"Take advantage of your generation's technology"
Have you ever just really, REALLY wanted to get some work done (like writing a new blog post!), but your kid won't play quietly with his puzzles and leave you alone? That's about the time that I turn on the good ole telly and let it babysit my kid for awhile. No sooner have I turned my back and started walking back to the computer than that familiar and grating voice in my head starts chirping: "That's not how they did it 100 years ago!"
You know the one.
It's the same voice that says "They didn't have anti-depressants 100 years ago." No, they didn't. They had cocaine.
It's the same voice that reminds you "There were no cartoons in the Middle Ages." No, there was Black Death to keep everyone entertained.
It's the voice that makes you ashamed of using technology. Ashamed of taking advantage of modern advancements. And why should you be ashamed? Are you not as good as the people that used to (and still do) make their apple pie from scratch? Maybe not in the area of baking, but in all other aspects, you are.
How best to get rid of this voice? For me, it's to proclaim it's uselessness in the loudest form I can access; i.e. this blog. Therefore, annoying nay-sayer: Pack up. You are evicted. I have no shame in doing things better, faster, stronger than my ancestors.
Two quotes for your brain to chew on:
"The past is another planet"--Glenn Reynolds
This is not to say that the past is so remote that you should neither learn from or remember it. But it is so remote that it shouldn't dictate your daily life.
"If the people from the past could see us now, they would think that we were gods"--paraphase from Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol"
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Two quotes for your brain to chew on:
"The past is another planet"--Glenn Reynolds
This is not to say that the past is so remote that you should neither learn from or remember it. But it is so remote that it shouldn't dictate your daily life.
"If the people from the past could see us now, they would think that we were gods"--paraphase from Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol"
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In addition, you will see that this quote has earned a rank in my "Life Lessons" list at the right on my blog. I want to explain that this list isn't a guidebook for me (I've given up trying to find that), and it's not a list of commandments that I must obey. It's just a way for me to collect and display things that I have found to be true. And, that, of course, is what this blog is all about!
I have no idea how to make that voice go away, I try but it is still there. I don't know why I feel so guilty about the amount of tv I watch or how often I get online...but I don't really know why I feel guilt, there is no real reason just that to be a good non-lazy person I should feel guilty when I am in front of the tv. Of course this guilt does not keep me from watching, I indulge and feel guilty at the same time :) One day I will indulge and feel wonderful while doing it!
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