Is This the Future?

I was driving past a local high school yesterday at around 11 am. It was cloudy but not too cool and not raining. There were about 30 students outside and the majority where looking down at their hands, thumbs flying as they sent text messages.

First cell phones became ubiquitous and you would nearly run people over down town because they were too busy to pay attention to where they were stepping. Now we are becoming people who only know they exist because they bounce a few letters and words off another person who responds in kind. One teenager told me the other day that he hates talking on the phone and prefers texting. That way he can control the flow of information in a very one sided fashion. No social skills needed and no time to waste on real interactions.

I really fear that we will become walking automatons living inside our own heads. We are partially there when you think about the prevalence of IPods and MP3 players out in public and in the workplace. There is nothing more annoying than trying to get someones attention and then having to repeat yourself once the headphones come off or the device turned off. Yes, I know that they are great when you are working out in a gym. However, I tried walking with one on outside and despite a low volume you could not hear cars approaching or, for that matter, birds chirping.

Meanwhile, at the high school, the clouds were fluffy and gorgeous, the grass was green but no one seemed to notice.

Inclement

One day I shall brave a winter storm
While lingering on the embattled Oregon coast,
Soaking in the raw unbridled power of the
Massive waves rending the fragile coastline,
While the tumult of stubby clouds
Surges inland driven by the relentless wind.

Awesome power bespeaks of forces
Much greater than this puny self:
Easing humility as a state of grace.

Will lesser tempests be unremembered?
Or is the pursuit of the perfect storm
Merely an affirmation of love, striving, life itself?

Blood quickens in the veins amongst the ruinous effect,
As a fire burns in my hearth of hearths
To Sea, to feel, to be.

----------------------------------------J. Ross Wilde
April 21, 2008

What is Wrong With the Weather?

It snowed yesterday. Just a few flakes while the sun was shining. It was a bit cold out but the clouds were big, puffy and unpredictable. They made the sky stunning to look at and made it appear like a constantly shifting miasma of form. Not something to be missed.

All this week the weather prognosticators were predicting varying amounts of the white stuff for this weekend. I enjoyed telling people that I was rooting for at least 4.2 inches of snow so we could break the record for the snowiest season in Spokane history. When I said this, listeners (or more properly, toleraters) eyes would glaze over and I got varying outcries of woe. This is the end of April, for crying out loud!

Last weekend we had a brief spat of warm, mild weather. When I went to softball practice last Saturday there were people everywhere practicing sports, biking and doing yard work. Yesterday I went to the same location with about 42 degree temperature and no one was out and about! Bravo! to the two couples that I saw out hiking today while I was doing the same thing.

I guess I just don't understand why people get so worked up over something they have no control over. I would rather enjoy the moment and revel in the churning nature of spring weather. 'If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute' is never truer than this time of year . That being said, I hope my wife doesn't read this because I have been known to grumble when 3 months of hot, dry weather descend and ubiquitous dust blots out the horizon.

Call me crazy but I enjoyed applying a fresh pungent coat of linseed oil to my new raised beds while the snow flakes were occasionally swirling about my head or sticking to my nose! The clouds were awesome yesterday and provided constant entertainment.

Nature

The rounded world is fair to see,
Nine times folded in mystery:
Though baffled seers cannot impart
The secret of its laboring heart,
Throb thine with Nature's throbbing breast,
And all is clear from east to west.
Spirit that lurks each form within
Beckons to spirit of its kin;
Self-kindled every atom glows
And hints the future which it owes.

-----------------Ralph Waldo Emerson

At Play in the Fields... of the Following Article

The post below illustrates a belief I have always held since having children of my own and remembering my own childhood. The most fun play that kids can have is when they are being really creative and inventive such as when they play house or store, play with a large box or a series of large boxes taped together, make a fort with a blanket over the coffee table and couch or just plain make believe (Hey girls; remember "Dead-Man Dingo Pass"?). I also remember in 'To Kill a Mockingbird" when Scout and Jem re-create famous literary scenes from memory and act them out with great enthusiasm.

The opposite example, which we have all seen at one time or another, is of a child opening a gift of a uni-dimensional toy, playing with it for a few minutes and then losing interest in it. The article below is very instructive for all of us that interact with children. We should strive to encourage imaginative play as much as possible which is made all the more difficult by the saturation of one-way, passive entertainment in our culture.