By Jack Linden.
Another year has passed and they only seem to pass more quickly as we grow older. Remember the days when Christmas never got here. We were sure the teacher added more days to the school year just to make our summer vacation shorter and the school year longer. None of this was true of course, but in our minds, we were pretty sure it was.
As we grow older we look back and rue some of the things that we have done and wish that we had done others. But we are really wasting our mental time doing that. We would be better served to remember those times that were pleasant and use them as a guide for the coming year.
Did you have a pleasant conversation with a friend or relative? The laughter and exchange of ideas is a time to remember. Why not create another one of those moments by calling someone who you remember? If the person in your memory is gone, isn’t there someone you wish you could have a similar conversation with? Pick up the phone and call them. Yes, you can create good memories.
When was the last time you received a handwritten letter? Remember the smile it brought you. Remember how you sat and pondered what the writer said? We are rapidly losing that historical record of our friends. It is so easy to sit down at the computer and send an email or use the phone to send a text. These mediums are so cold and impersonal. There is no warmth because you can’t really imagine that person’s voice as you read the lines. Does that “Christmas letter” you send in a card with only your name in ink really convey your feelings toward the recipient? No matter how nice the letter is, it does not convey the smile in your voice or the twinkle in your eye.
We Americans have become too dependent on machines to do personal things. We rely on machines to convey our personal thoughts, even to the point that we let the machine control the spelling and sometimes even the words that goes into our correspondence.
It seems we have fulfilled the prophecy of social scientists years ago who said we were becoming a ‘materialistic society.’ It amazes me to see people standing in line to be the first to have some electronic device. We have become addicted to machines rather than relying on ourselves.
What simple act can replace this? Perhaps walking with the family in a park would bring as much happiness and fond memories as sitting around the tree opening gifts.
At this New Year, let us begin to think of our own relationships with others. Let us renew some of those quaint relationships from the past. Let us be more personal without machines and use those talents we each have. No, your penmanship may not meet the Palmer method, but it is you.
When we wish someone a Happy New Year, make sure we are going to be a “new me” as a part of that New Year.
