Have a Drink Before Reading This
I had planned to post something entirely different but after shopping in a different area on the weekend I felt compelled to write a piece on the direction we appear to be taking.
Last Saturday I thought I’d try a change of scenery and shop somewhere different. It was a huge supermarket with overflowing shelves and plenty of everything I could possibly need, but what caught my attention most was the brand new shopping trolleys.
No feral wheels with minds of their own on these babies. Not today would I pulling out my hair and cursing because that one wheel keeps jamming up and making the trolley go sideways. These trolleys did exactly what they were told, but what amazed me most was the cup holder on the handle. Yes that’s right, a cup holder.
Now, I’m not a fan of grocery shopping and the faster I can get in and get it done the better, but even if I feel like taking my time and browsing I’m pretty confident I can do it without needing to carry a drink with me.
What next? Little pop-up screens so I can be entertained by the movie of the day, or perhaps a documentary on good nutrition?
Whatever happened to being able to go out and do the shopping without the need to eat or drink until you got home? Millions of us survived for years doing just that and we’re not scarred for life, nor are we suffering the detrimental effects of dehydration from all that drink-free shopping.
New cars now have screens for all the passengers so they can watch TV while they’re travelling? There are screens in the gym when you’re working out, screens in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries, screens in restaurants (but not the ones I eat in). In fact anywhere people have to wait you’ll find a screen playing mind-numbing swill to anyone who’ll watch.
Remember when you used to look out the window on long car trips? That’s what you do when you’re travelling in a car. That’s why they have windows. Otherwise cars would be people-containers on wheels with just a window at the front for the driver.
We used to gaze out the window and watch the world go by. Think about our lives, make plans, and dream up new ideas.
When we grew tired of window-gazing we’d have a conversation with the other occupants of the vehicle.
Remember that lost art? Remember striking up a conversation with a complete stranger and being all the better for it?
Are we all so vacant now that our minds have lost the ability to entertain themselves without some sort of electronic doodad? And don’t even get me started on smart phones.
If you look out the car window while you’re travelling you’ll see a moving picture. It’s called the outside world – it’s what we live in and perhaps we should take more notice of it and let our minds wander more often. Who knows where it might take you? But be careful, it may just expand your mind.
And you won’t get thirsty while you’re roaming around inside your head so you won’t need a cup holder nearby.
It seems many people these days just cannot be alone with their thoughts. They must always have some sort of audible and visual stimulation. I thought that’s what imagination was. It is for me and it’s far superior to anything I could plug into externally.
The whole universe is inside my mind and I can do, be and have whatever I want whenever I want and as wild or fantastic as I want. There are no limits – my mind is the only limit. The constraints I let other people put on me are my only limits. And if I decide I need some external input, I’ll talk to someone and gain some insight into their mind.
You have to wonder if one day in the not-too-distant future people will be going to the cinema and watching the movie on their personal screen right in front of them.
Will they be there to watch the movie or just to sit in a big, darkened room getting their fix of external stimuli with others who can’t stand to be alone?
And you can bet that every seat will have its own cup holder.
KEEP THE FAITH