WITH IMPROVEMENTS, WE NEED WISDOM

Today one of my friends told me she had been in an accident.  Snow?  No.  Icy Roads?  Nope.  A snow white-out?  No.  Although all these could have been a possibility, the problem was not due to this winter weather we are having full-blast; the problem was due to texting.

We have come a long way in our written communications. 

When I was a kid, all we had around the house to use to write a note was a pencil or pen and a piece of paper.  However, other than writing letters which I mailed, I do not remember leaving notes for any of my family. 

My mother was a stay-at-home Mom, so if I wanted to go anywhere, all I had to do was ask, and if permitted, then go.  If Mom needed us for any reason, she usually opened the door and yelled for us (yes, Mothers used to use their vocal chords and yelled outdoors if they wanted one of their kids.)  

When we heard them, we knew we had better get home, it was something important.  When my children went out to play, they could roam the neighborhood as long as they did not go out of the range of my voice.  If they did not come shortly after being called, it spelled TROUBLE!)

Back to when I was a kid.  Our neighbors had the niftiest “message center.”  It was their enamel kitchen table.  No, their mother did not work, either, but the older kids were constantly on the go, so when something needed said or done, it was written onto the kitchen table with a pencil.  All it took to erase it was a wet rag and some soap or a little cleanser.

I remember the day we moved up to a typewriter.  My oldest sister was taking typing in high school, so to help her out, my mom and dad got us a typewriter.  No, it wasn’t a brand new fancy thing.  And it was a used one, but it was magic!   Of course, we all wanted to type on it, but we had to take turns.  After all Barb, the oldest of we three, being in high school and needing to practice, had dibs.  Then I had to wait till Margie, the middle child and the one in junior high, did what she needed to do.  I, a lowly grade-schooler came last.  But that was okay, I had other things to do.  But I did get my chances to use the typewriter, too, for we had it many years.  

What kind was it?  I think it was a manual Underwood.  Have you ever watched the TV program, Murder She Wrote?  Well the typewriter Jessica uses on her kitchen table is exactly what ours looked like.  And it took some effort to hit those keys hard enough to press through the carbon ribbon and leave an imprint on the paper.  Between typing and piano playing, my fingers became very strong!

If you think the typing was hard, try correcting any errors.  It was such a chore—especially if you were typing in duplicate (that means using carbon paper), cause you had to hand erase the error, on both copies individually, and try not to smudge them.  And if you wanted to change a whole sentence, that meant you needed to put in fresh paper and begin all over.  It took some doing to get that first error-free homework paper done, believe-you-me.

About the time I was in high school, we got a newer model of typewriter.  It was still a manual (that means it took finger power, not electricity to make it work), but it was much more compact and easier to use, not to mention lighter to move.

When we got married, my husband had his very own typewriter.  It had its own carrying case and was probably mid-sized between Jessica’s typewriter and the one we now had had at home.  But it was so easy to put in its case and carry from place to place, including from one destination across town to another.  And often, I just opened it and left it in its case to use.

I do not actually remember when I first got to use an electric typewriter.  However, I do remember how easy it was to press a key to get it to print.  I think I had a hard time getting one letter at a time, because if you hit the key too hard, or hold it too long, you would get duplicate letters.  Since I was used to the old manual typing, my first electric typing looked something like this:  FFFFouurrr ssscorrre and sevvven yearrrs aaaago…  Kind of hard to read, huh?  I wasted a lot of paper learning 

Then came the day of the computer.  Oh, how often I have thanked our dear Heavenly Father for this invention!  You do not have to press hard to type, it is so easy to correct a mistake, if you want to move a sentence from one section to another you can do it without typing everything all over again, and if you want to make a copy you can tell it to instruct the printer to make two or a hundred.  WOW! 

You don’t even need to keep paper copies in files, unless you want to.  Of course, to save it on your computer, it helps if you remember to save your work as you go and definitely before you accidently hit a wrong key and lose it or shut off your computer.  Something I sometimes have a hard time remembering.

We not only don’t need filing cabinets, we don’t need dictionaries.  The computer will tell us if we have spelled something wrong.  Of course, it what we wrote was a legitimate word, unless we use it incorrectly in a sentence and get “told on” by the computer, we can find spelling errors on checking our work.  But these errors are still easier to change…and print.

So far, so good.  These new inventions do not take either much wisdom or self control to use.  If we do need to write and print something, we have a marvelous way to do it.  However, I am not so sure the newest way to send messages is the best.  Oh, not because there is anything wrong with the invention, but the human element involved.

The invention?  Texting.

Cell phones, although I will tell you up front I hate them, have changed our world.  But I am not sure for the better.  Oh, it’s not the cell phone I doubt, it is the intelligence of the human race.  I will gripe about this at some other time, what we are talking about today is the texting angle of the thing. 

I do have to agree that it is handy-dandy for what it was meant for.  If I cannot connect with someone I have phoned, I used to have to keep calling back until I got them to be able to tell them something, or I had to send them a message via mail or computer e-mail.  Now I can leave either a voice message or a text message.  (Yes, I have finally learned how, if I don’t forget between use—you know, use it or lose it applies to texting, too.)

The problem is some humans just do not believe they can live one second if they are not either on a cell phone talking—or texting.  If you are in your own home or space (other than driving your car—a lethal weapon), that’s fine.  If it is important, by all means, again, go for it (of course if you are driving, pull off the road and stop).  But, if you are in a situation where it is neither safe nor convenient, if it is something that can be done later, and definitely does not infringe on anyone else, either their space or SAFETY, control yourself.

It would be a shame for you to cause an accident, like my friend’s where repair is going to be needed on three vehicles because someone crashed into hers and pushed it into another, or you hit a person in a wheelchair in a crosswalk and dump him onto the ground (like what happened here in our town last summer), sending him to the hospital for an extended stay, or you have to live with the fact you committed vehicular homicide by killing someone.  All of this not only has harmed or cost someone else, but also extracts dearly from the one causing the accident while texting.

No, I am not zeroing in on the teenage population.  I have seen too many persons classified as adults indulging in this immature behavior to blame just one age bracket.  Texting while driving should not need to become a police matter, nor a matter for additional laws.  Any policing needing done should be on the shoulders of each individual involved in this act to make sure he or she behaves in a mature, responsible manner for all concerned.