Time Out

Today is January 12^th (2015). I just realized that the essay I wrote for February 15^th is listed by Blogspot as the 300^th that I've written, so I thought I'd interrupt the regular flow and take a look at where I stand.ⁱ Actually the number may turn out to be a little higher if I throw in any extra essays in the next few weeks because of breaking news, but the purpose of this reassessment will remain the same.

I've looked at some of the previous efforts and one thing is obvious – I repeat myself. I know I've delivered that message before, but it's worth repeating. I've also explained why the repetition comes about, so I won't belabor that issue – only warn you that it's certain to happen again.ⁱⁱ That's fine, though. I spent much of my life teaching and one thing that's clear is that if something is worth saying, it's worth repeating.ⁱⁱⁱ And with some students it's especially necessary to do so, over and over. So I hope you'll forgive me if I restate some of the points I've made before, but if you don't forgive me I can live with it.

The world is changing. Rapidly. And the change constitutes a challenge. On a content level, the new developments that appear daily provide a lot of grist for me. Blogs, themselves, are a product of the computer era, so I started with that kind of technology, but since I began this series we have seen the explosion of the social media and the propagation of hand-held devices.^iv Needless to say,^v I'm appalled by the trends. One of the biggest problems of modern society is that there is too much communication. I have an old hand-me-down “flip phone” which my wife gave me after she got a new one. She makes me take it with me when I go on a long car trip. It's there, in my glove compartment, so that I'll be able to call for help if I should need it. I take it with me in order to maintain family peace, but I'm not sure I'd know how to use it if that ever became an issue.

Of course my antipathy makes it virtually certain that I'll never make a call while driving, and if someone called me^vi I wouldn't know how to answer, so there's little likelihood that I'd even bother trying. I'll certainly never text – whether or not I'm driving. The phone is old and neither it, nor I, has the ability to do so. If it were so equipped, and if it had “apps,” I wouldn't even take it with me for emergencies. I'd be too intimidated.

I'm a remnant of the past. I remember the maps that were available free at all gas stations when I was growing up. Spread out in front of me I could see where I had been and where I was going, and have the pleasure of planning a trip that included all the places I wanted to see.^vii Ridiculously priced atlases then became available but they're virtually gone from the market, having been replaced by GPS's. With the cost of those devices and the telephone/satellite systems needed for updating and for reports of accidents and construction and the ways around them there's no end to the costs, added to the waste of time that these devices provide.^viii In addition, it's hard to ignore the distraction of the screen, the annoying back-seat-driver voice coming from it, and the certain knowledge that “they” always know where I am.

Politics and the state of the world are also much more complicated than when I was young. As useless as they were, the fire drills and “duck and cover” exercises gave us the feeling^ix that we had some control over our lives and fates. Now we leave that all to the government and we complain about the way they do it. We're not responsible for anything now – whatever goes wrong is someone else's fault.

Our general culture is also deteriorating rapidly. Television reflects it, but our fellow citizens, those who claim to be not responsible – thus those who are irresponsible – are dictating what we see. Sex of all varieties is one of the driving forces. And what is portrayed on the 60 inch screen illustrates the fantasy lives we should all be leading. The “reality” shows let us see what we're supposed to believe is really happening all around us. At least the advertisers benefit from all of this.

These are some of the subjects I've been thinking about over recent years. As well as politics, religion, aging, and all of the other things that control our lives. As I get older, and as conditions around me change, my views of all of these subjects evolve. So when they do, or when I think of something I shoulda said last time, I have a subject for a new essay. It's not important that I've visited the issue before. There's something else I want to say. Perhaps it's not original,^x but I need to incorporate it into my own formulation of whatever the subject is. Which means that I write about it again. As well as some subjects that are different. (Actually I'll mention some of those subjects next week in “Nota Bene 3” – my list keeps getting longer. “Ice Breaker,” originally scheduled for today, will appear the following week.)

But none of that matters. If you haven't read them before, the chances that you'll catch up with the 300 are small. It will take ten months if you read one each day. But if you do, start at the beginning and you'll see how my thoughts, and style (what little there is), progress. You'll agree that even though I'm not a Member of Congress^xi and even though I'm not an idiot^xii I repeat myself.^xiii Ever the twain shall meet.

I        Sit.

ii       Actually it will be here today. I lied. I will belabor it.

iii      Indeed, the repetition is a necessary component of the teaching process.

iv       “Progress” related to the equipment rather than the content.

v        But I'll say it anyway.

vi      It hasn't happened yet and there's no reason to anticipate that it will in the future.

vii     Folding up the map when I was done was nearly impossible, but trying was a lot of fun.

viii    I save time by following the directions my wife gives me. They're usually more accurate than the ones that the disembodied voice gives, and they're usually better tailored to the way I understand instructions.

ix       It was wrong but we didn't know that.

x        And it can't be denied that there is nothing new under the sun.

xi       Objective fact.

xii      That's my view, which, as I've often stressed, is true.

xiii    “Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” – Mark Twain, a Biography