maybe for some people, looking in the mirror is more a matter of simple interest than of vanity.
But why? I still don't understand. Why doesn't anyone ever fully stop walking and check themselves out in the mirror? Would it really be that big of a deal?
I definitely wouldn't do that myself (and I really don't know why) but I also would certainly not judge somebody who did. In fact, I think I would silently commend them for breaking a social norm so blatantly.
I'm going to postulate a theory: I think the reason we don't want people to know we are looking at our reflection as we pass a window or mirror is simply to preserve our own modesty. We assume that if others see us stopping to look in the mirror, they will think less of us or judge us.
So what it really comes down to is self-consciousness. No one wants to be judged by others, obviously. But it's still curious. Even though you don't know the person, you still don't want them to think less of you, even though it is very likely that they will never see you again nor you them. In fact, I think especially because you don't know the person, you don't want them to judge you.
Think about this:
If you were with your friends, would you still be so sneaky about looking at your reflection? Would you even care to do so in the first place? I think not.
If your answer was something like, "No. I have never done that."
YOU LIE!
Everyone looks at themselves when they pass by their reflections, but for whatever reason, everyone is embarrassed about it. When you walk by the surface (unless you're in a bathroom or something of the like) then you always try to sneak a peak without really looking at yourself. You kinda look out of your peripherals while continuing to walk at normal speed.
Even though everyone does it, we don't want anyone else to know when we do it. Why is that? If we're all so vain, why do we care?
Maybe it's that we don't want others to know how much we care about our appearance. Or maybe for some people, looking in the mirror is more a matter of simple interest than of vanity.
But why? I still don't understand. Why doesn't anyone ever fully stop walking and check themselves out in the mirror? Would it really be that big of a deal?
I definitely wouldn't do that myself (and I really don't know why) but I also would certainly not judge somebody who did. In fact, I think I would silently commend them for breaking a social norm so blatantly.
I'm going to postulate a theory: I think the reason we don't want people to know we are looking at our reflection as we pass a window or mirror is simply to preserve our own modesty. We assume that if others see us stopping to look in the mirror, they will think less of us or judge us.
So what it really comes down to is self-consciousness. No one wants to be judged by others, obviously. But it's still curious. Even though you don't know the person, you still don't want them to think less of you, even though it is very likely that they will never see you again nor you them. In fact, I think especially because you don't know the person, you don't want them to judge you.
Think about this:
If you were with your friends, would you still be so sneaky about looking at your reflection? Would you even care to do so in the first place? I think not.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Coffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffee...
I don't know about you guys, but I drink a shit ton of coffee. In fact, as I'm writing this I'm on my 3rd cup of the day. Average for me. How did it come to this though? When did I become a crazy coffee drinker?
My first cup of coffee:
I remember this so well. I was 11 years old and I wanted coffee because I thought it was cool. I don't know why I thought it was cool, but there ya go. So I asked my mom for a cup (for some reason I expected her to say no...) and she made me one. She warned me, "You might not like it."
She was right.
I hated it.
But I drank it anyway. One painful sip at a time. Seriously, every time the coffee touched my tongue, I made this ridiculous face that I'm sure looked like I'd bitten full force, no fear into the world's sourest lemon.
I didn't have coffee again until my Junior year of High School. I had so much work and I asked my dad what I could do to finish it (I knew I had to stay up late) and he suggested I try coffee again. Well I did. I went to Dunkin Donuts and I picked up a big cardboard box with a tap that was filled with coffee.
I finished it.
I may have overdone it that night, but I discovered that coffee is actually delicious. Even though it's not the best thing for our bodies. And I know that coffee isn't for everyone, but I think it's nothing short of a miracle. I think it also might have some addictive properties.
Also, decaf sucks. I don't know why anyone drinks it. It doesn't taste as good as real coffee and it doesn't keep you up.
My first cup of coffee:
I remember this so well. I was 11 years old and I wanted coffee because I thought it was cool. I don't know why I thought it was cool, but there ya go. So I asked my mom for a cup (for some reason I expected her to say no...) and she made me one. She warned me, "You might not like it."
She was right.
I hated it.
But I drank it anyway. One painful sip at a time. Seriously, every time the coffee touched my tongue, I made this ridiculous face that I'm sure looked like I'd bitten full force, no fear into the world's sourest lemon.
I didn't have coffee again until my Junior year of High School. I had so much work and I asked my dad what I could do to finish it (I knew I had to stay up late) and he suggested I try coffee again. Well I did. I went to Dunkin Donuts and I picked up a big cardboard box with a tap that was filled with coffee.
I finished it.
I may have overdone it that night, but I discovered that coffee is actually delicious. Even though it's not the best thing for our bodies. And I know that coffee isn't for everyone, but I think it's nothing short of a miracle. I think it also might have some addictive properties.
Also, decaf sucks. I don't know why anyone drinks it. It doesn't taste as good as real coffee and it doesn't keep you up.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Warmness and Music
Since it's been warm out, little music circles have been popping up all over campus. I love it. I truly believe that music brings happiness to everyone. (Seriously, have you really ever heard someone say that they DON'T like music at all? No, that's ridiculous). Even if you don't join in the jam, you have to admit that a smile creeps across your face when you walk by one of these groups.
Anyway, I have had the distinct pleasure of playing with several of these groups across campus. Most recently, I have enjoyed playing with 5 or 6 guys who meet every day at around 5 at the little alcove on campus side college right near the bus stop across the street from Dunkin' Donuts. They play a lot of folk music and were nice enough to let me join in the jam.
The best thing about these groups of musicians is that they are all (or have been so far) such nice people. All of them are so interested in what you want to play and it doesn't matter if you skip a chord or botch a note, cause we're all just having some fun in the sun.
In my last few words, I would like to encourage you to stop and listen to one of these groups. I understand that you might be going to class or whatever, but even stopping for just a second is great for the people playing. Seriously, there is nothing that makes me happier (next to actually playing) than when someone I don't know takes the time to get into what I'm playing.
Lastly, I'd like to say: JOIN IN! Even if you think you can't play or sing, you can and we'd love to have you. Even if you just dance around while the music is going.
Anyway, I have had the distinct pleasure of playing with several of these groups across campus. Most recently, I have enjoyed playing with 5 or 6 guys who meet every day at around 5 at the little alcove on campus side college right near the bus stop across the street from Dunkin' Donuts. They play a lot of folk music and were nice enough to let me join in the jam.
The best thing about these groups of musicians is that they are all (or have been so far) such nice people. All of them are so interested in what you want to play and it doesn't matter if you skip a chord or botch a note, cause we're all just having some fun in the sun.
In my last few words, I would like to encourage you to stop and listen to one of these groups. I understand that you might be going to class or whatever, but even stopping for just a second is great for the people playing. Seriously, there is nothing that makes me happier (next to actually playing) than when someone I don't know takes the time to get into what I'm playing.
Lastly, I'd like to say: JOIN IN! Even if you think you can't play or sing, you can and we'd love to have you. Even if you just dance around while the music is going.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Everyone Has One, and it's Fucking Ridiculous
Everyone has an iPhone.
Or at least it seems that way.
When I was on the bus the other day, I was texting on my own iPhone and looked up briefly to check if it was close to my stop yet. I noticed just by shear happenstance that a lot of other passengers were also texting. At first, I kinda laughed, as if to say, "Oh god, we're all so absorbed in our technology that we're texting." But then I noticed that not only were 10 of the 15 people on the bus (including myself) texting, but literally every one of those 10 people (including myself) was using an iPhone.
What kind of insanity is this??
Now, in no way am I complaining. Seriously. I love my iPhone, it's the best thing ever. It's simultaneously the most useful and unnecessary device ever created. But I took a minute and thought about something. And it made me feel like an old person because it was a thought of technological astonishment:
How is it that we've come to a point in time where it is normal for people to have the world at the touch of a finger on a glass screen in the palm of their hand?
It's really crazy when you think about it. If you'd told people in the 1800's that there was going to be something called a cell phone which would allow you to contact other people who also owned a cell phone. Even if they lived on the other side of the world. And it would take seconds. Well, they probably would have thought you were a witch or something.
In the 1950's, someone probably would have told you to go write a science fiction novel. At that time, computers took up literally entire rooms and sometimes even buildings. Then when cell phones did become common, who would have thought (besides Steve Jobs) that you would be able to own something with a touch screen?
Who the fuck is smart enough to think of and then actually invent this shit?? It's incredible! Have you ever looked at a touch screen anything and just thought about how awesome it is? How much thought went into creating it? You have the information of the world in your hand and you can see it clearly, listen to music, check the weather, make notes for yourself, cycle through different and complex windows by dragging your finger across a piece of glass and it allows you to contact people world wide in a matter of seconds.
It's crazy how often people (myself included) take these pieces of technology for granted. I'm sure you've heard this before, or maybe you've even said it yourself.
"God, this message is taking so long to send."
or
"Dammit, I don't have any service here."
Let's take it back to when people had to write letters by hand with a quill and ink and send them by boat. The person to whom they were writing the letter might be freakin' dead when it finally gets to them after a month, maybe longer. And they have no way of knowing that the boat didn't sink or the courier didn't die before delivering the message. And if the person did get the letter and wrote and sent a response, it would be easily another month at least before the initiator of the correspondence would receive the response. At which time the initiator might also be dead, or not get the letter for whatever reason etc.
I guess what I'm trying to say here (and it might sound kinda preachy, but I'm gonna attempt to follow my own advice here as well), is that we should really try to appreciate all the things we have, I don't mean just the technology. Think about the stuff you have, the people you have, the things you're good at, the things you believe in, everything. I'm not saying you should be ridiculous about it, but taking a moment to think about how much all of those things mean to you and how important or amazing they are I think is a valuable thing. To be able to recognize what you have instead of dwelling on what you don't, cause I guarantee that there will always be someone who has less than you do.
Or at least it seems that way.
When I was on the bus the other day, I was texting on my own iPhone and looked up briefly to check if it was close to my stop yet. I noticed just by shear happenstance that a lot of other passengers were also texting. At first, I kinda laughed, as if to say, "Oh god, we're all so absorbed in our technology that we're texting." But then I noticed that not only were 10 of the 15 people on the bus (including myself) texting, but literally every one of those 10 people (including myself) was using an iPhone.
What kind of insanity is this??
Now, in no way am I complaining. Seriously. I love my iPhone, it's the best thing ever. It's simultaneously the most useful and unnecessary device ever created. But I took a minute and thought about something. And it made me feel like an old person because it was a thought of technological astonishment:
How is it that we've come to a point in time where it is normal for people to have the world at the touch of a finger on a glass screen in the palm of their hand?
It's really crazy when you think about it. If you'd told people in the 1800's that there was going to be something called a cell phone which would allow you to contact other people who also owned a cell phone. Even if they lived on the other side of the world. And it would take seconds. Well, they probably would have thought you were a witch or something.
In the 1950's, someone probably would have told you to go write a science fiction novel. At that time, computers took up literally entire rooms and sometimes even buildings. Then when cell phones did become common, who would have thought (besides Steve Jobs) that you would be able to own something with a touch screen?
Who the fuck is smart enough to think of and then actually invent this shit?? It's incredible! Have you ever looked at a touch screen anything and just thought about how awesome it is? How much thought went into creating it? You have the information of the world in your hand and you can see it clearly, listen to music, check the weather, make notes for yourself, cycle through different and complex windows by dragging your finger across a piece of glass and it allows you to contact people world wide in a matter of seconds.
It's crazy how often people (myself included) take these pieces of technology for granted. I'm sure you've heard this before, or maybe you've even said it yourself.
"God, this message is taking so long to send."
or
"Dammit, I don't have any service here."
Let's take it back to when people had to write letters by hand with a quill and ink and send them by boat. The person to whom they were writing the letter might be freakin' dead when it finally gets to them after a month, maybe longer. And they have no way of knowing that the boat didn't sink or the courier didn't die before delivering the message. And if the person did get the letter and wrote and sent a response, it would be easily another month at least before the initiator of the correspondence would receive the response. At which time the initiator might also be dead, or not get the letter for whatever reason etc.
I guess what I'm trying to say here (and it might sound kinda preachy, but I'm gonna attempt to follow my own advice here as well), is that we should really try to appreciate all the things we have, I don't mean just the technology. Think about the stuff you have, the people you have, the things you're good at, the things you believe in, everything. I'm not saying you should be ridiculous about it, but taking a moment to think about how much all of those things mean to you and how important or amazing they are I think is a valuable thing. To be able to recognize what you have instead of dwelling on what you don't, cause I guarantee that there will always be someone who has less than you do.
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