Be a Neo-Luddite!

Dear Boo and Bubble,

Captain and I drove down to the Banner Elk Café this morning for breakfast.  On the way, we stopped at our mailbox to gather the accumulation of deposits from the last couple of days.  Very little of the contents had anything to do specifically with us since most of it was impersonal mass mail.  However, there was one unexpected jewel amongst the rubbish – immediately recognizable by the distinct, meticulous handwriting. It was a letter from your great Aunt Doris (Uncle Bryant’s widow) and, from the delicious plumpness of the envelope, I knew she had penned an epistle.

This is the beautiful thing about Doris.  Her chosen mode of communication is that of time consuming, thoughtful, often tedious messaging by old-fashioned labor – the written word.  No texting – no email – no FaceBook – no Instagram – no Twitter.  And when you are fortunate enough to be the recipient, you can readily understand how these other methods pale in comparison as a means of expression.

I hastily tore open the envelope and read the letter aloud to Captain as we made our way to the café.  The first part dwelled on her enjoyment of Aunt Bee and Uncle Drew’s wedding two weeks ago…..and then an urgent hope that they had found her gift to them – a compilation of Uncle Bryant’s original barbecue sauce recipes.  The last two pages then

focused on one of Doris’s constant refrains – getting together for a visit.  

“Final thought:  you know, sometimes in our lives we can almost hear time whizzing past our ears.  Weddings, graduations, funerals, reunions, baby showers, birthdays – all marker events that remind us to ‘seize the day.’ But if you know your Latin, carpe diem really means ‘pluck the day,’ like you would an especially fragrant flower.  Well, I want us to start ‘plucking’ more days together.

I don’t want us to lose each other.  Because that’s too, too easy to do, especially (I think) in this era of social media, which, to be sure, I personally do not participate in directly, having no computer or even a smart phone.  (And I couldn’t operate either one if I did!)

But it seems to me that – wonderful as FaceBook and Skyping can be – it creates a false sense of intimacy.  A false ‘knowing’ even.  It’s information and images, not face-to-face reality.  Sight, not insight.  A seductive substitute for true encounter, if you will.

And right about now in this missive, all my kids and grandkids are hollering in the background, ‘Oh, Mom/Grandmommy, you’re such a Neo-Luddite!”  Um- yeah – I am! You can’t smell a rose over an iPad.  You can’t hug a neck by Skype.

So can’t we please all start to get together IN PERSON more often?”

We arrived at the café and found a table next to a window.  After placing our order for breakfast, Captain immediately took out our iPhone and dove into it scrolling through some news articles downloaded by an app he enjoys.  At a table across from us, a man and woman sat facing each other, heads down, both poking at their phones, not talking or engaged with each other.  Not having any device in my possession to offer a similar diversion, I sat there watching and Doris’s cautionary words bubbled up in my mind.

Maybe we would all be better off being Neo-Luddites!!