He touched a chord in me, the young clerk at Goodness Me where I buy my sesame seeds, etc.
As I was paying with interac I asked him how old he was. “Twenty one.
“Then you probably don’t remember a time when we didn’t use plastic and scanned everything, I asked. He looked thoughtful. He would in fact have preferred the old way, in fact he owned neither a computer nor a cell phone. He preferred to write letters the old fashioned way and to talk to the people around him, locally, in person.
wintery field 2008 - pastel 15"x20"
This pastel painting touches a chord in me. It's beautiful. As for what's happened in the world. This technological advance we're working on has done miraculous things that couldn't have been envisioned 20 years ago. While it's good to keep the best of the past, we have to recognize the benefits of the best advances we've made.
ReplyDeleteHand written letters -- they are great. Let's send each other some. Some day. Meanwhile the next time you sit down at your computer, this note will greet you.
Love,
Barbara
Barbara, there’s a possibility that I already knew or anticipated your point of view. But, but - he was awfully sweet this young man, and I did feel quite mindless punching in my security pin – and the man in line behind me agreed that it was unusual to meet someone like Josh – that was his name – at least I give him full credit for being something of a non conformist in resisting the trend to text hundreds of messages a day like so many of his peers. A question of lifestyle perhaps.
ReplyDeleteStill I’m glad the wintery field touched a chord in you as opposed to a dischord – ha ha. And as always I appreciate your eloquence.
love, Marcia
Undulating waves of snowy land with a vast and endless distance inviting pensive observation---You have all the best elements of a really wonderful piece here. I am always impressed with your skill.
ReplyDeleteI think that we will see more young people choosing to do less with technology as it becomes just another thing, like TV, in life. I know of a young man who is a super techie AND who hand writes letters (and even mail art sometimes) to his friends and parents...That's a good thing, don't you think, to be fluent in all that we have available?
Thank you Melinda. I agree with you 100% and then some. Technology is a language and the more conversant we are with that language, the less robotic we need be.
ReplyDeleteIt’s not that I’m a nostalgist either - I agree that it’s important to be tech savvy –but I don’t want to be dominated by newer, better, faster - I often feel that we’re presented with ‘newer and improved and better’ when really it’s not. And we waste huge amounts of time with automation and sacrifice freedom as well. So I was astonished to meet a young person who questioned the mantra of progress.
So the person you speak about – I can make an educated guess as to who that might be, is really lucky because he obviously lives in the best of both worlds – not relinquishing values of old style craftsmanship and relationships and still being au courant with all the latest bells and whistles.
xo, Marcia