Wednesday, March 5, 2014

I Don't do Complicated

As I age I find that I simply don't have the patience to put up with a lot of crap anymore. I hate the term curmudgeon, as I don't think of myself as irritable and stubborn. I find that a lot of things that were supposed to simplify our lives have done the exact opposite. When I think of the word maturity, I cannot grasp the term in its simplest form. There are so many facets to maturity that the word is regularly misused. Maturity is defined as being fully developed or whether you respond to your environment in an appropriate manner. Well, I find myself fully developed and whether my response to my environment is appropriate or not is a matter of opinion. Why is someone categorized as immature for wanting to have a little fun now and then? Or perhaps doing something completely out of character. As far as opinion goes, I think someone that is so wrapped up in his work and bent on the pursuit of material things to the point he neglects all else is immature. Some of you may say he or she is such a hard worker and admire his nice house and car. It's a matter of opinion. My fiancĂ© tries to find a reason to have the newest and fanciest phones. I bet I have bought her a dozen phones over the years. The latest acquisition required some adroit maneuvering on her part, with her convincing/forcing me to give up my simple old flip phone for her "I" phone. Lest you doubt my disdain for these modern ball  and chains, witness the fact that I did not text before I got the "I" phone and my total minutes used in a month rarely exceed 400. I did not want the phone and I do not like the phone. Kids today seem to embrace this stuff and my fiancĂ© is married to her device. Lest you doubt that, witness the fact that she regularly exceeds 4000 minutes a month. I can't imagine what her text count could be. I guess we have had an entire generation now that doesn't know what a "land line" or  "home phone" is. As a truck driver I had the opportunity to see a lot of things. One that sticks in my memory is having to slam on the brakes as I exited the highway for fuel. Traffic was a mess and backed up for a mile or more. Turns out the computers had crashed and the Flying J couldn't pump fuel. Really? Somehow we have taken some of the simplest things in life and found a way to complicate them. One of the benefits (IMHO) of transitioning from a stick and brick home to the fulltime lifestyle is that it requires you to get rid of all the detritus you accumulated and drug around with you all your life. Speaking of RV's and fulltiming; Jiminy Christmas, what happened there? I admit I like my creature comforts; but I really don't see the need for a bloated, blinged out, six mile to the gallon, forty five foot monstrosity (no offense if you have one). You need an engineering degree to understand the systems in a lot of them. It ain't gonna happen, but I long for the time of mail boxes and snail mail, payphones, the daily paper and mail delivery, meat and potatoes instead of processed food and sitting down for a family dinner on a regular basis. I suppose they don't condone corporal punishment in school(s) anymore either. I know, most of this isn't politically correct. Don't ask me, it's too complicated to explain.

1 comment:

  1. Hey Mark,

    Maybe Luddite is the term you were searching for?

    I have to agree that technology, particularly consumer electronics, seem to complicate our lives. As a ham I do enjoy exploring the many facets of communication and cell phone technology is part of it, but there are times I just have to turn it all off.

    I was in Wally-World a few weeks back and overheard a conversation between a couple adults about how it was time to get their six year old a new cell. In what world should a six year old require a cell phone?

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