Petdad

I remember what seems like not-so-long ago when people wrote, by hand. What happened? People don’t seem to write anymore. I’m not even ‘writing’ now, I’m typing. School-aged children are still actually taught manuscript writing, that’s printing for those unfamiliar with the term. However there is so much technology in the classrooms these days that kids are learning more how to touch their selection on the screen, or ‘speak’ it into the device. Digital deliverables (classwork or homework) are accepted and still less of us are actually writing.

I taught cursive in my classroom for many years. In my classroom, it was ‘cursive only’, period. I wrote in neat cursive on the board, and I accepted only cursive work from all my students. If would often, and then less often receiver work that was printed/manuscript. I would thank the student for their effort, especially if they really did put effort into their work, and then I would remind them that I accept cursive-only, and they would need to re-write their work. This was not a surprise to them, that I accepted cursive-only, but they conveniently chose to write in manuscript just because it was easier. Sorry, this work requirement hasn’t changed people.

As time passed, I began to receive more and more pushback from students and their parents regarding writing cursive! ‘My child is in tears trying to do their homework in cursive.’ Instead of receiving some kind of reminder or encouragement ‘Come on, you know the class rules, you can do it!’, it became more of ‘That’s alright buddy, I’ll send him an email or speak with him tomorrow.’

That type of exchange increasingly grew over the years so one day I reluctantly surrendered to the fact that my classroom requirement for writing in cursive-only was no longer going to be a battle I would fight.

Technology and its increasing use became exponential. We used our thumbs to ‘type’. Eventually, we didn’t even have to type, we ‘swiped’ the word into being. Then we succumbed to selecting the ‘space bar’, which is NOT at all a space bar when a word was ‘suggested’. As a result, we unlearned how to spell.

We have grown into a society no longer accustomed to writing in the physical sense, pen to paper, and no one seems bothered by what will one day become quite a problem with individual or societal expansion! I didn’t begin this post with the intent to get on a soapbox and spew, however in composing this piece I have definitely gained a new appreciation for my age.

But is it really a quick question? Not usually. Is the reference ‘quick question’ relative to the question itself or is the intent looking for a ‘quick answer’? What if I didn’t want a quick question coming my way, then what? Am I obligated to answer your quick question just because you asked? Am I to think that you are being considerate of my time and busy schedule, and therefore to avoid a lengthy question and often lengthier answer you poise your words as something ‘quick’? If you are looking for a quick answer to your quick question, I am probably already burdened with being put in a situation of having to provide a ‘quick answer’. Generally one question generates a follow-up question. Then what?

Those two words have such a powerful passive-aggressive pathway of forced communication. Yet those two words are so often, and I do mean often, used as an exchanged lead-in for “I would like to talk to you about this topic…now.”

I wonder how many times I have been approached with ‘quick question…’, and then the resulting answer becomes a warranted involved dialog. I think the lead-in ‘quick question…’, has now graduated into my lifetime tray of annoyances. For me, it goes right along with the very irritating clackety-clack sound-effect that was so overused on radio and television airwaves of the late 80’s through early 2000’s to simulate computer keyboard use. Computer keyboard technology became a lot quieter before the CLACKETY-CLACK annoyance was for the most part put to rest.

So I’m thinking that the ‘quick question’ approach is a selfish introduction to a discussion that someone else wants to have. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me.

‘Get off my lawn!’

A CMS, or Content Management System is used to create, house, and publish ‘content’ for any website. In my case, I write and then I publish my pieces which vary in length. Some of what I write are short essay’s and others are simply what I call written ‘pieces’, or Musings.

I write for my own cathartic exercise and not for anyone else. Not many people read what I have written which does not bother me in the least as I do not even advertise the site. It is what it is, take it or leave it. Most days The site gets a small handful of visitors and readers with the periodic burst in online traffic for a day. The CMS shows a statistical breakdown, no doubt for those who seek to learn reading patterns and high-traffic written pieces.

I believe for the most part, the data is accurate. There is however an outlier in the data I receive on a daily basis. One of the Published pages, Your House is Like a Museum, was receiving a very consistent and unusual traffic pattern on a daily basis. Either that piece is the best written example of American short literature or the page was long ago tagged by a ‘bot’ to ensure a daily visit and periodically multiple visits in one day. It was painfully obvious when I noticed an almost daily site visit from China, and Your House is Like a Museum was the number one ticket and most viewed page on the website.

Well, I don’t think so. I quickly became numb seeing Your House is Like a Museum as my most visited page. Then I got irritated in seeing the title listed on the stat page every day, but there it was so I just ignored it. Until today.

I am very curious to see how the bot will handle the fact that I unpublished that particular page. The page is still within my CMS, it’s just unpublished. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this solution before today.

Shoo-fly! Have fun with that you digital nothing.

Curious? Navigate to the Musings tab, it’s the top entry.

Capitalizing The in the title was intentional, as all things are. Maybe sometimes just not my intention. It didn’t make much of an impact on me with the ‘T’ being lowercase. I tried it, it didn’t work.

Significance in all aspects of one’s life is there, in The life. Significance is always there, noticed or unnoticed. It’s there. There were so many thoughts circling inside my head this morning about what I was going to write. I wasn’t thinking ‘hmmm I should write something, but what?’ No, it wasn’t that. My thoughts were ideas or topics that I wanted to write about NOW, but The time was not right not being at the computer.

Today is Monday and there is so much I want to do. I’m already looking at the clock thinking about the time I have left in The day. I won’t sit around. Today is The Day.

I will look at the trees and listen to their rustling leaves. I will walk in the sunlight and feel warmth I am offered. I will touch. I will listen to what is said, and what is unsaid. I will enjoy the company of those around me and will offer my words. I will lend my ear, and I will see as if it were the last time for me. I will do all of these with boundless gratitude.

I will do all these things, because Today is The Day.

Some days yes, and some days no.

I ask myself, why no today? What’s the deal? I got enough sleep last night, at least I think I did. Suppose I could do the math on that and figure it out, but I don’t even want to do that.

The outward appearance display calm and quiet waters, yet inside there’s a rushing wave of emotion and angst. Some days more than others. Yesterday the water current was strong and the push-pull undertow was a mighty driving force.

We ask ourselves at times if this is enough. Have I done my best? Have I exhausted all possibility? Did I achieve adequate results? And yet there is no right or wrong answer, there is no gradebook, there is no playbook. If one is looking for ‘answers’ then perhaps square one is the only appropriate solution.

Yet

In what seems like nothing more than my eye blink, the clock starts again. Some days yes, and some days no.

Back in the day of nothing but black & white television sets, we marveled at the accessibility of moving pictures, film, then video. I remember seeing an actual strip/clip of the tape and held it to the light to look for imagery of any kind. Analog technology was something new to the general public and this alone was a phenomenon in itself.

We all heard that someday ‘soon’ television sets would eventually broadcast in color. Oh my goodness, really?

Technology started to expand but it seemed like a manageable expansion, unlike the exponential explosion of technological advances of today. Full color did eventually come to television sets, but they were expensive and very large. It wasn’t the screen size that was large, it was the ‘set’ itself that was big and bulky. Any new color tv owner would need a couple of things: able to pay some serious cash for the unit, and have significant space in the room the unit would soon occupy. All for a color tv and the bragging rights it seemed to come with.

I remember screen sizes were 12″, then 14″, then jumping to 19″ and it kind of stayed there as the ‘norm’ for quite some time. Screen size eventually grew to 25″ and that was the cream-of-the-crop, until 27″ came along. By this time, tv units were much ‘smaller’ but the box-like size of the tv itself was large, bulky, and heavy.

We needed that, and then we needed more.

Picture/Image quality began to improve, but at a cost few could afford. Screen sizes continued to grow and technology brought new tv possibilities. And we needed more.

Consumer product makers were now experiencing the runaway trajectory of technology growth and ‘new’ television sets became monitors used for multi-purpose tasks. Broadcasting became all digital along the way and tv’s in general had a short technological shelf-life compared to their massive counterparts of yesteryear.

Black & white television quickly became a thing of the past. All for ‘the more’ of what we had to have, just because we could.

Now, those of us who remember black and white television enjoy watching some of the old b&w TV shows and movies. I know why this is so. It takes us back to a ‘simpler time’ in our lives. At the risk of sounding old, guess what, I don’t care. Nostalgia is something that is wired in us as human beings. I am a member of a people who long for a sense of balance and comfort.

I’m not sure what will be the ‘next’ nostalgic mark for society and our future generation. How about love and care for what is right in front of us?

How about equilibrium?