the news

The news is hard to take. We are hit hard with killings, fires, rapes, war and all the claptrap that goes with the media. My sister and I were talking about extreme harm done to people and how everyone has a take on these events. Some people even have the gaul to say that the person done extreme harm deserves it. Sis said she cried over hearing about a woman who was severely beaten and stomped on in our home town and sustained brain damage was beaten again by the remark that she deserved it.

Now that we are both seniors it seems to me that the harshness of the world and people in it are much harder to stomach. I don't recall having these strong feelings in youth. I always managed to move on to the next topic without much commitment. Not so now. Everything hurts, all severe matters make me cry. Can't seem to help myself. Same with sis.

the audacity of it all

These audacious words were delivered at a local fast food restaurant. "Will you be dining in?" Dining in? What presumption! I'm at a fast food place, there is no dining in! Yes, I'll be eating at the place and not taking my order out in a flimsy paper bag with giant initials. I'll be shoveling the food in my face faster than you can say Frankie Robinson and using my fingers to boot. At some intervals I will also bypass my face and drop the foodstuff on my casual attire; jeans, misbuttoned shirt, unlaced sneakers, non-made up face. That is why we go there in the first place, so we can forego the formalities.

In our later years with our relaxed selves in full array, we may choose to go casual when 'dining out' at a fast food establishment. We are hungry and time is of the essence. Order, no waiter necessary; sit, always a table available; open the box or bag as it may be and eat. Little fuss, little to no muss, then on your way to other matters.

I know all the todo being levied over this industry: too much fat, sugar, calories and of course, it's all true. What is also true is that due to convenience and small need to kowtow to public convention, we will continue to frequent these fast food places.

Supersize me, please.

technology and us

         Do you own a smart phone, ereader, laptop, PC and the like? We are being bombarded by the latest in technology that seems to have no end in sight to its potentiality. I own a smart phone and a laptop and just touched the tip of the tech iceberg given my knowledge base of what these devices can do. These smart devices are called phones yet have little similarity to what was once defined as a phone. I sure do miss the old ways.
        The other day I met a 25 year old who shared the same lament I had about the old days, the simplicity of machines and the ease of communication. A phone not long ago was a stationary product. It remained in the house and was tethered to the wall. Communication was not necessarily immediate and an interaction with a message was completed when a party returned  home, picked up a phone message and returned a call. Hours and at times days might have passed before a return call was made. All accepted the disadvantages of this system and all was well.
        This 25 year old told of a friend of his who called his cell phone and wanted an instant response to a request to hang out with him that evening. He did not respond instantly and phoned her a day later.  She became miffed at him because she wanted an immediate answer to her question. He nonchalantly stated that they could get together another time. This did not sit well with her. These devices demand instant gratification from the caller and bring all sorts of bad feelings when there is noncompliance from the cell calling parties.

         A close friend and I who share age and views on many issues were taking about the way things were and how the world has changed drastically. Her daughter had purchased a few current books and my friend asked to see them. These books were not the touchy feeley kind of book; no spine, no covers, no paper pages, no book smell to them. These were the ebook kind.  We both felt sadness about how the world has evolved and could not but feel a sense of loss of what would never be brought back.               We'll just have to live with it and pretend to be techno savy. So be it.

what I don't know

We don't know what we don't know. A deep sounding tautology that has no way out of its circular conundrum. I contend that each time we listen, experience, attempt and plane old breathe in and out daily, we have a prime opportunity to learn some bit of news, some practical answer, some observation, some enhancement to our human condition.

A most profound statement to another person would sound like this. I am much smarter than you can ever hope to be, regardless of IQ, years on this earth, days of hard work, education and so on. Why? I am much smarter than you because I admit that I know that I don't know as much.

To consider all the topics I have small or no knowledge about and how my formal education was wanting in so many ways astounds me. But in my older years, I happen to be more curious, more willing to learn from the youth, from radio, and other media. I remain resolutely hesitant to believe media but will apply my suspicions to news, filter it in or out of my belief system and hopefully come out with more knowledge than I began with.

I have not been back to this blog for some time now and have taken a hiatus from technology. I'm back and hope to hear from anyone out there finding this blog about retirement and is willing to comment. Being who we are, social animals, we mainly learn from each other.