Handcuffs & Headaches

Once a week I visit an elderly lady friend of mine and we go for a walk around Woodbridge Lake. Pao Chi Chen might be 89 years old but she still loves to walk and be outdoors observing nature. She also loves to observe people as well, but not in a judgmental way. She is a truly caring person with intense insight and exponential wisdom wrought from years of hardship and struggle (not to mention living in seven countries and learning to speak five languages). She loves people and they must love her because half the people we pass by know her and wave and say hi to her. Maybe that is why she is always smiling.

 

Sometimes when we go for a walk (okay every time we go for a walk) my cell phone rings. I try not to take calls because I want to focus on my friend, but recently 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 does not own a cell phone, a computer or even a fax machine. She has never been on the internet, never texted, tweeted or emailed. She has never “friended” or “liked” or seen a Facebook page and has absolutely no idea what I mean when I refer 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 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