Monthly Archives: February 2013

Showing Up

What if, one day, no one showed up to the Internet1? What if no one updated their status? What if no one checked in? There were no photos uploaded. No pushing publish. Nothing.

Then, what if, no one ever returned? Ever.

The truth is, we don’t need the Internet. The Internet needs us. Because, it is mostly made of us. Our words. Our pictures. Our creations. Our art. Our experiences. Our thoughts. Our opinions. Our feelings. Our endeavors. Our truths.

And, because it is made of us and our work, we should bring to it all that we are and all that we are capable of.

I’m a full-time independent writer who shows up here every day in the hopes that I can help make the Internet the best it can be. If you enjoy what you read here, please consider a free will donation of any amount.

  1. There is much debate among the style police as to whether or not Internet should be capitalized. I still believe it is a proper noun and deserves such recognition and respect. ↩

The Next History

Stop. Right now. Just stop.

Stop!

Just take a second to appreciate how amazing this all is.

This is traveling to you through a series of wires and beams of light. Over air, land, sea, and outer space. With a language translated into several different languages only to then be translated back to you, anywhere you can access it, in near real time. Less than a second after I tapped a button with my finger on a device that is small enough to fit in my pocket you could read this from any other point of connection into this network on the planet.

The thing is, those in their 30s and above have a unique memory. We have a solid memory of a time before any of this was possible and today when it all is. We have memory of a time when to call another country required turning a rotary dial so many times and was so expensive that most of us sent paper letters instead — except for the most urgent of news. Now, we can type or record video or sound and have it reach thousands or millions or billions all over the earth, instantly, for free.

Those born today will not remember a time when none of this was possible. This is the new normal. They won’t see it the same way. To them, what we have lived through will be something they read in a history book.

Therefore, it is up to us to not take it for granted. To treat the Internet and all surrounding technology with reverence, respect, and care. To stop, every now and then, and take some time to appreciate it.

And, then, to get back to work and start making it even better. To fuel the innovation, ideas, and giant leaps that will give the ones behind us something to stop and be just as amazed by. To write the next history.

I’m a full-time independent writer who does my part in writing the next history by bringing you things to think about every day. If you enjoy what you read here, please consider a free will donation of any amount.

Buddhas

buddha

I collect Buddhas. Buddha statues mainly. But I have a rule. I never buy them for myself. They must be given to me. Because it’s not just about the statues. It is about those that gave them to me and when and why. Each one tells a story.

I set up this MacGuffin of only collecting them as gifts, in part, to collect not the Buddhas but these stories. I want each one to be special and be connected to a place, time, and person. In this way the statue becomes a prompt to a deeper memory. Hopefully, one filled with sentiment and meaning.

Yet, is this not true of all things we acquire? Even the seemingly mundane? I can tell you where and when and why I bought the jeans I’m wearing. My sweater and my boots too. The iPad I’m typing this on has a story attached to it. As does the app I’m using to write it.

The fact is every interaction has a story. Some more memorable than others. Some we create with purpose. Others are the detritus of a life lived. Yet all are essential in weaving the fabric we call “us”.