Now and Then Again

By: Sean Savoie 

On the 7-train the other day I saw a tall, lanky woman of 20 or so years old who was reading a book held close to her impassive face. She had earbud-style earphones pressed in deep against her eardrums and was leaning against the pole that serves as a handrail near the entrance of the train. One person after another said "excuse me" to no avail and eventually had to push by her, causing her to give each person a dirty look. Soon enough, not realizing that she was blocking the way for so many people to move across the subway car, she simply ignored everything and everyone around her and escaped even more completely into her isolated, lonely world. 

Yes, I do this. I prefer to listen to the Beatles on my earphones rather than to a business man yelling loudly on his cell phone about his shares in the stock market. I saw this island of a woman as representing myself and the majority of Americans who are younger than me. We seem to be retreating into ourselves, losing touch with the fleshy, sensitive, organic environment of our very real human condition. We are, after all, animals. And yet we seem to be increasingly reflected in the machines that we are creating and admiring, seeking to discover the world, and thus ourselves, on the two dimensional screens of our computers, TVs, and handheld devices. And what if we succeed? What are we really looking for? And what if the real things we are looking for are the people we are not listening to sitting next to us on the 7-train? 

Thinking back clearly to the days before cell phones and e-mail is often difficult and elusive; however, I do still recall climbing trees, throwing frisbees, exploring the woods, and making tree forts. My friends and I bought records, played rock music, and mistakenly tended to think that the older generation was clueless. Yes, my life seemed rather modern in 1980. In those days, losing in a game of dodgeball, running around during school recess and skinning my knee on pavement, getting into a fistfight with a classmate, and getting hit by a parent were all a natural part of growing up and not at all a reason to call 911. Children never thought of suing their parents. Back in 1980, breaking your arm or getting stitches for a cut was normal, and parents were the bosses in the home. 

Now I see young children wearing helmets, elbow pads, and kneepads just to ride small bicycles if they can manage to get away from their computers at all to ride bicycles. Dodgeball has become illegal in most schools simply because some children must lose the game, and we do not want our sensitive children to lose anything. Running on a playground is illegal in some schools in New York City because if a child falls, parents will call a lawyer; a simple fight between two boys, which is a natural occurrence in most male mammals is now a reason to call the police; children threaten to sue their parents if they receive a spanking. It seems that so many laws are designed to give the population the illusion of "safety", which is always an illusion. The message these days is to protect our delicate and fragile children. And that is what they will become: delicate and fragile adults, unable in their fear of pain, difficulty, and especially terrorism, to deal with the realities of life. I see very, very weak young people who will become even weaker adults. 

So one must ask, "Why is the government trying to weaken the young people?" Is it so that they can have more control of them when they grow older? Is this a political movement? Or, are we so afraid of pain and loss that we would rather hide in our iPods, computers, television programs, support groups, e-mail and text messages? I have no answer to this, but when I see and teach increasingly soft children who have no understanding of the fundamental meaning of the Constitution of the United States, I truly fear for the future of this country. 

The United States of America was founded by people who had strong backbone, conviction, and extreme integrity. Could it be that the isolation of individuals as a result of computers is weakening our population? Maybe. But one thing is for sure: the extreme rise of depression in this country is the result of something. Perhaps we are too soft and comfortable with our modern conveniences and seemingly endless choices. Perhaps we have lost sight of what originally made us powerful as a country. Perhaps we are losing our sense of togetherness, just like that tall, lanky woman on the 7-train who was so successfully removing herself from all the people around her. Whatever the problem, it is crucial that we get back to our roots and understand what has made the United States the beautiful country than it once was. 

My feeling is that it starts at the grassroots level, which is to say that I must look at myself and understand what makes me strong, unique, independent, and able to withstand the pressures from within and without, for without this, living in a world of increasing fear that is constantly emphasized by the government through the media, we will certainly lose ourselves in our isolated world of digital machines….. And yes, we will all become slaves in the modern world.