| |
| |
|
|
| |
Looking Back, Seeing Forward
Ayear’s end is a logical time when we reflect, review and reminisce, slowly looking back. In contrast, many will have a full-throttle rush into 2010, technologically speaking: emailing, blogging, texting, cell phone videotaping, and using every high-tech device possible to get everything done quickly.
We look ahead, initially, in a rightfully self-centered way, often viewing the approaching new year as a chance to personally “do it again,” “get it right,” “keep a commitment,” “start a new habit” or “stop that old habit.” Nowadays, we can even post our thoughts online as soon as we think them up, literally, within microseconds.
How many of us resolve to spend time more thoughtfully, less rushed in 2010?
Time to Recall
 Exiting 2009, we’ll likely slow down long enough to recount the outward-focused events of the year that may have changed who we are forever. Our year-in-review likely stems from images broadcast on high-definition TVs, flashed on Blackberries, downloaded and RSS fed to our computers.
We think about the experiences that changed our nation forever, from a landmark new presidency to the loss of a mega-celebrity icon. Several world renowned notables, as well as members of our personal circles passed from this earthly life during 2009 with little time to speak farewells.
Some of our loved ones, sadly, will not be at our New Year’s celebrations this time, nor will they be sending familiar messages anymore to our PDAs and PC screens. Mindfully and with fond memories, we take all of them forward with us, as we should, into 2010 and beyond.
Those of us at Vegas Community Online, along with our beloved VCO Friday Flyer readers, took the remainder of 2009 to celebrate and commemorate Marleen Carol Marino, VCO’s founder and guiding spirit. In order to honor the steadfast hours of work she invested without fail into VCO and her writers every week, the editorial, programming and writers’ support team keep this human-devised, tech-driven mission going. It is an honor and a commitment for all of us.
Other honored locals—Danny Gans, “Bucky” Buchanan, our fallen police officers, public servants, civic leaders and pioneers, who also passed from our Las Vegas community in 2009—will remain in our collective thoughts, prayers and fondest memories, along with our belated family members, friends and loved ones.
Our hearts are our luggage, our annual traveling bags, which we pack with beautiful, supportive thoughts for each other and our loved ones to journey into the New Year. Let’s make this one-way trip with joy and eager optimism, tempered by time and tolerance.
Take space in the days ahead to re-read any quick notes lovingly sent by email or smile at stored digital images of our beloved, departed friends and pleasant events gone by. Fortunately, some technology better enables us to store our permanent, sentimental keepsakes.
Fast Forward
More than ever, there is critical mass from countless growth-spurts in technology—Twitter, iPhones, netbooks, cell phone functionalities, imaging, etc.—which has changed how our world interacts, shares and supports each other in glad or tragic times.
I think of the young protesters in Iran whose struggles, chilling voices and images were e-blasted globally from pole to pole by all those wondrous technological means.
It’s all good, as Urbonics would phrase it, and it’s all so lightning fast. Sometimes, it’s too fast for accuracy and too quick for contemplation.
In the next year, our innermost thoughts, most compelling global interactions, communications about anything we see, hear or feel, will be pushed by warp-speed technological advancements, so we must adjust ourselves accordingly but with forethought.
 First week of January, the International Consumer Electronics Show or CES returns to Las Vegas to show the latest in personal communications, computing and entertainment devices guaranteed to increase our collective capacity to do things faster and broader. Get a preview of exhibitors and advanced technology products at www.CESweb.org.
 
Yep, things are running faster and faster. Sure, I’m ready for the more rapid pace. After all, I was prepared for the advent of touch-tone dialing, voicemail, caller ID, three-way-call, the first cell phones, the world-wide-Web dotcom, and all the other then-new technologies since the dawn of man.
My concern for the second decade of this millennium, however, is how fast we will pass our time away, and how fast it will fly by us. How rapidly will news spread, and will it be too fast for the media’s verification? Will we do things so quickly that we lose the humanity that previously kept interpersonal communications so rich and enduring? Will we have such a need for speed that we “communicate” anything and everything right now, this second, no matter the cost to our integrity?
I’m concerned whether reduced time constraints will lead to the often-seen idiocy of immediacy. I wonder if instant reaction, instant gratification, instant anything, will diminish the value of everything. It could.
I’d rather have mature insight than merely the new energy to incite an online chain chat. I’d like to use AT/XT thoughtfulness in a post-Pentium world. I prefer analog analysis versus a digitized dash to destructive outcomes.
Slow and Steady
 Maybe one of the sure signs of aging is nostalgia for the slower, “old days.” I’d rather think of it as embracing the wisdom and experience of history, rather than a slowdown of the mind. Yeah, that’s it: I’m growing wiser, not slower.
Well, I’d like to ponder this matter more, but…
I’ve got 20 emails to send, three text messages to reply to, and a webinar to catch in 15 minutes. Before that, I have to upload holiday pictures to the quick photo shop for prints in an hour.
Oh yes, then I have to send that adorable shot of my niece by picture mail on my new cell phone. (We are going to order a fully customized calendar online for delivery in only two days!)
Okay, okay, I get it. Don’t knock it. Faster technology does make many things better.
Someone wisely said, “Without contrast there is no value.”
I’m just saying, don’t forget to value and appreciate how long it used to take to do these things before technology made a seven-days-by-mail task possible in seven nanoseconds. At least, it’s nice to recall what it was like to take one’s time to do things. (And back then, we never regretted hitting send on an email, which—oops—should never have been sent!)
So, no matter how fast things can and will move in the years ahead, there is wisdom in taking time to think before acting. Take time to express the unspoken. Sometimes, even write letters by hand (a dying art we should preserve).
It’s worth noting that along with high-tech tools, some of us still used a traditional telephone, ink pen and the U.S. Postal Service “snail mail” to send our greetings, messages and expressions about personal and world events. Mail carriers need jobs, too!
Rushing is not always wise. Slow down when speed is not mandatory. Use discretion. Stop to remember the sweet yesterdays, and savor today before running headlong into tomorrow.
Think of all the people, events and moments that have ceased to race alongside us. No super-speed device that humankind could ever invent is better than those memories. People deserve our time and presence in the moment. That’s what matters most.
Enjoy your day, week, year, and cherish the moments for the rest of your life.
Happy New Year (and, don’t forget to email me your comments. LOL)!
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Parker Philpot is a freelance journalist, editor, publisher and commentator based in Southern Nevada. With her love of information, detail and humor, From Parker’s Pen covers topics from laughter to tears, business to babies, A to Z! Send email to parker@columnist.com or call (702) 391-5399.
The above article is the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of Vegas Community Online, its editors/publishers, and/or other Vegas Community Online columnists. VCO respects the right of each author to express their opinion. If you have an opposing viewpoint or would like to send feedback on any article, please send email to feedback@vegascommunityonline.com; state the title of the article and your comments. VCO reserves the right to add any submissions to its feedback page.
|
|
|
|
