There’s a time when we all need to get ‘real’
From our “The Internet Makes Everything Better” Department: The Veterans Administration announces a new ‘ web- app’ which it says will allow those using VA Hospitals to look up how long veterans will wait to see their doctor. Wait times as long as three months are presently listed on the website. This is progress?
Last week a young man committed suicide after seeing a spoofed social media video stream of his girlfriend dying. His parents are blaming the girlfriend and other youngsters who played “the joke” on their son. I think the parents failed in teaching their son not to believe everything he saw on the Internet, especially “social media.” One should scrutinize the source of information, always.
Of course, the problem is, sometimes what you see on social media really is true. In Cleveland, Ohio, over the weekend, some nut took a video of himself killing a 78 year-old man who was chosen at random and posted it to Facebook. It would certainly be helpful if you could always tell when to believe things and when to not. But in the case of social media, “a dollop of doubt will help you out.”
When I was raising my daughter, I took care to teach her what was real and what only looked real. In my case I was lucky enough to have friends who made movies and television shows, so I took her behind the scenes to see my friends and showed her how makeup was applied to make human actors into aliens from outer space and the special effects of green screen. She got the message. As I say, I had it easy to teach Nicole what reality was and what only “made believe” it was reality. But I would have found a different way to teach that lesson to her if the easy way were not available.
The way I learned this lesson was far less fun, but I learned it. My elders were outdoorsmen and fishermen. You learn what life is really about when you learn to take the life of another creature in order to feed yourself. Shooting is only the beginning. Then there’s the dressing and cooking. My personal memories of Christmas weren’t only of opening presents, church, and family visits. Being the eldest son, it was my job to hang that fat goose up by its feet, to boil the water, and to pluck it clean of feathers to roast for dinner. An unpleasant job, but absolutely needed. It taught me a lot about reality.
So it goes that we humans learn our best lessons from our own adversity, by making mistakes, or by observing the mistakes of others. The trick is to survive your mistakes so you live to not do them again.
The Fabulous Denise and I were dining in a nearby restaurant the other day, which one is not important because what I’m about to tell you happens just about everywhere. We were waiting for our food to be served when I happened to look idly across the room at another table. There was a young family seated with the teenaged boy totally disconnected from the rest of his family members as he sat glued to his smartphone. When it gets to this point, friends, telling him to ‘ cut down’ his usage just isn’t that effective. The youngster has clearly developed a dependency on whatever chemicals or hormones his body produces within itself as he feels the thrill of connecting to others on their smartphones. It’s a natural thing in humans. But we don’t let babies eat a whole bag of sugar simply because they want to, do we?
Before I go this week I want to draw attention to some friends of all of us who need our help and support. The members of Le Club Par- X, known to most of us as The Par-X Club, have helped countless organizations in our area with their famous Sunday morning “Par-X Breakfasts” through the years. But now, President David Bergeron tells me they’re putting on a Chowder and Clam Cakes Fundraiser on Friday, June 23, to help support the building fund of the club. Dave says they are currently trying to renovate the hall so they can continue to use their facilities to help raise money for various charities, clubs, and organizations, as well as for hosting various social gatherings including parties, showers, and even weddings. More on this as the event nears. For now, please save the date in your calendars. When a friend is in need, we must all pitch in!