Handcuffs and Headaches

For many years (until she passed away) I would make time each week to visit an elderly lady in Irvine. We would always go for a walk around Woodbridge Lake. Pao Chi Chen was in her late 80’s but she loved to walk and be outdoors observing nature. She also loved to observe people as well, but not in a judgmental way. She was a truly caring person with intense insight and exponential wisdom wrought from years of hardship and struggle. She loved people of all races, and they must have loved her because half the people we passed by knew her and said hi to her. Maybe that is why she was always smiling.

Sometimes when we would go for a walk (okay every time we went for a walk) my cell phone would ring. I tried not to take calls because I wanted to focus on my friend, but one time I asked Pao Chi if she ever thought about getting a cell phone. She laughed and smiled and said, “I do not like headaches.” Pao Chi did not own a cell phone, a computer or even a fax machine. She had never been on the internet, never texted, tweeted or emailed. She has never “friended” or “liked” or seen a Facebook page and had absolutely no idea what I meant when I referred to social media, yet she is supremely happy and at peace with the world… and you can see it in her beautiful smile.

That got me thinking this weekend about how much life has changed over the last 50 years. My happiest moments as a child and even as a teenager did not involve an electronic device. One particularly fond memory I have is waking up real early on a Saturday morning and hiking to a nearby lake with my dog. We came over a hill in a heavily wooded area and the wild green grass was so tall that my dog disappeared into it. He started barking at me and we both started running through the wet grass, down the hill, with him jumping up into the air so he could find me as we ran and me laughing at how silly he looked. It was fun and it was funny and yet nobody captured it with a cell phone video. Darn!

It seems like young people today are absolutely handcuffed to electronic devices 24/7. I guess they have to be because that’s the way the world operates now. But are they better off? I’m not sure, but most of the time when I see them, they don’t seem to be smiling. Maybe they have headaches!

I keep the telephone of my mind open to peace, harmony, health and love.  

Then, whenever doubt, anxiety or fear try to call me, 

they keep getting a busy signal - and soon they'll forget my number.

~ Edith Armstrong