Letters from North
America
In
spite of all of the so
called ‘labor’ saving
devices that I own. I
still find myself
looking around trying to
find something I have
either misplaced or
forgotten almost every
day of my life.
The other night we were
sitting around the table
talking and my wife
brought up the fact that
we had once owned a car
that had gotten wrecked
five times in a row. I
remember the car, but
cannot for the life of
me remember the wrecks.
I suppose to me it just
wasn’t that important to
me at the time. I had
other things going on in
my life to fill up what
brain space I had.
Maybe what happens to us
as we get older is that
we fill up our memory
space with materials for
all of the years we’ve
lived so far. That’s why
kids can remember stuff
so much easier, they
don’t have as much in
their brains. Then as we
get older we tend to
just drop some of the
stuff out that didn’t
seem to be important and
then after that’s done,
we begin to question our
memory.
This morning I sit down
and start to write this
column. Usually I jot
down notes each week
over something I think
might be of interest or
that I can write about.
Believe me, once you’ve
written over 1300
columns concerning just
about everything under
the sun, you need to
keep some notes just so
you can keep coming up
with something new and
original each week. I
look around for any and
everything to expound
upon. So, this afternoon
I look for my notes,
can’t find them. They
aren’t in a notebook I
carry around with me to
actually write something
down. I can’t find any
notes anywhere.
Not in my computer at
the office, not in my
laptop, nor at my
computer at home. All
three have different
sets of files on them as
well as photos. So if
I’m looking for a
photograph of someone I
have to search through
those three computers,
not to mention looking
on my cell phone. It’s
lucky I don’t have on my
IPod or that’d be
another place to look.
Now in the old days, you
just looked in a photo
album or through some
stacks in the spare
bedroom closet. Today
these things could be in
any number of places.
Same thing with phone
numbers, you used to
have a little book or a
rolodex, you just
flipped through the
pages and voila there
was your number. Then
you had to actually DIAL
the number….by hand,
using your fingers. So,
what did this
accomplish? Simple, if
you called your
grandmothers house (as I
often did when I was a
kid) it forced you to
remember her number
(JA-2-2675) after fifty
years. Today my kids are
on voice call or speed
dial so if I had to
actually try and
remember their numbers,
I’d be up the creek.
Dialing 17 on anything
other than my cell phone
for my son Chris isn’t
going to get me
anywhere. Speaking my
wife’s name into a
payphone won’t get to
her either.
I suppose I could
eliminate these problems
by buying another one
item does all tool. Then
keep everything on one
piece of electronic
gear, photos, numbers,
files, letters, songs,
movies…you name it and
its there. But the
problem with that is
simply this…if that gets
lost or stolen your life
as you know it is over.
You see people walking
around like zombies
crying to themselves and
in dire straits because
they laid their new cell
phone/computer/mp3
player/camera/movie/TV
machine down on a bar
somewhere and went to
the bathroom only to
return and find it had
been stolen. They
immediately go into a
form of shock. I have
noticed a large increase
in zombie movies and
books lately and am
beginning to think that
these aren’t really dead
people but people who
are distraught over
having their entire life
on some handheld device.
How long will it be
before we see organized
kidnapping taking place
of these things?
It could happen.
Enough for this week.
Comments got to
www.pearyperry.com.
Complaints go nowhere.
