“I’m
going to drink some
coffee.”
“I’m headed to the
store.”
“Now I’m at the gas
station, buying some
gas.”
“I think I’ll stop
and get a sandwich.”
“When I get home I’m
going to watch the
news.”
Riveting isn’t it?
Probably not. But
for millions of
people around this
planet, these are
the kinds of
messages they
receive each hour
from their friends
who do something
called “Twittering.”
Twitter is a social
messaging program
that allows you or
me to send these
little snippets
about our lives out
to all of our
‘friends’ who might
think this is
interesting. Some
movie star is in a
race to see if he
can accumulate one
million friends on
his Twitter account.
I hope he has a big
house when it comes
time for his New
Years party.
I met a friend of
mine for coffee the
other day. While we
were talking, I
noticed that we were
the only ones in the
whole place who were
not on their
computers or who
were talking on
their cell phones.
We were actually
talking to each
other face to face.
I can remember when
pagers first came
out and your status
was determined by
how many or how few
pages you received.
Folks who wanted to
appear important
would actually pay
someone to page them
ever so often, just
so they could appear
to be popular.
Crazy.
Pay phones were in
their hey day.
Always had lines
waiting to use them.
Now you’ll be lucky
to find one if you
ever need to use
one. The first cell
phones were about
the size and weight
of a good sized
brick. Now they are
the size of a credit
card. You use one to
take pictures, make
movies, use the
internet, text
messages and
telephone someone.
One of my sons has a
I-Phone with about
3,000 (maybe less)
things on it. One of
the things he loves
is some application
that makes the phone
sound like a light
saber from Star
Wars. Why you would
want this, I don’t
know, but it makes
him happy. He thinks
people who Twitter
are nuts while
waving his cell
phone around like he
was Luke Skywalker.
Different strokes
for different folks.
Pagers are out, cell
phones are in.
Everyone has one. I
refuse to give money
to the homeless guys
on the corner who
are smoking
cigarettes and
talking on a cell
phone while holding
up a sign that
says….. “Totally
broke….need
help….love
Jesus….will work for
food…” I need to be
more sympathetic and
forgiving; perhaps
their mothers gave
them the phone? No
way, they look too
old to have mothers
still living,
besides they always
seem to have a
dog…who has a dog
when they are
starving? I always
just drive to the
closest hamburger
place and buy them a
sack of burgers and
give to them. Am I
doing any good…? Who
knows….I wonder if
they Twitter? If so,
it would probably go
something like this:
“Black Lexus….gave
me a $20…..wohoo….”
“Foxy lady in a Jag
gave me some great
clothes”
“Dweb in a truck
(that would be me)
gave me some
burgers….Rover gets
something to eat.”
Each day I get a lot
of e-mails, mainly
junk stuff. Poems,
jokes, money from
Nigeria, petitions,
and chain letters.
Most of the stuff I
have to delete or
just throw away. I
don’t have time to
read all of it. But
every once in a
while I get a
diamond in that
stack of trash. I
get something from
someone, somewhere
in the world who is
thinking about me
and sends me
something worth
reading and keeping.
I treasure these.
I suppose that’s
what something like
Twitter is, just a
reminder that
someone, somewhere
is thinking about
us. Our days are
long and our hours
are short. When we
finally get time to
ourselves each night
it takes a lot of
effort to just reach
out and tell our
friends and family
that we know they
are there and we are
thinking of them.
Thirty years ago, we
didn’t have
computers; long
distance calls were
expensive…now we can
Skype anyone in the
world for free. We
can e-mail people as
often as we like; it
just takes a little
learning to get on a
computer and doing
it. Things change,
communication
changes. My dog
(Buddy Perry) has
his own facebook
page. He has more
friends than I do.
I’m jealous, but not
going to get upset
unless he starts to
Tweet me. Then I’ll
cut off his cell
phone
privileges…dogs
should not be
allowed to talk on a
cell phone. Makes me
wonder where he gets
any money…maybe he’s
working on the
corners with those
other guys. I’ll
have to check on
this.
