Twelve Years Staying Put
In Montana, short visits can turn into long ones.
In 1998 almost everyone worried about the Y2K issue. It turned out not to be a big deal. Then came September 11, 2001, which continues to be a big deal (at least for some), and our rosily naive American outlook began to crumble across the board, eroding by the day. Wars, killer hurricanes, and economic calumny ensued. 8 more years pass and today we’re worried (some terrified) about almost everything: the climate, the economy, and the environment.
It’s all gotten much worse, hasn’t it? Oh, you haven’t noticed? Been living under a rock? How about in front of a television? What mainstream media is serving up might not be the whole truth.
Can you see, learn about and appreciate the world better by staying put and browsing your way around the world? Would the world be a better place if more of us stuck closer to home and practiced what is often our worst skill: Internet computing? The answer from my perspective is a definite yes!
By inclination, and twelve years of work-at-home conditioning, I see our world and interact with other people from a very different angle as a telecommuting techie type. Face time is a rare luxury to me because we live in the woods, and all my clients live somewhere else. Online is it. So when I do interact with people in the real world, it’s a treat because I’m not living among the teeming hordes. As a result I’ve lost that weary, urbanized social fatigue somewhere along the line…I’m not tired of people. Yay! Life among people is a carnival and I have the energy to enjoy them.
For most people I know, travel is something that happens almost exclusively in the physical world, such as driving to work and back each day. Or going on vacation, or “expeditions” to far flung corners of the world.
Online travel? For most people it’s limited to shopping at Amazon (online mall if there ever was one), and Facebook excursions, where people can hook up and exchange one liners across great distances, mostly. Facebook has become the new email on steroids, easier to use, and with words, pics and videos posted in full view of one’s friends, which makes it even more stimulating. But it’s kind of like cotton candy. Tastes good, but gives you no nourishment, save for the few people who take the time to comment or post their own stuff.
After 12 years of working from home here in outer Montana, I’m sure my perspective isn’t just a paranoid Kaczinsky-esque delusion fueled by too many lattes or too many hours years working alone. (I’m down to 1 cup of java a day, so that’s definitely not it…and I’ve been making sure to get out and interact with real people instead of mailing them bombs.)
In the meantime, our world suffers ever more dearly from the byproducts of our supposed freedoms. Travel (at least in a car or truck) is a big nasty byproduct! Until mankind learns to stay put, we’re screwed. Got it?
Recreation, online or offline, is where you find it. And so is a contrary thought to stir the conscience of anyone who ventures here.
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