‘Beauty And The Beast’

Jack Durish (http://www.jackdurish.com) and Chris Martin (http://www.chrismartinwrites.com) write some provocative posts and they stirred my neurons. They got me to thinking about this frenzied two-polar high tech and emotional world in which we live today. They got me to thinking about a simple phrase uttered by Arnold Swartzenegger in one of his films: “I’ll be back!” They got me to thinking about the ‘yesterdays’ that can be no more…two talented writers, concerned about, confused about, thinking about the misty elements that control the hours of our collective existence.

Does anyone really doubt that the ‘machines’ have taken over the world? Sure, the takeover was helped along by the dual wizardry of Computer and Corporate genius. It is very likely that these minds envisioned what they were creating. It is also likely that their creations far exceeded their expectations. For certain, these minds had no choice…their visions, their competitive juices, their incredible brain power made the reality of our ‘today’ inevitable.

As Jack Durish opines in his most recent post, most of the world has fallen into the routine of fast text messaging while dining out in a fine restaurant, while driving, while taking a walk, virtual slaves to their new world of electronic gadgetry. Writers of great talent wonder why their books are not selling. They are trying everything they know in promoting their novels, but nothing seems to encourage sales. The naysayers might suggest the product has flaws, that established authors always sell their books (sure! with mega-bucks for promotion, TV appearances, media blitzes, and, sure great writing), but the issue is not so basic and simple, methinks. The ‘future’ is now, that ‘future’ many of us saw coming but were so beguiled by its on-rushing dazzle and seeming utility that we accepted it without thinking…but, then, what else were we to do? Life could be handled by the ‘machines’ and without our expending too much effort.

So, here we are, smack dab in the middle of a ‘science fiction’ movie and we can’t walk out of it. Our lives always had its routines, but today the routines are connected to the laptop, the internet, the social media, so many avenues of choice. Our days are gone before we know it as we lose ourselves in the magic of cyberspace. My wife still reads her books (on her laptop). I still pretend I’m a writer (on my laptop). God forbid our internet system goes down! We’re lost, even angry at the down time. My wife gets her reading done. I get my writing done, sort of, because there is the need to nourish my twitter, my facebook, my goodreads, my, my, my!

We don’t talk so much anymore because we might be interrupting each other as we peck away at our laptops. We don’t talk so much because now we have gone through the laptop wars of the day and are watching our favorite TV shows we taped over a period of days. We don’t walk as often as we once did. Our ‘get up and go’ just ‘got up and went.’ We don’t go out to dinner as often as we once did, socialize one-on-one with friends as often as we once did…we do so much socializing on the laptop. We don’t read as much or in the same manner we once did, and we perhaps don’t read the classics so much anymore, or, that big old tome we call the Holy Bible.

The other consideration, even with all the above rambling, this new world of electronic gadgetry could be a fun and good thing. Maybe many folks still have time for conversing, for reading, for socializing outside the web fare, and for walking and staying in shape. For this ‘old dog learning new tricks’ the new digital world can get confoundingly frustrating at times. It is during those times that I wonder just where the world is heading. One thing seems rather certain to me: the machines are indeed a controlling factor in my life.

One thing is also sure, should I awake in the morning, I’ll be sitting in this spot on the love seat beginning my day of routines. I’ll still be promoting my books, still writing posts, still finishing my next book, and still waiting for some bright light to go off in my head that makes sense of all that I’m doing. I’ll still be trying to figure it all out while I’m thanking my God for blessing my life.

Hope you were not thinking this post would offer some quick fixes to potential problems. Hell, who is smart enought to outwit these machines? Me, I’m hoping for ‘Divine Intervention.’

And, how was your day?

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