Do our screens and gadgets keep us from noticing what's going on around us? Does our technology keep us from face-to-face situations and the unspoken obligations that go with them? I've asked myself more than once these questions, especially when I see people crossing streets with a phone in their ear and paying no attention to the traffic.
The question of our unspoken obligations to one another has been debated many times before. All I can add is that our smarts phones with their cameras and video recorders have proved very useful in assisting police in times of trouble. Not to mention they can be used to call the police or ambulance.
Though what do you say to people who insist they can drive their car and talk on the phone at the same time? Even with a "hands free" device this is a difficult task. How did we ever survive for so long without being able to drive and talk on the phone? Have we created a society which is so pressed for time that we have to openly disregard the law about driving and using our cell phones? It's obviously worse in our cities and on our highways to engage in this practice, but who's to say you couldn't drive off a back country road and end up in a ditch.
I wish I had a simple solution and could apply it to everyone at every time. It might upset most busy folks to realize they are not as busy as they feel, and could possibly wait until they reach their destination to make a call, or simply pull over and turn off the engine.
I suppose I'm feeling my age because I can still easily recall a time when we weren't presented with such dilemmas. It was a time where pay phones or borrowing the use of a friend's land line phone were all we had if we needed to make a call. Maybe we were less transitory back then but I suspect we are likely more anxious now. Hard to believe we could be more anxious than in a time where two Superpowers had hundreds of nukes pointed at each other and the tension was palpable; a single hotline was all that separated us from a catastrophe.
The case can be made that we do live in a more dangerous and uncivil age. If so, then my hope is that we all remember a time when it wasn't so extreme and lend a hand when asked or when you see someone who needs one. Believe you have a sense of duty to those around you and trust this feeling will make a difference in how everybody feels.
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Animals
Our pets keep us honest. If we were lucky enough to grow up with one or two around the house then they likely saw us in some awkward moments. They couldn't judge us and, in particular, our dogs viewed us through rose colored glasses. It always seemed to me they saw our best selves every day, unless they weren't feeling well. Then it was always up to us, if we were smart, to try to live up to their expectations and repay the kindness by trying to make them feel better.
My current dog is named Angus. We wanted a good Scottish name for him and I immediately was reminded of the wonderful butler in the original PBS series "Upstairs, Downstairs."
In the very first episode he spoke of learning the lesson of humility as a young man, and never having forgotten it. This always struck me as the essence of common sense, but something rarely seen in practice! I suppose by naming a dog after a fictional character who had uttered such a worldly wise bit of advice I hoped it would help remind me to hold my tongue. Unfortunately, Angus is not always around when I need reminding. Though when he is by my side, he induces a feeling of confidence and well being that often times makes we forget what it was that might have tempted me to say something in haste, that I would regret later.
In recent years I made friends with some of the animals at the Central Park. Here are Scooter and April. They are very smart sea lions who know exactly when dinner time is, even if we humans have turned the clock back in the autumn or ahead in the spring.
My current dog is named Angus. We wanted a good Scottish name for him and I immediately was reminded of the wonderful butler in the original PBS series "Upstairs, Downstairs."
In the very first episode he spoke of learning the lesson of humility as a young man, and never having forgotten it. This always struck me as the essence of common sense, but something rarely seen in practice! I suppose by naming a dog after a fictional character who had uttered such a worldly wise bit of advice I hoped it would help remind me to hold my tongue. Unfortunately, Angus is not always around when I need reminding. Though when he is by my side, he induces a feeling of confidence and well being that often times makes we forget what it was that might have tempted me to say something in haste, that I would regret later.
In recent years I made friends with some of the animals at the Central Park. Here are Scooter and April. They are very smart sea lions who know exactly when dinner time is, even if we humans have turned the clock back in the autumn or ahead in the spring.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Saturday, November 09, 2013
Public Places of Amusement
In our younger days we visited public places of amusement like the Club 300 Bowling Alley, the Warner Theatre, Yankee and Shea Stadiums, Madison Square Garden, and the various carnivals that toured through our area in the summer months. We ate out on special occasions like when we visited a ballpark or a carnival and ate what they sold and it wasn't a big expense. A big expense would have been taking our Mom out for her birthday to a place like Stasny's in Waldwick.
Presently, The Club 300 Bowling Alley is long gone, as are Yankee and Shea Stadiums. Stasny's was replaced in 1989 by Nellie's Place. The Warner Theatre has divided itself in 4 parts, and fewer carnivals tour across the area.
Families eat out more often now and the options are seemingly limitless, with no special occasion necessary, like a mother's birthday, needed to send the family out the door. This is all easily justified by our more hectic lifestyles and the fact that many families have two incomes and no time to shop, let along cook when the work day is over.
Now we all have more entertainment options in our cell phones and tablets than any of us could have ever obtained from our TV sets and their antennas back in the day. It's now wonder places of public amusement have been in a long decline. The sad part is that people with different incomes used to come together and mingle, if only for a short time. If everyone was playing pinball together or rooting for a professional sports team, then we all shared a common struggle and felt a sense of community, albeit a simple and fleeting one.
The new Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, and Madison Square are now places of exclusivity. Court side seats or box seat behind home plate can cost thousands. Even the $5 and $6 seats up in the nosebleed sections are priced to dearly to be anything more than once a year event or the result of a gift from a corporation.
I am not asking that we return to the days of smokey bowling alleys and limited options for dining out. Nor do I want to tax the richest to the point where they want to hide their money overseas. It's just that it appears all of the talk of the 1% is more than hyperbole, and constitutes a loss of something nameless that we might look back on and regret.
People of all incomes coming together was a educational experience that I am glad I experienced. We used to sit in the rafters of Madison Square Garden in the early 1970s, and listen to the salty conversations of the New York sports writers. The arena was loud with fan noise and the organ playing of Eddie Layton. There was no need to fill the place with ear splitting rock n' roll during timeouts. We created our own atmosphere and urged on our home team Knicks and Rangers by contributing our voices to chants of "Defense" which would certainly distract opponents if not strike fear in their hearts. It doesn't work like this anymore. Just count the empty seats from the comfort of your home TV screen at any sporting event and you will know what I mean.
Presently, The Club 300 Bowling Alley is long gone, as are Yankee and Shea Stadiums. Stasny's was replaced in 1989 by Nellie's Place. The Warner Theatre has divided itself in 4 parts, and fewer carnivals tour across the area.
Families eat out more often now and the options are seemingly limitless, with no special occasion necessary, like a mother's birthday, needed to send the family out the door. This is all easily justified by our more hectic lifestyles and the fact that many families have two incomes and no time to shop, let along cook when the work day is over.
Now we all have more entertainment options in our cell phones and tablets than any of us could have ever obtained from our TV sets and their antennas back in the day. It's now wonder places of public amusement have been in a long decline. The sad part is that people with different incomes used to come together and mingle, if only for a short time. If everyone was playing pinball together or rooting for a professional sports team, then we all shared a common struggle and felt a sense of community, albeit a simple and fleeting one.
The new Yankee Stadium, Citi Field, and Madison Square are now places of exclusivity. Court side seats or box seat behind home plate can cost thousands. Even the $5 and $6 seats up in the nosebleed sections are priced to dearly to be anything more than once a year event or the result of a gift from a corporation.
I am not asking that we return to the days of smokey bowling alleys and limited options for dining out. Nor do I want to tax the richest to the point where they want to hide their money overseas. It's just that it appears all of the talk of the 1% is more than hyperbole, and constitutes a loss of something nameless that we might look back on and regret.
People of all incomes coming together was a educational experience that I am glad I experienced. We used to sit in the rafters of Madison Square Garden in the early 1970s, and listen to the salty conversations of the New York sports writers. The arena was loud with fan noise and the organ playing of Eddie Layton. There was no need to fill the place with ear splitting rock n' roll during timeouts. We created our own atmosphere and urged on our home team Knicks and Rangers by contributing our voices to chants of "Defense" which would certainly distract opponents if not strike fear in their hearts. It doesn't work like this anymore. Just count the empty seats from the comfort of your home TV screen at any sporting event and you will know what I mean.
Saturday, November 02, 2013
Autumn in the NorthEastern US
When I lived away from the northeast and didn't have autumn leaves to ponder, I often felt a sense of loss. It was autumn's sweet melancholy that I was missing. The notion implied is that people from the northeast can physically leave their surroundings but will always wonder, no matter where they live, how the leaves are looking back home.
This week on my block in Forest Hills the autumn color fest, which brings countless people here to gawk, is approaching its peak. The turning of the leaves is something that binds us to simpler times when we pressed the leaves in books and brought them to school, or when we used to pile the leaves on our lawns and then jump into the center. No thought was given for broken bones as our young bodies protected us and in our innocence we always seemed to find the soft center of the pile.
Hope you get a chance to see the leaves, and/or at least consider their everlasting effect on our lives.
Here is a photo taken today by our classmate Carol Nelson:
This week on my block in Forest Hills the autumn color fest, which brings countless people here to gawk, is approaching its peak. The turning of the leaves is something that binds us to simpler times when we pressed the leaves in books and brought them to school, or when we used to pile the leaves on our lawns and then jump into the center. No thought was given for broken bones as our young bodies protected us and in our innocence we always seemed to find the soft center of the pile.
Hope you get a chance to see the leaves, and/or at least consider their everlasting effect on our lives.
Here is a photo taken today by our classmate Carol Nelson:
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