Saturday night I was sitting at the SSB with my cell phone showing I had a bar a and the computer was reading no internet access. Well this is something I really don't understand. I did have a connection on Wednesday with the same bar thingy showing, but I was connected to the rest of the world. Up there, it seems as though I am allowed one day of connections.
I was fuming and venting when G brought things into focus for me. He said "there were people sitting around this spot 150 years ago playing dominoes by lantern light." That set me thinking about his ancestors doing just that. They probably weren't in our exact spot. Their cabin was and still is on SIL's property. All those thousands of acres were a good day's ride from the main settlement.
And here I sat with towers beaming signals to little palm sized computers that we call a cell phone, satellites beaming hundreds of channels to fill our hours in front of the tv. And the tv - well, G and I decided a few months ago that our old eyes couldn't see the 27" color tv sitting in its cabinet so we went for the 42" flat screen. We are in a climate controlled house with a real floor - not the dirt one, although I really have the feeling the cabin had a wood floor from the get go. We have a solid roof overhead, and everything tight to keep the gales that are almost ever present at bay.
Yes, we have come so far. Then I returned to the news on tv. It was covering the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. As I looked at the destruction, I was stricken at the mass destruction. They were interviewing an American teacher who managed to survive it all, but lost many people. There are no words for this. The nuclear plants possibly leaking radiation. It is just so much to try to take in.
And yet, here around the world, we sit with our snug houses, warm (or cool) houses, tv and computer service (maybe if I hold my mouth just so and the connections happen to meet). All these pleasures we take for granted. I'll bet they did too.
Peace be with you
3 comments:
I've been thinking about that too - or at least being so comfortable here with so many people homeless in Japan, and having to deal with radiation on top of no water, bugs, the weather, no bed, the list is endless. And all of us who sit at home thinking it could never happen to us? We've got fault lines and nuclear power plants here too. Just no ocean to make it even worse.
It just goes to show ya how life can change at the snap of a finger. I for one would never argue with Mother Nature. She's an angry dude (dude-ess?) at times.
100 years ago, my great uncles were being run out of Alabama for stealing horses.
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