I-Ignore

And I thought that the 80's was the "me" generation. In my perspective, it has now run rampant into the 21st century.

Nowadays, everyone has those two white wires festooned on the front of their necks indicating that they have no good reason to speak to you. None. And if you speak to them, chances are good that you won't get through because they are listening to the latest songs by Miley, Madonna or Mozart. Either way, you're not getting through. And if the volumes are up at a certain level, they'll still ignore you when you speak to them when they're in their 60's because they will be deaf. That's right, deaf.

So is Bob gone off his rocker by attacking the good people at Apple? No.

As you know, it is my habit to wax sometimes rhapsodic about my days in Smock, when no one had a computer, an I-Pod, an ELECTRONIC picture frame, or hardly a television. Sure, you can go back to my older posts and read Outside Influences and Bob Rides the Bus and you'll find mention of this, but I want to go into a bit greater detail here.

In Smock, even today, we speak to one another. Whether it is across the porch railing, the clothesline, the hedge fence, or even through the rather thin wooden walls of the outhouse (which is pretty extinct by now). We spoke of politics or how NASA is goofing up the weather (not global warming) by shooting those rockets into space that are somehow messing with the clouds. We spoke of ourselves and yes, we often spoke of others, not necessarily in glowing terms. But we SPOKE. I remember that many of us used that bus ride to New Salem or Haddonville or Uniontown to catch up on talk. With not even a 6-transistor Philco radio in sight. We did not have computers which would hog our attention away from the dinner table or even the church. There isn't a Sunday where I attend church that someone isn't texting someone else at any given time in the Mass.

So what truly is it that we lose here? Our ability to communicate with others. Is that important? ASK YOUR PARENTS that question. The reason that they're celebrating their 52nd wedding anniversary is because they talk to each other. Oh, you may not see it; it may be confined to the bedroom or to other secret places like the basement where YOU won't hear. Or maybe it's in Croatian or Slovak or Polish so you can hear but you don't understand. But they talked.

Today's electronic world is a good one. One that enables people like me to freely express my opinion in a medium that sends not just the printed word but pictures too over what appears to be vapor to another computer so that you can read this. Some have actually complained about my musings but it's their right, even though they may be wrong.

I think that a pair of ear plugs is pretty obvious. It's like closing all others off. Like closing the door to your bedroom. But now, they're closing the door on a lot of polite society who don't wish to do anything more than to talk about the WEATHER. But that's boring. Unfortunately, our teenagers today have the attention span of a may fly. Is it our fault? Maybe.

The Mormons aren't all crazy. And believe me, they will say the same thing about us non-LDS folk too. One of the things I learned about this group of people is that they dedicate an evening each week to ......wait for it........EACH OTHER. Family Home Evening. One of the most sensible things that has ever been thought up by ANYONE. Imagine if you will, telling young Nichole or Josh that he or she has to lose the I-Pod or the computer or the God of today's society, the cell phone, for a couple hours a week. I'm afraid that many would simply rather choose death.

Sure, talk about Smock all you like. We may be backward a bit, or maybe we're a bunch of Hunkys, or hillbillies, but we talk to each other and the divorce rate was almost non-existent. So if you take a ride through my little town even today and you see John Hovanic out in his yard trimming his hedges or fruit trees, stop by and witness something amazing.

He will actually talk to you. And if its August, he'll offer you something from his garden. Tell him I said "Hello" because John doesn't text. Or e-mail.

And the only wires he may have hanging over his shoulder will be used to tie up tomato plants.