Life in Gestalt

Luddite in the 21st Century

LUCIEN LETTERS

Dear Lucien,

It's awful to start with a cliche`, but it has said to be said. It really IS quite hard to believe I'm writing to you. Or that we met on the Eurostar and had one of the most memorable conversations about all the 'great nothings' brewing in our heads. What a strange twist of...fate? destiny? or the random powers that be who assign seats at the Eurostar? hahaha. Whatever it was, I'm glad we met even if we were on different journeys. And I know you know I'm not talking about traveling...

I've settled in to my 'resident' life, as you called it, while I'm quite certain you're still off somewhere in this planet, living your 'transient' life. You're right, it's about time I resurrected my journal, and what better way to ensure that I actually do use it than to address them to you. I don't know when you'll be able to write back, seeing as how you might be in the Appenines already, but I'm not really waiting for a reply. We write these thoughts, as I said, not for the anticipation of an extended reply, but mostly because it's easier to listen to ourselves in the relative comfort of a solitary chair, paper, and pen, with the occasional inspiration from one of Bach's Brandenburgs, of course. hahaha.... except now I'm using email for paper. Tree-lovers would be thanking me.

Which brings me to something that's been burgeoning in my head these past few days since I got back.

The Luddites are notorious throughout world history for the refusal to embrace the Industrial Revolution and all the scientific advancement that era ushered in. To many, they were 'regressive', clinging to traditional ways of doing things, and refusing to absorb the new. Of course, economic theory would have us recall that this was a classic labor-displacement problem brought on by the advent of allegedly more efficient technologies. Politically, they were a potentially troublesome minority who sometimes resorted to violence to carry their point.

But I don't think the Luddites were entirely wrong. Tradition isn't a bad thing. It gives us stability, and calls out to our own need for permanence. Technology, for all its million benefits, can sometimes feel alienating. Different. Nothing like 'home'.

Of course, I know you'll take this with a grain of salt, given my more-than-occasional Victorian bent. *smiling* I admit it, I'm a technological dunce, bordering to the point of a technophobe. Oh, I know enough as any mainstream user in our generation does...basically using the internet, emailing, etc. But I'm not one of those twenty-somethings fresh out of college making millions off the software they created or what-not. (I keep seeing these kids on BBC, Lucien, and sometimes I think my mother must've forgotten to feed me something they had every day of their lives. Or maybe there's a technology gene that just hasn't been mapped yet. Ha.)

I'd hardly call myself a downright technophobe. I choose enough of technologies available to complement what I'm comfortable with and to help me do tasks I need done faster. But it doesn't permeate my life. It doesn't excite me to know how to code in HTML, whatever. (Good thing this is just between you and me. I'd be crossed out of the job market if ever someone noted this admission!) There are things in life where I consciously choose to cross frontiers continuously...but generation X's penchant for the latest, fastest, and best equipment and technology just isn't one of them. You can call me a Luddite in the 21st century, but I'd always think I'm not the one getting left behind.

Whenever I see someone with their latest PDA, notebook, bluetooth, or the thousand and one things we children of the 21st century seem to think indispensable even in the relative peace and quiet of a quaint European cafe` nearly a hundred years old, I smile to myself, sip some more of my Earl Grey, and get back to writing in my old, worn, leather journal, thinking that at some point in the day, after I've emailed you my typewritten version of my latest entry, I'll be glad I have this compilation of 'great nothings' to accompany me for the rest of my journey. Like I said earlier, I know you know I don't mean traveling.

Fide.

Angel Fidelis

Posted by Angel Fidelis at October 14, 2002 10:16 AM