from Falling Up by Shel Silverstein
“FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS COULD RESULT IN
FIRE, ELECTRIC SHOCK OR OTHER INJURY OR
DAMAGE.”—Kindle (Caps theirs.)
Gee, my good ole paper book never told me that.
Oh yes, and “Engaging in repetitive motions such as pressing
keys or playing some games may cause you to experience occasional discomfort in
your hands, arms, shoulders, neck or other parts of your body.”
As you may surmise, I am reading through the User’s Guide for
my Kindle. That device is all over the place, bringing up things I don’t want,
not giving me things I do. My husband bought a book on it (not mine) and it is
still wandering in the Netherlands.
Maybe it’s just that my Kindle doesn’t like me. Maybe it’s jealous
that I am using a Nook. (My book Mother’s
Letters, is now available on Barnes & Noble’s Nook.)
This is not a plug, it’s a rant. Am I becoming as old codger
or what?! Maybe I need to give that Kindle Ho'oponopono, which is a Hawaiian healing process. They say the way to heal is to say, "I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you."
Maybe I need to Ho'oponopono myself.
I had a thought the other day—I do have them occasionally. My grandson said that drawing wasn’t
creative and that he didn’t do it well. I told him that no one does it well
when they begin. And drawing is not creative? Hum. I thought about the Minecraft (creative mode) that
he loves so much. It has given him an enormous vocabulary. It has given him manual
dexterity, and memory for details. It has given him the ability to create
worlds, and go to the moon, but IT IS
SLICK. (Caps mine.) It has great
pictures all there, all available on screen. Pictures ready to be manipulated.
It’s messy when one begins to draw or to paint, even
beginning to play an instrument is messy. The first time you blow into a flute, (or
other wind instrument) nothing happens. No sound, no beautiful notes. Just
a “Phtt.”
At first strum a violin sounds like someone stepped on the cat's tail. And a piano sounds like someone is playing the garbage can. The first time you try to
make a pencil line look like the thing before you, it comes out as thought a
muddy-footed chicken stomped on your page. Oh does anyone use a pencil anymore?
Even the fashion designers use a HP tablet.
Could be that I am becoming an old codger, but the world
needs us to stand up sometimes and yell. “WHAT ARE YOU THINKIN?!”
Ray Bradbury said, “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a
culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”
