Tonight i sat through a blackout playing cards by candlelight with family and enjoying the moments and reflecting on how much we have become dependent on technology. I’m a slave of sorts to this medium. I don’t know how to act if the blog goes down. I write on some other piece of tech and wait to add the words to this forum. This is how we live now—in total dependence on our modernities to the point where we treat living without them as a hobby activity. Camping, once a way of life, is little more than a chance to disconnect if only partially.
I thought about that tonight and I thought about the lengths parents go to in order to create opportunities for their kids. I believe I do everything I can to give my kids a good life —sometimes at the cost of my own comfort. I know I spend far more cash on each of them than I do on myself. I don’t know if this is a good thing. I do know that I’m the first one they call when things go awry, and usually the only one who answers. I spent time on the phone today trying to help one of mine be able to claim an opportunity that was offered. It requires the other parent to go above and beyond. It isn’t happening. Hardly ever does. In truth I’ve grown so accustomed to it that when that parent manages to step up and do the basic I’m actually surprised that it happened.
I wasn’t surprised today. I was saddened to see my kid hurt and disappointment filling his heart, but it is a lesson he will carry. I carried it myself for years.