You never quite know where life leads

So many people adopt the “vibe” that is prevalent around them, which essentially turn their main power over to whatever may be prevailing at the time. If things are generally going bad or poor then that is the direction fro which they are attracted.

However there are others that seem to have a rosier-than-usual outlook about life and no matter what is happening around them they seem to at least put on a positive image of optimism.

Even though you never quite know where life may be headed or exactly what the future unfolds, you do have something to say about how you position your attitude.

Those who portray a happy outlook in spite of things around them make the choice to be optimistic rather than pessimistic. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are happy about bad things, but that they intentionally choose to hold on to a positive attitude.

The really strange phenomenal is how our attitudes seem to paint our world and even attract the vibes that we send out into the world. Some call this the Law of Attraction, but it is not this mystical voodoo that some would like to sell you.

As you think you tend to create and manifest. As you hold a certain attitude it sends out vibrations into the universe that magnify the elements around you. Just as the earth, moon and other celestial bodies obey the laws of magnetism likewise do human beings.

There is an invisible element that you can’t see, but you are definitely the one that either consciously or unconsciously, sends out the signals that attract similar elements. This is simply one of the many laws of nature.

The more you learn to become conscious of the vibrations that you are sending, the more you should be able to control them. It is a matter of choice. People that are more optimistic choose to be so in spite of the conditions that are revealed around them.

Even though this us usually somewhat difficult to achieve at times, “hard” is something that you must accept as a personal challenge in order to successfully control your attitude.

Like many of you I have read many books about the law of attraction and the power of positive thinking. I read “The Secret” that was a book and a very popular DVD that became a craze for a while. When it was popular positive vibrations were floating wildly among the consciousness of many people.

Like many such crazes once they fade back into the sub-consciousness it is almost as though it doesn’t exist any more, but that indeed is not the case. “Out of site and out of mind” is a phrase that goes with this scenario. Once it is out of your conscious mind you cease to control the intensity of the vibrations that you are emitting.

You are no longer in a state of heightened alert. Since you are no longer intentionally sending out positive signals you no longer attract them, at least not by choice. You are left to attracting the low hum that you are subconsciously sending, which is not usually always positive unless by nature you are a positive-perky-person.

I’m not saying anything new here. Perhaps you have heard a message similar to this a thousand times, but apparently after a spell you have forgotten this message and thereby sending it back to that “low hum,” as usual.

Might I suggest that if you do not like how things are going at least check your mind-set? Check your attitude and see if the needle is stuck on low energy or on the negative energies that are all too prevalent in today’s society.

Do something! Do anything but continue to allow a less-than-positive signal to emit from you like a cold dud. Once you turn your attitude around you will notice a remarkable difference in the things around you. Your attitude is literally painting the world around you.

Become a person that intentionally emits positive vibrations. Do this as a lifestyle. When you forget this message use your smart phones, or you email message alert to chime you ever so often reminding you that you never quite know where life may be headed.

Though we might not know exactly what might be in store for the future, the least we could do to help the situation is to keep a positive mental attitude about it (life) as you go through it.

You never know where good things may come from, but you can do all that is possible to attract the finer things your way. –Word Up! -  

Political Correctness

 PC, as commonly abbreviated, denotes posturing language, ideas, policies, and behaviors that seek to minimize social and institutional offense to an excessive extent. It simply means choosing to operate in a manner that does not ruffle too many feathers. It is the aspect of trying to walk a thin line so as not to overly offend others, aiming for as few as possible.

In today’s society the term is really a pejorative expression. It has lost its punch because no one can say they are the orthodox or supreme authority in reference to what is unilaterally offensive. In today's highly politically-charged atmosphere it is sometimes hard to tell the good guys from the bad ones.

Since America is, literally, a melting pot of nearly every nationality and cultural blend of people on the planet, where would any sort of gauge find its moral compass when it comes to offending the majority of the people? In some cultures cannibalism is right! 

In order to narrow this down we could use phrases such as “common decency” or “trying not to intentionally and knowingly offend others,” but that puts us back into trying to walk on eggshells because of not knowing where people keep their “offense button” hidden. You know… it’s a thin line between love and hate.

Since I have become somewhat unofficially a journalist, I understand the need to allow freedom of expression at least up to a point, because the only way to make changes in things that are institutionalized pejoratives is to allow those who are penalized to speak out in order to bring attention to whatever injustices have been made by their oppressors and thereby endeavor to correct that offense.

What seems to be of more concern to the general public is the fact that the compass once used to calculate correctness is all over the scale, therefore it is truly difficult to determine where social consciousness rests.

Things that were formerly politically correct, or as the case may be, incorrect, are no longer the same. Things that were morally offensive are no longer the same. Things that were thought to be common decency are no longer pinging the moral thermometer at the same mark.

In essence it appears that we have stirred up an ocean of sediment and it will take some time before all that “stuff” settles back down to its own bottom level again.

As each generation comes into dominance they usually usher in their own moral compass. Things that are common for me were not common for my parents. Things that are common for my children are not acceptable for me.

With this much constant fluctuation it is most difficult to set a deep enough anchor from which the masses can brace themselves. It is like riding on a small boat through very rough waters. One can only hold on to whatever in order to keep what small amount of balance possible.

What are the anchors that we still recognize as solid foundational bases? What are the pillars that have stood the test of time that the majority still respects? In truth many of those longstanding markers have faded into the past like the memory of a great sunset. Seemingly, they are no longer present. We only hope to keep some of their memories close enough that perhaps memories of them might make at least a slight difference.

One of the main issues here is that those who do not have or respect moral boundaries are learning how to set the slate. What’s popular or fashionable is becoming the new marker. The lines people draw in the sand are quickly disappearing.

Comedians poke fun at those who take a stand for righteousness sake. Our leaders and stars who bend or break the rules are raised to even higher stardom than they were before they committed their offenses.

Even being politically correct is a joke, because being politically incorrect is more fashionable. Why would our children want to be “good” when being “bad” gets them much more attention?

So where does this leave us? Are we willing to drop nearly all of our morality bars and go to a society where nearly anything goes? Do we really want to see a society of lawlessness? Is it even possible to put the cat back in the box now that we have let it out?

I’m not being cynical here! I’m only making observations of the pictures that have been so clearly painted. I have lost my desire to be politically correct because that bar has been set so low in the dungeons.

I’m no longer afraid to offend those who are being offensive. I will personally stand for what is right and decent regardless of popularity. I will not become a man that stands for nothing and thereby falls for anything.

For me, and my household, we still believe in godliness. And yes, that may be politically incorrect. My faith is not anchored upon being popular or being accepted by those who would gladly curse and spit on the very God that I believe in.

If being politically correct means that I should forego and forget about the God that I serve, or forego and forget about common sense principles of decency, then so be it. I can both live and die knowing that for me…I would have followed my heart to a place that is deeply hidden, where the spirit of God lives in me. Trust not in things that are seen, but instead those that are unseen. Selah!   

360 degrees of right and wrong

 Have you ever wondered why there are organizations such as the KKK, Skin Heads, Aryan Nation, National Alliance, National Socialist Movement, New Black Panther Party, White Order of Thule, Jewish Defense League, or even the Nation of Islam?

If you google the term “hate groups” you will see a list of groups considered supremacist, separatist, or racist. Many of these groups have extremely loyal and very dedicated members. They believe very deeply in their creed and mission, which is basically to separate themselves from others they consider either a threat or inferior.

Racism comes in all shades of colors and races. It has been a major issue ever since historical records were kept. In many cases nations and governments have legally sanctioned it. Why do you think one group of humans could conjure up so much hate against another group?

Since so many racist and anti-racist organizations believe very deeply and at times militantly right about their mission, there can be no way all of them can be right, or wrong. It simply means that there are different degrees of right and wrong according to the believer.

I sometimes try to understand where such hate comes from, but pure hate has no rationale. Revenge, different from hate, is what people use to fight against those they feel have perpetrated something against them.

When you are abused you want to fight back against those who hurt you. It is almost as though you want an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. “If you hurt me I want to hurt you back.” These human responses I understand, but still, in my mind two wrongs will never make a right.

However, when you look at racism in America you have to address the building blocks that formed this nation. Legally sanctioned racism was imposed upon Native Americans, Africans Americans, Asian Americans, Mexican Americans, Women, Gays and other groups that did not fit the Anglo majority at the time this nation was being formed.

This level of hate was not generated by an act of revenge or payback. It was hate for the sake of hating, with the sole intention of causing others to suffer. It was one race taking unfair and unearned advantages over another for the sake of personal gain. Still those who did these horrible acts felt justified in doing what they did, otherwise the United States of America would not have been formed, not as it was.

Even so, I still go back to the point of what is right, and what is wrong. When you see major corporations and top-level government leaders practice racism and even endorse it, are we to believe there are simply 360 degrees of right and wrong in the overall scheme of things?

Certainly the majority thinks they have a right to do what they do, as was the case of the slaughter of the Native American Indians or the enslavement of Africans. These people had something the Anglos wanted and were willing to take no matter what. The Native Americans had the land and the Africans provided a source of slave labor. Killing them and placing them in bondage was not even considered inhumane, it was merely considered a means to an end.  

Still, how do we justify right and wrong when culture is basically determined by a consensus of the people? If the majority gets what they consider to be right, what does morality have to do with the final results?

Although looking back on history I do believe that most people living in America today believe that the treatment of the Native American Indians and the slavery of the Africans was evil and in every classification, DEAD WRONG! Most believe that the slaughter of the Jews during the Holocaust was dead wrong. Rationally most know discrimination in any form is morally wrong.

However, what we’re currently facing is the terrible aftermath that hate imprint upon a society. It is indelibly etched in the soul of our nation. Although those actual days and accepted practices are long gone, in most cases, the habits and behaviors people learned will not easily go away.

In order to rid a society of such ills, individuals will need to check their hearts and purge such unwanted things from their behaviors.  Human beings are unfortunately creatures of habit and a product of their indoctrination.

If you were taught to hate then more than likely hate is a part of your being. If you were taught to discriminate then that too shapes your personality. A person must look deeply into their soul and determine if traits of racism and discrimination are something they wish to continue. If not they must intentionally and purposefully purge such practices from their being. They must regurgitate what was fed to them and retained as a behavioral practice.

In the end I do not believe there are 360 degrees of right and wrong. There is only right and wrong. Yes, there is yin and yang, but they, too, are opposites. One is the light and the other darkness. The two are not any more compatible with each other than fire and water. Just because people make choices to practice things that are wrong does not make them right. Simply because the majority agrees about something does not make it right.

Now that we have reached this age of enlightenment there are a lot of things wrong that we have accepted. Part of that was because we accepted darkness as our mode of living. We can no longer hide behind such dark clouds in ignorance.

There are no 360 degrees of right and wrong. Right is right and wrong is dead wrong. You must search your heart and soul and make that determination. Should you decide to remain in darkness, then that is a horse of a different color. FYI!

Who is guarding the Political Henhouse?

 If you are like me you probably don’t have a clue about the election for the school board or certain measures and propositions that are proposed by our elected officials. This is not something that I’m personally happy about admitting because it is people like this (me) who are partially responsible for what is not right about the system.

The more we refuse to get involved the more the system takes its own political landscape. Politicians actually count on the majority of people not showing up and/or participating within the system. This is the primary reason why you can have an inoperable system year after year and nothing seems to change. People don’t ordinarily get involved until the system is close to sinking.

This is not just about the secondary elections, but almost just as true for most of our public elections. The majority of registered voters don’t usually get involved until or unless things are really going bad. That is just before the ship is almost ready to go under.

I would speculate that this entire economic downward spiral is because people were not guarding their own interest. We trust our elected officials to make the best choices for us and don’t want to be bothered with the details. It's "hands off" or "I don't have time to get involved in those details!"

After politicians do whatever it is they do, then later we complain vociferously about how badly things are operating. Who do you think is ultimately to blame for the problem? If this is a true democracy then the “will of the people” should be in control. BUZZZZZZZZZ…NOT!

How many of you know who is running for your school board? How many of you know the members of the judicial board that you elected? How many know about the various propositions such as gay marriage rights or measures to legalize marijuana? When is the next election and what is being proposed? Do you even know where your polling place is located?

If I weren’t writing this article I admit that I would most likely not know the answers to any one of these questions. Shame on me! And I am a councilperson! DOUBLE SHAME!!!

Well, folks, it is time for us to wake up and start participating in the system that is controlling so many aspects of our lives. If things aren’t going well it may be because we aren’t dictating the choices. If we have bad officials it may be because we are not using our voting power to keep them out of office or to remove them once they have proven themselves unworthy of public trust.

You are either part of the problem or part of the solution. Essentially that means that when looking at the situation from both sides, each side carries weight.

Each choice sways the balance, one way, or the other. In many cases a “no vote” is just as good as supporting the opposing side, and vice versa. In many cases the way the proposal is worded you really don’t understand how you may be voting.

In many cases if you don’t use your vote to oppose something you lend your permission to do otherwise. A "yes" vote opposes one for “no”, while a "no" vote cancels out one for “yes.”  Even the simple act of doing nothing means you will be affecting the ultimate outcome, albeit inadvertently. You must learn what the issues are and what our elected officials are doing, together and/or individually, to solve problems.  Only the informed will be on top of their game!

Use your children for an example. If you do not tell them not to do something, it is almost tantamount as allowing them to do it. However, when you tell them in definite terms NOT to do something, you are going on record as opposing their doing whatever it may be. If you are oblivious to the situations that arise in any family, your choice NOT to speak up may be the reason why you so often find the situation goes against your wishes.

Folks, I think it is about time for us to wake up as a society and start paying careful attention to exactly who is “guarding the political henhouse. If we are not watching the politicians they get a chance to do what they want to do, how they want, and when they want to, with our tax money. And we were the ones that give them that right.

If there is something wrong, for the most part we are to blame. If we want to see real change we are the ones who will have to make that happen. We can only do that if we start participating in how our system operates.

Our Ever-Increasing Senior Population

 In order to adequately cover this topic I will need to write a series of articles about it because just one long essay will not nearly cover enough, as is warranted.  

Perhaps it’s just me, but it appears that our senior population is increasing. People are living much longer than in the recent past, to the point that they are becoming a substantial percentage of the total population.

There was a time when you did not see as many older people out and about, but these days people in their mid-to-late seventies and upward, are out-and-about, driving back-and-forth, and doing many things that we’re not used to seeing.

Back when I was in my 20s I thought people over 60 were old people. But now that I am over 60 I don’t feel anywhere near a senior citizen, although technically I am. The point is that people are living longer lives and they are not yet ready to be put out to pasture.

My concern is having sufficient planning and financial resources available to compensate for the many years of extended lifespan. With so little pickings available overall, our elders are forced to compete for the best of things with other age groups.

In many cases the social security benefits do not adequately cover all your typical monthly expenses and obligations. If you carry heavy debts into retirement those bills still have to be paid. With a substantial reduction in income and an increase in expenses, plus having fewer chances to find decent paying jobs, I wonder what will happen to us all as we enter the later stages of our lives? Will we outlive our nest eggs?

As a person in my early 60s my Mom is in her mid-80s. She still drives herself to her favorite place to shop, Wal-Mart’s, on a regular basis. She not only goes to the gym 3 days a week but she still finds time to do things that keep her mind and body active and engaged. I know the things I am experiencing at 60+ but I can’t fully comprehend what it will feel like to add 20+ more years of wear and tear on this old body!

In my case, I was fortunate to start exercising while I was a young man, so to this day I make sure I keep my body in relatively decent condition. I also discovered that I had high blood pressure and now high cholesterol and diabetes as well. Most of this I inherited, but some of it was due to poor diets or bad habits.

One thing to be certain is that if you take decent care of your body it will last you longer and more efficiently. Unfortunately, our bodies were not meant to last forever; however, if you take decent care of it, it will take better care of you.

Due to advances in science and medicine, people are living longer and more productive lifestyles at much older ages. Although we might be able to live better physically what about financially? Do we have enough financial resources to cover twenty-plus years of retirement living? When many of our friends and acquaintances die, we are suddenly left in a lonesome place, possibly with very little intimate company to help sustain us through those waning years.

In bygone days extended families were available to help the elders of the family. During those days they were highly esteemed and treated with respect and honor. Some cultures still have this high regard for their elders, but for the most part there seems to be a breakdown of the nuclear family. People are spreading out, moving away, leaving the elders to cover themselves with very little to do it with.

It’s a shame that the people that gave you birth and cared for you until you learned how to nurture yourself are seemingly discarded like an old out-of-date wardrobe. This ought not be so. A society that dishonors their elders is a society that is headed toward doom and despair. This is unfortunate because if people live long enough they, too, will become the discarded and dishonored elders.

Folks, while there is still time, we need to do more things to honor our elders. We need to find ways to support them physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Age is not a disease or condition that one may avoid. It is so unfortunate that when assistance is needed most, in too many cases it is the least thing offered.

For the record, I don’t have all the answers to the issues I just raised. I don’t have a lot of money or even enough resources to last me comfortably for another twenty-odd years. Apparently, what I seem to have more abundantly than I rightly know what to do with it is time, if I should live that long.

I am hoping over the coming years that my children and my grandchildren will have absorbed the lessons that I taught them, and teach their children to do the same. Instruct them on how to respect their elders, and treat them with the highest honor and regard, for they were the ones that gave you the gift of life. Return the favor and give them a decent quality of life when they need it the most.  As my late father-in-law often said, "If we all live long enough, we all get to be old!"

As a society we must find ways to take better care of our elders. This problem will continue to get worse until we do something to remedy the situation. Our aging population deserves much better treatment than what is currently unfolding.

The glass half-full

Believe it or not we are less than one month away from spring, my favorite season of the year. Time moves by so fast that we barely get settled in one season when the next one is right upon us. I suppose that is a good thing because when it is either too hot or too cold you usually don’t have all that long to wait before things change.

Perhaps it is only my imagination but does it seem like it is hotter for longer periods of time than it is warm and pleasant?

In Southern California we have longer periods when the weather is mild or average, but our memories seem to hold on to the hotter and unpleasant days longer than those that are average.

When you think about it our weather doesn’t often get hot around here until July and it cools back down right around Halloween. Our hot months are usually from July, August, September, and October. November can have a few warm days, but they are not sustained for the entire month.

Consequently we have about four hot months and the rest of them are rather average so why is it that we hold on to the memories of the hot unpleasant days that are in a minority instead of the average ones that comprise the majority?

Obviously there are different weather patterns around the globe that aren’t like those of Southern California but the point I was making was not as much about the climate as much as it was about the things we choose to store in our memory banks.

As far as our memories are concerned we tend to hold on to the bad ones perhaps longer than the great ones. We could have had just one bad day in a week but we were willing to classify that as a bad week when there were six other days that were routine. Why don’t the average days get as much recognition?

Are we being programmed to dwell upon negativity over things that are positive? When you think about the overall population, most people are decent and hard-working people, but only the really bad minority of citizens seem to capture the spotlight.  I suppose that's what is meant by "news", something different, otherwise every day would be a boring procession of sameness.

Millions of cars go back and forth daily all times of day and night, but only the few accidents are recorded in the news while the average days of calmness go unnoticed.

The majority of people experience routine days where not much happens out of the ordinary, but they only choose to remember the great days or the worse ones, mostly the worse. When things operate at a pretty even pace, they go by relatively unnoticed, but the bad ones seem to dominate our memory banks for years. Why is that?

I am just over sixty years of age. I would guess that if I totaled up all my normal days and strung them together they would make up about fifty eight continuous years, while maybe only a few total months would make up my bad days and perhaps just under a couple of years would be great times. With that many average days why do I seem only to remember the abnormal ones?

I’m reminded of the glass being either half-full or half-empty. When you see it as half-full you have great hope, but when you see it as half-empty you sense fear and despair. In truth it is the exact same amount, but how we experience it is totally different.   Someone once said that our consciousness is made up not only by 90% of what happens to us but, instead, 10% of our perception of what happens.

If I had a one-hundred-mile-trip to make and thought about where I was at the fifty-mile marker, it would be different if I thought, “Oh darn, I have fifty more miles to go,” rather than, “Wow, I only have fifty more miles to go.” It would be the same distance to cover, but a quite different attitude about doing so.

If I am living my life worried about how bad things are, yet refusing to acknowledge the great things that surround me, that would deeply impact my spirit as I go about my life.

If I attended a university to earn a degree in a certain subject and after two years thought; “Gosh, I have two more grueling years to go before I earn my degree;” as opposed to “Wow, look at how much I have gained in these first two years of studying.” It is the same person in the same position, yet a totally different attitude.

The difference between the glass being half-full or half-empty is huge, but it is the same physical thing. If we see our lives as this wonderful passage that we are experiencing rather than the sporadic highs and lows perhaps when things get low you can know in your mind, “This, too, shall pass.”

I have personally learned that no matter how hard I worry about things that are out of my control, I still can’t control them. When I wake up tomorrow, if I wake up, I will still be less than six foot tall. When I die I will be still be Black and under six-foot tall. No amount of worry will ever change these things, yet I still find myself worrying.

Although there are many things that we can’t control, there are also many that we can, yet we choose to spend more of our available time on the ones we can’t rather than those we can. Doesn’t it make more sense to spend more time doing things that you are capable of doing rather than those that only cause you to worry?

Both are virtually the same thing, but the difference is in your attitude about the thing. Do you see the glass as half-full most of the time, or half-empty? Even though they may be virtually the same thing, there’s a world of difference between the two experiences because of our attitude towards them! 

You are the artist drawing the picture of your life. Will you choose to paint is optimistically or pessimistically. Your choice!

Jumping into the Social-Media-Techno-Savvy Craze

 

First of all I must admit that even though I have been one to jump on the techno-savvy bandwagon early for years, I still have a mental block when it comes to actually applying this new medium of connecting with others socially through the Internet.

If you want to learn something about texting, facebooking, twittering, YouTubing, and the like just find a kid with a Smart/Phone. This generation is growing up with this technology, so to them, this is what they do, not what they become. On the other hand we are trying to become what they are doing naturally.

It appears that I have been on this learning curve for about twenty years or so now. When home computers just started getting popular I purchased one and began to use it for my real estate business. At that time there were a few seminars that assisted us in learning the basics of computer usage.

Next we had the digital cameras that allowed us to upload our own photos or videos of homes into the MLS (Multiple Listing Service). And then we were able to have our own websites and pages to totally manage what we were promoting. This was all before Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and even MySpace were invented.

Let us not forget about how the new smart digital book-readers are changing the entire publishing industry. Rather than purchasing printed books and material people can just upload the digital files without even leaving the comfort of their homes.

The problem with this constantly growing and ever-changing technology is that by the time you learn one thing you are already behind for the next big “new” thing.

I remember a friend of mine who is a videographer telling me about how we would have the ability to upload and watch videos on our phones soon. That was about ten years ago and I thought he was a little “too far out there” at the time. In essence things that we could only imagine ten years ago are already ancient history today.

I suppose I’ve owned more than twenty cell phones to date. Each time I purchase one it becomes old in about six weeks, to the point that I feel the urge to buy a new one. Perhaps we should just start leasing smart phones so we can simply turn them back in when the new ones come out.

As we watched the movie about the creation of Facebook I wonder whatever happened to the person that created MySpace? Certainly this company was around doing what Facebook does before Facebook took over that marketing position in the industry.

You never know what will take off and become the next booming sensation. Because of this perhaps we should stop trying to be “hip” and try instead to be more functional.

There are many things we may use that will enhance our lives today, but if we spend too much time trying to “keep up with the Joneses,” we will have very little time left over to enjoy the simple pleasures that life still offers.

Perhaps those of us who are over fifty-plus years of age may take this advice more to heart because those of you under fifty have a much longer expected lifespan to get off the bandwagon. With another possible thirty-plus years to live you need to stay in the learning curve or face becoming a dinosaur in the years only too soon to come.

As a baby boomer just over the age of sixty I am happy I jumped on the bandwagon years ago, but trying to keep up with the kids is a never-ending job. Although I have several websites, blog sites, email addresses, smart phones, Kindle, video posting capabilities, and I know the basics about how to navigate in this new arena, I’m getting tired of chasing new technology.

Since I may have a limited time to sit back and smell the roses I don’t want to spend too many of my remaining days and nights in a class to learn something that will become old before I learn how to apply it to my daily life.

I think I am savvy enough to communicate with the majority of the public so either I will need to become friends with a few young people, such as my grand kids, who will keep me in their loop, or I will need to become content with the fact that this new world belongs to the youth. At this stage I am just an elder statesman passing through enjoying things that are still “real” and not just techno savvy.

I know how to sit on a bench and just watch people pass by. I love to sit in the woods and listen to the sound of all the critters. I love to watch the sunset and sunrise. I love to witness the coming of the fresh new seasons each year, especially the spring. I love to smell the roses and other sweet fragrances of nature. I love to be face-to-face with people and have a decent heart-to-heart conversation with even strangers.

If you get too trapped in this new cyberspace you become less human and more of an avatar to all these smart gadgets. There is nothing wrong with technological growth, but we shouldn’t lose what makes us human beings in the process.

We still need to nurture our ordinary senses, which are seeing each other, feeling each other, hearing each other, tasting the good life, and taking the time to smell the occasional flowers as we step out into this feely-touchy world in which we live. I’m not quite ready to give up what makes us human yet in exchange for this new social-media-techno-savvy craze.