The World Has Gone Nuts !!
Posted on Monday, August 09 at 10:18 by Jim Callaghan
Three days later, Peggy was buried.
After the ceremony, we all went back to the Legion in Whitby (I forget the number of the branch) and to talk to several relatives that haven't seen each other for many years, and we celebrated Peggy and her 6 children, as well as other life situations that Peggy found herself part of. She like to hunt, she loved the hunt camp atmosphere, she liked a few beer, and so on. She was a party animal in her younger days, and on one specific night she called me at 2 AM to tell me that she had someone that wanted to talk to me. There I am, with my wife sleeping beside me, and my sister put one of my old girlfriends on the line.
To say the least, it was a little awkward, but that was Peggy. I loved her sense of humour, it was even more outrageous than mine, and I have been known to be out there, big time !!
Now to the message:
As we mingled after the funeral, I noticed conversations that just blew my mind. I was getting to know my relatives that I hadn't seen for many years, when the conversation took a different direction. Everyone was intent on talking about their cellphones, and how handy they were. Text messaging, how much it didn't cost, the different bell tones, and I was not impressed at all.
During the funeral service, one of my sisters cell phone rang and she caught it after a few rings and then walked to the back of the church, having a conversation. This is unacceptable !!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are certain functions that do not permit disruption by the matter of a phone call. I will go one further: I was in a bank, and I was speaking to the teller, when someone called her to the phone. She was on the line for several minutes, doing business, (it was not a personal call), and then when she hung up, after what seemed like 20 minutes, she finished my deposits and whatever, and when I left, I was not pleased at all !
I was at the counter, I was in the bank. I was being looked after, but it seems in this day we put off the people at the counter, because they will stay there, but we must look after the telephone call at any costs !!!!!! Not acceptable, and I have since made that comment to others that would say "excuse me, I have a phone call." I would not accept that, and ask that they finish my transactions and then they could call that person back. I didn't make too many friends that way, but enough is enough !
The cellphone rage has made us into creatures that are available 24/7, and we better get back to keeping our contacts within waking hours, not 24 hours a day. This is a discouraging direction we are taking, and it will affect our health sooner or later.
We need down time, and that means turning the damn thing off once in a while ! In case you haven't noticed, I do not suffer fools gladly.
I may be offline after Aug. 19th for a short time due to the fact I have purchased a new place, and it has no services. I will be living the life of a hermit for a while, and my telephone will not work either. See Ya !!
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"The greatest price of not participating in politics is being governed by your inferiors." Plato
I also have friends who have conversations with family members in their house while they are on the phone with me. They are abysmally rude. It's always, "Can you wait a sec?" Is NO an option, fool? It's always the person on the phone who has to wait.
My last example, I'm at a grocery store, and the cashier is doing her record-keepin in a -perfectly busy store. I'm next in line, but does she finish the job later? No. I have to literally wait 3-4 minutes watching her do it. Pathetic.
I also agree with Dr. Caleb, there's little politeness, and I hate political correctness.
You want the government to start legislating where, when and how often people can can on the phone now? What kind of a nutcase are you? I believe an experiment in that type of collectivist control was already tried in twentieth century. It petered out in 80 years and left behind in its wake a record of unprecedented corruption, state murder, atrocious human rights violations, etc, etc. Forced collectivism is evil. Your idea is retrogressive.
She went quickly, which is a good thing. She was in a lot of pain.
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"Arrogance in Politics is unacceptable"
Jim Callaghan
Minden, Ontario
705-286-1860
www.misterc.ca
The cell phone issue is a reflection of our society, I don't think you can legislate it, but it is something to think about, cordless phones also. We are in such a hurry all the time that we end up giving very little to so many all at once. I have a friend who will talk to me for hours on the phone, all the while, baking, eating supper with her children, bathing them and even putting them to bed; she is the queen of multitask; but what she doesn't realize is that she hasn't given me her full attention otherwise the call could have been condensed significantly, also she isn't giving her children quality time. When I hear the other people she is talking to I will say, oh, you are busy I'll let you go...and the answer is always no that's ok. Hard to figure...
I also see people deliberately dial the phone as they are walking up to the teller in the bank, into a dental or doctors office etc. I seems that they are trying to display a sense of self-importance. Sad really, as the person sitting next to them or that they might meet, could be someone really terrific, but they'll never know.
I certainly relate to your feelings Jim.
As for the relationship to soveriegnty I actually see a connection here, we are communicating ad nauseum, about all the little things,(what are you wearing, what are you doing, I'll be home in 10min,did you hear the latest blah blah) and have no time or energy left for the important issues.
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If I stand for my country today...will my country be here to stand for me tomorrow?
The government already restricts what kind of radios you can use in Canada. The U.S. is more lenient, but in Canada, you can use an FRS 2-way radio (walkie-talkie) but cannot get a GMRS radio without a special license. You also need a license to extend the signal strength of a radio.
Don't give me this crap that we're "Free" right now. Right now we're slaves to the cell-phone marketers. Also, the government listens for key words on at least all international calls, and cell-phones are easy to listen to with even an old TV with an antennae at a low frequency. How free do you feel now?
As for legislation, why do we have to be controlled by the cellphone lobby, but suggest we can't do anything about it? The fools in our government didn't allow cell-phone jammers in movie theatres & so on for fear of lawsuits if an emergency call couldn't get through--like you can't get help in a theatre without a cellphone. The airhead could just call "9.1.1.", but they'd have to call you. Hooey. Of course, we could just force BEll to stop tearing up pay phones and making them impossible to find, but no, of course not.
As for your bank - I hope you immediately sought out the branch manager and told them of your horrible service. There is no excuse that billion dollar earner has to make you wait while an employee tends to the phone - no matter the circumstances.
Cellphone - have not owned one for over seven years now and I could not be happier. Even when my employer says they will pay for it and all the charges I still refused. For those that are so tied to the phones - learn some damn manners.
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If there was ever a time for Canadians to become pushy - now is the time - for time is running out on this nation called Canada.
Dr. Caleb is right on the money.
Along with some fall-out from the out-with-the-old 60's, the 'self-improvement'/'self-esteem' kick of the 70s/80s was misinterpreted by many into a concept where 'I' is the primary consideration. The common decency, respect, politeness and consideration that human society long ago realized was required for large communities of people to co-exist together needs to be rediscovered.
However, politeness is something better learned than legislated.
Beyond being useful in some emergencies, cell phones are a blight.
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"When we are in the middle of the paradigm, it is hard to imagine any other paradigm" (Adam Smith).
"The greatest price of not participating in politics is being governed by your inferiors." Plato
I'm a bit leery about using a legislative answer for every problem, particularly when it's difficult to enforce and will add yet another burden to the legal system.
Normally I wouldn't suggest this however, this might be addressed better through another oldie but goodie fave of Canadian government, e.g., put a meaningful surtax on every minute of cell time that exceeds say 10 minutes a month. For good measure, make the tax non-deductible as a business expense. This would cover off most 'necessity' situations while making people think a bit more before using these nuisances in public and garner something useful from BS.
In the bigger picture the cell phone nuisance is another example of people not thinking about their surroundings or considering other people, just charging ahead to do whatever is good for them at the time.
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"When we are in the middle of the paradigm, it is hard to imagine any other paradigm" (Adam Smith).