See You Around The Bend

     Hey, everyone!! I figured I might as well take some time off and just write about what it means to live in today's world. Have you ever thought of how people must have lived, say, around the 18th or even the early 19th century? Well, let's just take it all in perspective. For sure technology isn't as it is today and the leaps and bounds we experience in medicine that we often take for granted wasn't available to people then so we can pretty much expect their life expectancy to be much lower without the advent of antibiotics. People back then didn't really have the creature comforts we have at home like heating and pretty much have to do with spartan accommodations. Travelling meant either via horseback or carriage. You pretty much get the picture, right?

     Well, fast-forward to today. Have you ever wondered what sort of pressure we have to constantly cope with just to keep up with the times? If you aren't proficient in almost anything it's hard to keep abreast with the goings on with today's fast-paced living. I guess the most  obvious question I would like to pose is this," Is technology imprisoning us?". Are we so dependent on it that we simply can't live without it? Imagine losing your cellphone for a week and the stress you have to put up with trying to update contacts and replying to messages. Is life really easier this way? Well, let's step back for a minute and try to see the whole dilemma on a more natural light. Technology is in and of itself a tool. A tool we devise and utilize to make our lives easier, to say the least. Yet, as we progress and as the world's population continues to grow we find ourselves facing more diseases, more wars, more epidemics than before. Yet we tiptoe on the belief that there is always a cure, somewhere, around the bend. Are we really finding more solutions to problems we ourselves incur? 

     There is no real answer to the question when the question itself seems rather inadequately asked. Life is full of mysteries but certain things in life are immovable. These truths do not change regardless what timeline you wish to live in or what type of lifestyle you aspire of living. Don't be caught up so much with the world around you because there is so much more out there. So much more for you to see, to feel, to experience. There are parts of the world where television, the internet, or even cellphones are non-existant but people still live in harmony with nature. A place where people listen to what nature tells them, where they still tell time by the seasons and not by the hours of a day. They are more intact, more real in their relationships with one another, and there is a rather discreet genuine aura around them. When we picture a society like this we immediately associate it with tribal groups of people or people closed off to the world outside. 

     In my travels I have met some of these people and my first assumption  of our encounter was they would see me in awe. A man with a camera and a medicine bag, with stethoscope in vest, must seem rather strange to a group of people who still pound tree barks or dry deerskin for clothing. I assumed wrongly. Yes, they were curious and no they weren't awed by our presence. They simply asked a lot of questions and although, try as I might, answer their questions to the best of my abilities and somewhat limited understanding of what they actually understand about 21st century living, I probably induced more confusion than clarity. It was until my interpreter told me that they couldn't quite grasp why we have lost our connection to mother nature, why we need to drink medicine in the form of tablets or capsules when the leaf of the plant I was sitting next to can do a better job curing my indigestion. Where have we gone wrong? Why don't we harness knowledge like this? 

     Sometimes I think it is we who are primitive because we simply can't live in a world without technology. If we were thrown back to the byzantine age we probably still don't know how to start cook fire with primitive tools. Heck, we can be thrown back to the 15th or 16th century and we still couldn't do it. We have lost a lot of skills and knowledge when we became slaves to technology. Most importantly, we are beginning to lose ourselves. We feel less connected with the world and one another, less accessible, and less available. We simply run out of time to connect with the people we love and the world in general. The internet has made it easier for us, albeit less genuine. We need to feel more, hug more, pat each other on the back more, shake each others hands more. A connection more real and tangible than emails or even social media can provide.

     So when I see you around the bend in this road called Life, I'll make sure to ask you how your'e doing, if your travels have been light, and if the road you are planning to take ahead is easy. You are never alone. We are also fellow travelers, and it makes no sense travelling alone when we can share a good story or two along the way. Until our next post, folks. Take Care.