Progress - or is it ?

Today's world is so chaotic and hectic. Employers push deadlines and create high stress environments they expect you to thrive in. The electronic age is a driving force with its ever changing technology and constant introduction of gadgets to awe the consumers.

Do not misunderstand me. I am a casualty, if you were, of data dependency. I sit and type this on my laptop as I text someone on my cell phone. I take college classes online, do historical research on the internet, keep communication open via email with my re-enacting unit, update webpages, spend time on marketing and advertising for my writing and my wife’s photography, use Facebook for re-enacting contacts and also keep in touch with family and close friends. All of this is done from either one of our computers and is part of the magic we call progress.

On Dictionary.com, progress is defined as:

the development of an individual or society in a direction considered more beneficial than and superior to the previous level.

In some cases I would have to agree, but taken as a whole, progress to me has destroyed the American way of life because we never adapted it to coincide with our modern era mentalities. I have many times said that I believe we could survive just fine as a society without most of the newfangled things this “development” has given us. Medical advancements in some areas have been beneficial especially with regard to knowledge and diagnosis of. Of course, I also know this reflects on other advancements which allowed these to happen. However, I know that my wife and youngest daughter are alive today due to medical advances. Fifty years ago or more, they both would have died.

Taking that into consideration, there are times we would like to have that primitive cabin way out in the wilderness for us to escape to. It would be a place with no modern worries, phone calls, urgent business conference calls, traffic delays, car horns, sirens around the clock, or stress filled workdays. Ideally, the cabin would have its own garden, the forest full of wild game, and the streams filled with fish.

This would indeed be wonderful and as much as it pulls at our soul, we could not just disappear to a place like this. We have too much family and friends, and yes responsibility, to do this beyond a long weekend. Though having a place like this is indeed a dream for us, we know in this day and time, it would have to be “wired-in”. Of course, who is to say we can’t hit that main power switch from time to time and enjoy quiet nights by lantern and days of working the earth.