My wife and I are rarely home and we therefore visit many places and view many people. It does provide a window at times into human behavior. I frequent a Panera Bread almost every day as the "Sip Club" is $15 per month and it provides unlimited coffee; it's also a great place to get my reading in. I've noticed that different religious groups congregate there. On Sundays, women gather after mass, usually in groups of 6-8, and I don't detect a word of religiosity. On the other hand, I've also seen the "Panera Preachers" as I call them. There's one guy who does his preaching strictly one-on-one while another has assembled a loyal following of about six men. Once in a while, they hold court within 10 feet of each other. I often wonder what motivates these men. They may well fervently believe they are doing the work of the lord. They may well have concluded that they have found answers to life's most essential questions and are therefore compelled to spread the word and save souls. But I wonder, how much of a role does status play in this? In this Panera, at this time, these men cease to be "Lenny from the marketing department", the guy with the Dilbert cartoons taped on his cubicle walls. Here he's Pastor Leonard, offering solace and hope in a world of danger and uncertainty. And of course, similar performances play out in churches, mosques, and temples the world over. I guess it sure beats languishing in that nondescript cubicle answering emails. And I wonder, how many of these men of god (because it usually is the guys) continue to believe what they are dishing out. I have to think that some have invested so much in the job, and have their finances dependent on it, as well as their place in the community, and they have concluded that chucking a lifetime's of preaching and opening a frozen yogurt shop just isn't the route to take. Another place we recently visited was a pizza restaurant. While waiting in line, I noticed that a couple with two children (9 months or so and 6 years) were eating their pizza. They had propped up an iPhone for the baby to watch and it was transfixed on the brightly colored, highly stimulating cartoon. I immediately pictured a lifetime of electronic devices capturing this baby, from the present through adulthood, and I mourn all that will be lost. This may be an erroneous assessment on my part, but I have seen so much of this behavior increasing over the years. We've encountered entire families at restaurants sitting silently, entranced in what usually appears to be captivatingly mindless images! I know because I peek. And yes, Jonathan Haidt's enormously insightful book " The Anxious Generation: How The Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing An Epidemic of Mental Illness, has certainly made me more attuned to this madness! I'm guessing that my observations are shared by other here and do you feel similarly or am I missing something? Notwithstanding the extreme concerns I have regarding these omnipresent and hypnotic electronics that we are all willingly shackled to, I am utterly grateful for the abundance of riches that they offer. Within our pockets we can choose to access the collective wisdom of our species, the most sublime music played, and images of artwork, and nature, hell, we can FaceTime friends halfway around the world! Yet, I know there's a moral price that is largely under our radar as child labor provides the cobalt for the batteries, and the act of assembling the devices can be dehumanizing and has even resulted in suicide. Peter T.
People Watching
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My wife and I are rarely home and we therefore visit many places and view many people. It does provide a window at times into human behavior. I frequent a Panera Bread almost every day as the "Sip Club" is $15 per month and it provides unlimited coffee; it's also a great place to get my reading in. I've noticed that different religious groups congregate there. On Sundays, women gather after mass, usually in groups of 6-8, and I don't detect a word of religiosity. On the other hand, I've also seen the "Panera Preachers" as I call them. There's one guy who does his preaching strictly one-on-one while another has assembled a loyal following of about six men. Once in a while, they hold court within 10 feet of each other. I often wonder what motivates these men. They may well fervently believe they are doing the work of the lord. They may well have concluded that they have found answers to life's most essential questions and are therefore compelled to spread the word and save souls. But I wonder, how much of a role does status play in this? In this Panera, at this time, these men cease to be "Lenny from the marketing department", the guy with the Dilbert cartoons taped on his cubicle walls. Here he's Pastor Leonard, offering solace and hope in a world of danger and uncertainty. And of course, similar performances play out in churches, mosques, and temples the world over. I guess it sure beats languishing in that nondescript cubicle answering emails. And I wonder, how many of these men of god (because it usually is the guys) continue to believe what they are dishing out. I have to think that some have invested so much in the job, and have their finances dependent on it, as well as their place in the community, and they have concluded that chucking a lifetime's of preaching and opening a frozen yogurt shop just isn't the route to take. Another place we recently visited was a pizza restaurant. While waiting in line, I noticed that a couple with two children (9 months or so and 6 years) were eating their pizza. They had propped up an iPhone for the baby to watch and it was transfixed on the brightly colored, highly stimulating cartoon. I immediately pictured a lifetime of electronic devices capturing this baby, from the present through adulthood, and I mourn all that will be lost. This may be an erroneous assessment on my part, but I have seen so much of this behavior increasing over the years. We've encountered entire families at restaurants sitting silently, entranced in what usually appears to be captivatingly mindless images! I know because I peek. And yes, Jonathan Haidt's enormously insightful book " The Anxious Generation: How The Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing An Epidemic of Mental Illness, has certainly made me more attuned to this madness! I'm guessing that my observations are shared by other here and do you feel similarly or am I missing something? Notwithstanding the extreme concerns I have regarding these omnipresent and hypnotic electronics that we are all willingly shackled to, I am utterly grateful for the abundance of riches that they offer. Within our pockets we can choose to access the collective wisdom of our species, the most sublime music played, and images of artwork, and nature, hell, we can FaceTime friends halfway around the world! Yet, I know there's a moral price that is largely under our radar as child labor provides the cobalt for the batteries, and the act of assembling the devices can be dehumanizing and has even resulted in suicide. Peter T.
