Over the last fifty years or so we have invented all sorts of time saving strategies that have some how managed to leave us with the greatest time deficit ever experienced by man.
Few people live on farms any more where labor is from daylight to after dark. We don't even work in factories today. No. Modern society runs on the service industry from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. How misleading!
Why is there no time to sit on the porch and just enjoy God's nature? Oh, yeah... right. Most houses have no porches and the few that do can't be enjoyed for the fear of gangs and hooligans roaming the neighborhood. And, should one get passed those concerns who can enjoy the sound of cars literally flying up and down the highway just a few feet away, the ever present blaring of car horns, sirens screaming through the night, and the neighbors you don't know living on top of you when the ones you used to love lived a quarter of a mile away.
Back then we visited on a regular basis and got around to socializing with everyone. Now we barely speak, if we do at all, to the guy living thirty feet away. Maybe we will invite him to a backyard barbeque once a year to assuage our conscience, but probably not. Instead of helping him repair his house, we bitch about the noise he makes during the process, and resent the fact he needs to borrow a hammer rather than taking the time to prepare him a cold pitcher of lemonade made from scratch to quench the thirst he works up.
The Tennessee Mountain Man recalls that there was a time when the city was a million miles away and no one from the country went there unless they had to. In our modern world the city has moved into the country and the new reality is that the farm is now a million miles or so from the city next door. It is dirty. The people there are dirty - never mind that their conscienceis clean. The place has a foul odor that assaults our sensitive metropolitan olfactory glands and we dare not venture there unless it is absolutely unavoidable.
At a time when we said grace before every meal, we ate hearty and were in little, if any, danger of being over weight. Now that we think perhaps Grace is the lady living two houses down the street in the home needing it's lawn trimmed. We suffer from a national obesity epidemic though religiously practicing our yo yo diet and binge eating.
Computer Man used to get up before daylight to build a fire, do the morning chores, and cook breakfast before going off to a day of work. But that is so pass. Now we get up just in time to gulp down a cup of instant coffee or coffee set to brew automatically the night before while 'nuking' some instant pre-boxed meal stripped of all nutrition to eat while we over charge our metabolic system in front of the boob tube blasting 'The View' into our living rooms and appropriately raising blood pressures.
Man dare not sleep with his face in an open window any more regardless of whether he lives in the country or in the city. Therefore he can't hear the rain on the roof, the barn owl hooting off in the distance, the cry of a new born calf, the mating call of God's creatures that rule the night, the wind whistling through the old barn, nor the defining silence of the new fallen snow.
We used to sleep a little later on Sunday and get up with every action deliberate and geared toward getting us to God's house on time for the morning worship service. Now we repeat the last six days except we are content with getting our religious instruction watching some televangelist only because 'The View' is not shown on Sunday television. And, why go to church when some greedy self serving prophet comes to us?
Nope! Life just ain't what it used to be. If you think it is, just open the door or pull out the chair for a lady and notice the looks you get if you manage to escape an outright attack. Listen... did you hear that? I thought I actually heard a child say, "please, excuse me, sir".
Publication of Burk Pendergrass, J.D., the Computer Man, a Cherokee Indian and Viet Nam Vet specializing in website design at computermanwebsitedesign.bravehost.com/ and remotehelpdesk1.com/ specializing in online web based computer repair.
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» left by Robert Melaccio, Sr.(4,616) Robert Melaccio, Sr. (159 days 5 hours ago.)
Good article. yes, those values of yesterday belong to many all over and "unfortunately" the word of this century, they went the way McCain stated, gone and they are not coming back. Hey when a grandma sticks up her middle finger fighting over a parking spot and utters those now no so bad words many use as everyday expressions , that says it all. Keep writing, interesting stuff and you know we all like stuff. Respond to this comment
» left by Computer Man(1,139) Computer Man (158 days 15 hours ago.)
Dear Robert;
Thank you for your time, thank you for reading, and thank you for commenting on several of our articles. Your continued support and in put is appreciated.
» left by Susan Thom(8,379) Susan Thom (158 days 7 hours ago.)
hi mr.mountain man,
it's ironic i read this article.
in the midst of a divorce, i am desperately trying to hold on to my home, which the judge may order sold. why do i want to save our home? we are on 2 acres, a 22 acre private lake, and i sit on my porch for hours a day watching nature, when the weather is warm. we take a boat ride on the lake, and it's like nothing else i've experienced. i appreciate every flower, every bird, every chipmunk i am Blessed to see. i love findng a single flower beautifully growing amongst cactus arms, and take hundreds of pictures. thank you for a well written article.
best regards,
sue thom Respond to this comment
» left by Lorrie Davids(5,308) Lorrie Davids (156 days 6 hours ago.)
Oh, for the good old days. I remember being outside after dark and not having to worry. You played at your neighbor's house and no one threatened anyone with a lawsuit if you sprained an ankle. It was all just part of life. It is a sad time for our world and it looks like it will only get worse. Respond to this comment
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Few people live on farms any more where labor is from daylight to after dark. We don't even work in factories today. No. Modern society runs on the service industry from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. How misleading! 
