don't have to

Hi Mags,

Quick check-in.  I had the littlest one last night, and the other two are coming in a little while and will stay here tonight, then help me prepare their dad's birthday dinner tomorrow.. So I'm going to write fast.

I remember going out with my youngest once.  We had Chinese or something, but during our dinner, we watched a couple at a nearby table. They shared a meal, but never spoke to each other.  They only interacted with their phones.

 And, I saw a cartoon - a drawing of a group of teens walking, looking at their phones. The caption said The Zombie Apocalypse has occurred!

The phones, and technology in general, is addictive...one more way of escaping the pain of life.

I was with my youngest at the grocery store today.  I was walking, looking at my list, and she came up and told me the guy we just passed was on something. He could not even walk straight.  I never saw him.

I guess I don't even need an electronic distraction to be oblivious, unconnected.

I talked to someone I respect a great deal about this.  He went off to a place where he does things to make up for the evil that is caused by our getting stuff.  He showed me a website called Good Planet where you can calculate your carbon footprint from your travel and pay for it. The money is used to plant enough trees to offset the added CO2.  He also talked about keeping the same phone for 10 years.  Both are good.  But it's also justifying - because we NEED it for work.  It's all rationalization.  It's as if we can not/will not take that step into the misery of child miners and suicide fences.

It's kind of like the difference of trying to salvage someone who's been through child abuse, to help them find some sense of sanity, rather than stepping into the horror of the abuse and stopping it in the act, or before it begins.

The abuse continues in the dark. We rescue one, but the abuser has another in their clutches.

I have begun thinking that psychically, we feel the pain attached to our gadgets.  It adds to our need to numb.

One last observation...in the past if someone was having a problem - a car breakdown, for example, we would stop and see if we could help.  Now we don't even look twice. We know they have a phone, and don't need us. We don't have to care anymore...

Enough from me. I'll be back tomorrow evening after everyone goes home...

Love and hugs from Clare