Neo-Luddite

A young friend of mine owns a laptop computer. She asked me if it would be wise to also purchase a desktop computer. She is a silly thing. I'm still not sold on the idea of computers. Sure, the Internet has brought more information than you could ever want to know to damn near everybody in the world, but they still scare me. Don't mind me though, this is coming from an old man who doesn't know if his own TV works or not and just recently bough a microwave, but only for the idea of instant popcorn.

What's so scary about computers? People don't need to know anything anymore. Why learn French or Spanish when you have a translator? Why learn how to drive over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house when you have a computer that triangulates your position using the Global Positioning System? There's no need to remember peoples addresses or telephone numbers anymore. Hell, nobody writes letters anymore. Instead they have those black cell phones glued to their ears talking away about nothing. "I'm going to be late. I'll see you at 6:16PM instead of 6:15PM" Bluetooth? Miniature cell phones you stick directly into your ear so you can walk around talking to yourself. People with blueteeth: You are insane.

The latest craze is the iPad. Plenty of jokes have already been made about the name's similarities to feminine hygiene products, so I'll skip those. But can't people see it is nothing short of an entire waste of money? Why must we buy all these unnecessary things? The iPad is a giant touch screen laptop, is it not? You already have a laptop, do you not?

Despite all of my blathering, there is one thing beautiful about all of this: The young friend of mine who wants two computers. Even though she is as sucked into computers as much as the rest of the crazies out there, she is one of the few people who still write letters the old fashion way. She takes the time to hand write letters and licks stamps and envelopes and patiently waits by the door for the mailman to bring a response. Bless her heart.

Writing and receiving letters are one of the great joys of my life. It is up there with music, blue skies, delicious food, good health, cigarettes, and the Norway Maple tree.

Now it is time I get off of this damned machine before I get any dumber.

Enjoy your day. Take notice of the pleasantries in life. Walk outside and take a whiff. Take a pen to paper and write a friend a letter. It doesn't even have to be a good letter. Just take the time out to do so.