Today when I took our dog for a walk in the morning I found a very cool looking frozen feather on the ground.
The first thing that I though was "Coooooooooll :D".
And the very next thing was "Damn, I wish I had a better camera on my cell phone!" and went on.
Then it struck me!
I just saw something magnificent and instead of spending some time watching it with my own eyes and touching it and enjoying it IRL, I wanted to make a quick picture of it and be off.
Then I remembered more then one occasion when either me or someone else just did the very same thing; and those occasions when something happens and you think "Wow, this would be a great blog post!"; and those occasions when you hear someone directly open up their IM or microblogging account or pick up their cell phone and start talking about something that just happened or they saw; and those occasions when you just do nothing, but know deep inside that you just passed something marvelous without sparing it more then a quick glance.
Have we really become so estranged to our IRL lives and environment??? When did that happen?? Is it the internet and the cyberspace in general?
Sure, I belong to the generation of what I would call "cyber children" – I was still in primary school when I got online in the early 90's. I remember the Usenet, IRC, when ICQ started spreading, playing MUD's etc. But I also remember when I was just lying on the ground and watching the clouds or water flow or grass wave in the wind. What about the "cyber-born children" – those that were already born in this era of IT supremacy? Can we still take the Wii controllers out of their hands and expect of them to know how to use a seesaw?
I don't know, really. But it is a sad fact that we've become tourists in our own real life. It's as if we're caught somewhere between the real and the cyber world and in neither do we really feel at home enough to enjoy it to the fullest. Which is sad. Very sad.
So, please, the next time you're out, remember to smell the roses and not just take the picture. You'll be doing yourself a favour.
hook out → studying and drinking our home-made blend of Earl Gray + Ceylon tea
P.S. This realisation actually happens to me often, but I didn't want to break the already somewhat chaotic flow of the post even more by stating it. ;)
P.P.S. Yes, I do realise the slight irony of me blogging about this.