Quite early this morning I stopped to grab a cup of coffee at a fast food restaurant and happened to notice two seventy something people inside drinking coffee while reading the paper and intermittently chatting. Since I had to wait a few extra minutes, I had time to take a closer look at their interaction. I was certain they were truly enjoying their time together. They didn’t have cell phones from which they were constantly looking for text messages, and they weren’t plugged-in to any forms audio equipment. They were simply enjoying their time together. I fear that the by-product of all these extra stimuli going forward in time will be the children of today becoming the patients of tomorrow. Likely there will be an extra amount of arthritic thumb joints, severe hearing loss, and anti-anxiety drugs to be taken. The human minds and bodies were not made to be pushed to the limit without future consequences. With all the law suits being filed against companies as well as associations regarding effects of continued exposures to mental and bodily stress in the workplace, I believe we all need to step back and think forward. I’ve personally known people nearly all my life and watched as a by-stander the causes and effects of these types of continued exposures.
On this very day when the Super Bowl is being played, I thought of the aging football players who are now suffering from chronic physical as well as mental problems. Their beginnings were on the football field and exacerbated there as well. I have hated football since I was a small child. My older brothers would hog the television during our limited hours of viewing to watch a sport I considered barbaric.
So many people fear getting old and being confined to their homes or apartments. I completely dis-agree. As long as our seniors have all the basic needs and something to read and watch on television, then they are likely quite content. I spoke with one of my very dear friends today who is likely one of the most well read women west of the Mississippi. Due to her acute understanding of likely everything, she causes me to laugh both internally as well as externally. I would beg her to run for a political office, but I’m convinced she is having too much fun being the fly in the ointment. My hat goes off to her.
If every living person would find a comfortable chair or sofa, un-plug and set aside all the social annoyances, then there would be a renaissance of people who would say “No” to anyone invading their time of simplicity. Have you ever noticed, even man-made machines need a rest. Let us all reach for the dawn of our own simplicity.
