11/14/2019
This morning’s SIMH is still rolling around a couple hours after arising. “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”—Elvis Presley’s version, his voice being one my head tends to want to mimic (hopefully, not out loud!) The line, “do you stare at your doorstep and picture me there?” —do people today refer to the front of their abode as a “doorstep?” I can’t remember when I heard that term used except in song. Lou Handman and Roy Turk wrote this, I couldn’t find the year. I’m sure others sang it, but the King nailed it! “Is your heart filled with pain, shall I come back again? Tell me dear, are you lonesome tonight?”
Our attachment to the world wide web (as in reading this blog) is almost as invasive as the “prophecy” of the book 1984. The difference is the size of and location of the screen/camera apparatus. In the book or movie, it was a single camera, but remained stationary, thus limited. When the proverbial “they” got around to doing it, the system had to force a couple of other industries out of business or forced to change businesses. Now, we mobilize the invasion of our privacy by carrying around our own PersonalCommunicationDevice in our pockets—and we just can’t get along without them. We call them phones and we brag about all they can do for us and, you can reach me anytime, and not just call, you can text me. (Hmm, I seem to recall titles of sermons on Sunday morning being referred to as “text.”)
But, doesn’t it seem impossible to get along without? Yes, it does. Ah, heck, folks: I love all this technology even knowing it is invasive. Isn’t it nice to think of something or somewhere or somebody, then have at your finger tips all the information you could ever want about whatever has entered your mind? Sitting in a group with my family recently, caused someone to be mentioned who had been in a movie we all like. None of us could think of the name, we began trying to think of who else this person had been associated with and within seconds, 2 or 3 of us had the bio-history of that person’s career before us on the screen! Incredible. Also, ever see a product and wonder where you could buy it close by? Take a picture of it with your phone, you can find it on the web and who sells it, and how many miles! Stupendous!
How ‘bout, telling Seri or Alexa an address and a map shows up to tell you (with voice commands or not) exactly how to drive there. You don’t have to stop and find a local and get his cornpone directions to be able to find it! —You know, “..go down to the bottom of the hill and take a left at the old filling station,” (interruption: they tore that down, Elbert—whatya mean they tore it down, when?) “ok, don’t turn there, go to the next left turn, there’s a little shopping center there on the right,” (interruption: laughing says, that’a not a shopping center, Elbert, that’s one of them mega-churches! Mega-what? Elbert says.) “Anyway, turn there and go to the old ice house, by dad, I know that’s still there—uh, Mo, which side of the road is the ice house on when yer a-goin’ that direction” Mo says, I ain’t never been to the old ice house, my wife won’t let me drink that stuff. “well, partner, I don’t think you can get there from here!!”
See how important all this new electronic world is to us? Oh, you say you miss the good old days? I don’t think you’ll be able to go back. As long as electronics pleases the ruler of this world (as in “the god of this world” “the prince of the power of the air” —look those terms up in your KJB if you don’t know what I’m talking about.)—if this stuff pleases his conniving, evil perpetuating plan, we who remain here till “the Lord himself shall descend with a shout…”—we’re just gonna have to put up with the cute little things and what we can do with it all.
A side note: I don’t miss rotary phones attached to the wall or sitting on a table, or the “phone-chair;” I don’t miss having to pull off the road to check the ever hard to handle folding roadmap (although don’t try to throw them away out of my office, I still like them there); I don’t miss being unable to find people I need to speak with, and I have even come to really like texting, even though my fat fingers irritate me as I try to type on that tiny keyboard. Nuf sed.
Thanks for reading, the Elder
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