I can't sleep…
A few days ago I spent a couple of minutes in St. Mary’s Basilica—it was a weekday—where perhaps a dozen people were kneeling in prayer.
Every now and then someone’s cell phone rang.
Horizontal communication refused to surrender, it kept on battling its vertical counterpart.
~ Adam Zagajewski, Slight Exaggeration: An Essay
Notes:
Q: Do you still not own a cellphone?
Herzog: I’m the only thinking person I know without one. I don’t want to be available at all times. Permanent connectivity isn’t my thing; I have always needed moments of quiet solitude for myself. There’s a Chinese poem from the Tang dynasty about someone describing a boat journey along the Yellow River and leaving his friend behind, a monk on a mountain, in the knowledge that they probably won’t see each other or have any contact for years. This man’s return, decades later, has an indescribable substance and depth. Compare this to standing in line at the airport, chatting on your cellphone to your loved one, who is waiting in the car park. There is too much shallow contact in our lives. I prefer to be face to face; I want the person I’m communicating with to be so close I can put my hand on their shoulder. Text messaging is the bastard child handed to us by the absence of reading.
Q: You use the Internet. Continue reading “Humility is scarce and mediocrity flows from every direction”
5:58 pm. Today.
| Rachel: | Hi Dad! |
| Dad: | GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS? |
| Rachel: | What? |
| Dad: | GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS? |
| Rachel: | DAD! Why are you yelling? |
| Dad: | GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS? |
| Rachel: | OK Dad. It’s Monday. What’s Up? |
| Dad: | You didn’t return my call last night. |
| Rachel: | I didn’t have time. I was busy studying for a big test. |
| Dad: | Really? |
| Rachel: | Really. |
| Dad: | GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS? |
| Rachel: | (Silence. She’s been at this show before. Boom coming down) |
| Dad: | Honey, today is PARENTS’ APPRECIATION DAY! |
| Rachel: | What? |
| Dad: | Yes. From 7pm to 10pm, you will appreciate your Parents. |
| Rachel: | (Silence. She’s not sure where this is going but she knows it’s a bad place.) |
| Dad: | I checked our bill during the time you were busy doing homework last night. |
| Dad: | Looks like you had plenty of time to send text messages to your friends. |
| Rachel: | (More silence) |
| Dad: | So, your cell service will be cut off from 7pm to 10pm. |
| Rachel: | OK Dad. |
| Dad: | Love you Honey. Can you hear me now? |
