17 September 2005
Primo Parola
Well, here I am. My first attempt to be technologically savvy. I feel so 21st century for the first time in my life! What a quantum leap for me. Why do I say that, because for years now I haven't quite lived in the modern swing of things and with no regrets. It just doesn't seem necessary to have all that we have and yet not be able to communicate well with the person sitting right next to us. Per example, I am a student at a highly liberal and communistic university; I will call this school Roman University for it is not far from resembling the culture of pagan Rome. And at Roman U. I sometimes sit outside to get some fresh air. Scoping the landscape I typically see two things: people either gabbing to the cell phones glued to their ears or people walking to their classes speaking only with the person they're walking with or with no one at all. Why is this so? I believe that it is a caustic consequence of living in the age of the machine. For the sake of experimentation, I would love to test to see what would happen if I sat and cried to myself on the campus park bench at the peak of noon when many students walk across campus to attend their next class. Through my own learned experiences, I would assume that probably no one would come over to ask me if I was alright. And yet , do we not say to ourselves when asked to reach out to others "I show concern for my fellow man? I forked over two dollars for relief funds and gave my clothes away to the Salvation Army. I've fulfilled my humanitarian duty and I feel good about myself as a human person. What more do I owe anyone. Now leave me alone." What rubbish! This is partly why I abhor the idea of attaining a cell phone or of even using so many modern conveniences to get me by in life. It not only desensitizes us, making basic human contact burdensome, but it also make us lazy . Take for example my microwave oven. Why can't I wait for something to be made using a stovetop? Or better yet, why can't I make something from scratch? Doesn't everyone love food made with care and quality? I do. The elements of effort, creativity and patience have been so forsaken by our convenienced culture that we've engendered a nation infected with a "give me, now go" mentality. This I declare, will leave us in a state of madness when one day the power goes out and this nation, like the city of New Orleans, is left to survive without that which people now consider to be as important air, this being electricity. On that day, when man is left to venge for himself and remembers what it is to live off the land, will he also remember, God and learn that in Him alone must man rely. I pray that this day soon will come and that when it does my human cell phone, along with all of humanities, will ring off the hook. God speed us.
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This is an interesting start for a blog. It truly is difficult to separate the good from the bad with our 21st century technology.
It is great to have the opportunity to communicate to so many people at once, but sadly this technology has come along in an era when people don't think for themselves very often.
Sometimes I wonder what the literary and philosophical greats of the past would do with this technology.
Take for example, Saint Augustine. He wrote millions and millions of words using parchment and poor quality ink. So much of his writing survives today, 1600 years later, because it was tirelessly copied many many times over the centuries from parchment to parchment and eventually to paper. As you might imagine the job of copying manuscripts by hand with these same poor implements would be amazingly difficult as well. The question is: What would Saint Augustine do with a communication medium where he can quickly and easily communicate to billions of people in near real time?
Sadly, our society has worked very hard to create generations of unthinking people who don't realize that their mind is capable of so much more than talking about the previous day's "Survivor". So, this incredible blessing, like so many others, falls on a terribly unappreciative people; most of whom just shrug it off and go on with their lives. Perhaps, because communication has become so cheap and easy, we have forgotten what it is truly worth.
I applaud you at the beginning of this venture for your efforts to use this amazing technology to make your voice heard,praising God in the goodness and beauty of His creation, and sharing your gifts with this harsh and ungrateful world.
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