pinball

Life was slower, then, when I was a kid.  I wouldn't want to do it all over again, but it was slower.  There were no cell phones to send your attention all over the place while you stood in front of someone waiting to talk with you. There were no laptops to log onto the internet with and hide out from the people and circumstances that really needed your attention.  There was no cable television, DVD players, or even video cassettes.  And life was simpler, then.  You did your job or school, came home, did your chores, and then you were free to pursue your fancy; things like baseball, bicycling, building a fort in the woods, magic tricks, and other people/body/mind engaging activities.  There was no anime, no ipods, no Nintendo DS's or PSP's, no surfing the net, no cyber social networks, polarizing politics, and not very many shopping malls.  People, for the most part, relaxed in much more, well, relaxing ways.

Nowadays you cannot even have a conversation with your own offspring riding down the road in the minivan because they're watching a movie on the in-car video system or entranced in video games on their personal gaming systems.  Even planned meetings are bombarded by cell phone calls, texting, or fb-ing on hand-held internet devices.  The wonder of receiving a simple phone call from a loved one in a far off place is completely extinct because it happens multiple times a day; it means very little because its like turning on the t.v., or checking e-mail.  Does anyone write hand-written letters sent by that old thing called the U.S. Post Office anymore?  The anticipation of longing to read words written from the heart by the very hand of a cherished friend; words that were the result of a thoughtful process, not texted and e-sent in a whimsical, heat-of-the-moment fashion.  Its hard to have a simple conversation without someone answering a text or a call in the middle of it!  I think the post-modern world is far too distracted with gadgetry.  

 I believe the political polarization we are currently experiencing has been, at least, prompted by this addiction to distraction, if not, caused by it.  When a person can communicate what they think or feel without having to look into someone's face, it becomes much easier to say things they would otherwise feel uncomfortable saying.  The fire wall of shame has been removed.  The process of thinking before speaking is 'old hat.'  I have read posts on facebook where someone was calling another an idiot, out-right, for the difference in their views.  That person would never think of doing such a thing if the 'idiot' was standing in front of them, out of respect and for fear of getting his block knocked off.

This constant deluge of information, world, local, impersonal, and very personal communication is just extremely tiresome and down-right depressing.  With all that's going on all over the world (that I used to never hear about until weeks or years later-if it was important enough), hearing about everything all the time on every level makes me feel like a pinball being thrown, slapped, shot, bounced, and popped emotionally all the time.  No wonder people are so frantic and edgy. 

There is a remedy for this 'pinball syndrome,' and it was in the beginning.  Its called the 'Sabbath.'  After God made all that we know and infinitely more that we do not, and that in six days, He rested on the seventh.  He rested, not because He was tired and needed refreshment, but as a model to the crown of His creation, human kind.  Rest is in front of the human being's operator's manual.  God meant for humans to stop it all, shut down, chillax on a weekly basis-to maintain normal and optimum human performance.  AKA-pull yourself out of the pinball machine for 24 hours.  Sit on the front porch with a beverage of your liking, read a book on the porch swing, say hello to neighbors walking by.  To maximize your rest, turn off all that agitated, meniacal, frenetical gadgetry and rest your mind.  The crazy world will still be there, and you'll feel much abler to deal with it. Take time to talk with those significant in your life; listen, don't just hear.  Rest.  Sabbath.  It has NOTHING to do with going to church-that's Sunday, the first day of the week (because that's when Christ was resurrected).  And here is the really cool thing about it-you don't even have to be a Christian to reach for saner moments-and it still works. 

Now, go.  Rest, all you pinballs. And be nice.