I am really so tired I can hardly see straight, and of course it doesn’t help that once again I forgot my computer glasses on my desk at work. At least I’ll be going in tomorrow and can get them. THe last time I forgot them it was the weekend and I was two and a half days squinting at my computer screen. Sometimes I have to laugh at the idea of computer glasses, the better to see the screen with, my dear. It reminds me about the swift passage of time and the remarkable pace of electronic innovation. Back when I completed my Masters degree in the early 1980s, I had my thesis typed on an electric typewriter. She charged me $1 per page and $1.25 for tables. Eleven years later I typed my doctoral dissertation myself on my Apple Macintosh computer–the little square kind. The first “portable” computer I used at work was about the size of a rollerboard suitcase and weighed a ton. Hardly portable.
My kids would probably say it’s because that was back in the olden days, and I suppose from their perspective it was. But from my perspective it wasn’t that long ago. What it feels like to me is that bigger things are happening in a shorter period of time. Even in my kids’ short life spans (they are in their early 20s) cell phones have gone from big, clunky things that had to be plugged into a battery pack that was the size of an old school lunch box to the sleek smart phones that you can watch television on. It really is quite remarkable.
My paternal grandfather lived to be 100 years old. He was born in horse and buggy days and lived to see men walk on the moon. Although the technology is amazing in what it can do-how small yet powerful it is–in some ways we’ve become earthbound. Some of the “cool” new things that smart phones do now or the technology that is being programmed and wired into automobiles are like something out of science fiction; and yet it seems to be focused on stuff for the sake of stuff. What if the billions of dollars and all the creative energy and time we spent creating cool new technological gizmos for the financially comfortable subpopulation in the US and other industrialized nations and turned some of that, a fraction of it toward solving the challenges of hunger and food insecurity and homelessness in these same industrialized nations. After that, perhaps set about the task of really finding cures for and eradicating some of those diseases plaguing poorer, less developed countries that have ceased to be problems here in the US.
I know, I know. I’ve always been a dreamer, and that all sounds so corny doesn’t it? I can hear John Lennon singing, “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one…” I am grateful for the technology that makes my daily life a little easier, and I love my gadgets and gizmos as much as anyone. But I would be willing to give up being able to watch football on my phone if it meant that more people would be able to eat, earn a decent wage, have a clean, safe home. I am grateful to have those three things and so many other blessings that other people simply do not have. As best I can I do not take these blessings for granted. We’ve come a long way since the “olden days” when I was growing up; but while our technology has advanced we still have a long way to go toward making the world hospitable and sustaining place for everyone. As best I can I will continue to contribute in those places where I have capital and add value, and to navigate through these questions and challenges with a grateful and open heart.
