The Current that Runs Through Us

I occasionally stray from my 'checking-in-with-the-news' ban to find out a few details about what's happening in our ever eroding universe.

I happened upon a great Letter to the Editor from last Wednesday's Star regarding an article about cell phone competition and increasing the number of phones in Canada. I really connected with what Joan Blackwood said:

'When did it become necessary to be available to the world 24/7? When did it become necessary to give voice to every thought or notion that crosses someone's mind at any hour of the day or night?'

I've often wondered this myself. I mean really, what did people do before the invention of the cell phone? You might have to go hours or even minutes without being in touch with so-and-so.

I've personally never owned a cell phone (except when I had to when I lived in Japan and couldn't afford a $500 deposit for a landline) and enjoy the fact that I need to get in contact with people for them to know where I am in the world.

But hey, I'm an old-fashioned gal, I still get excited when my friends from Japan send me old-fashioned mail for New Year's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_New_Year). There's something so much more personal and touching about the thought and inconvenience of putting together something for someone you care about.

The other downside of this whole technology blackberry, instant messaging, text messaging, cell phone phenomena is, I miss the silence. Whenever I'm in the city, I find it hard to block out that constant buzzing noise. It really gets under your skin. There's so much electricity flowing through this city, I imagine one futuristic day form now that we will find a way to replace our own bodily fluids with an electric current so that we can email or contact people just out of thin air (see Hana Gitleman's character in Heroes for inspiration).

There's nothing like standing on a crest in the middle of the Australian Outback and being able to see nature for miles. That sound of silence. Being able to tune in to every sound of a snake sliding through the desert. The sound of kookaburras calling to each other. The bounce of a kangaroo as it rushes away from you. That kind of buzz that comes when the temperature is just that side of incredibly hot.

City living disconnects us from one another, from the earth and our natural habitat. Urban living and being attached to our cell phones, SUVs and other forms of convenience take away from the sheer joy of living and breathing and being one with the earth, and all of her elements (fire, water, air, earth).

Every day that the temperature warms up I am that much closer to escaping this electronic-trap and that much closer to some beautiful forest far from the sounds and distractions of this urban life.