Posts
It was Sunday morning, and my family had not gone to church. Everybody was sleeping in, and i had the whole house to myself. I woke up, checked my email, read my rss feeds, even perused through a few stories of my local newspaper online. Then, I did something that was rare for me. I got up, grabbed my cell phone, iPod, and my latest edition of Wired, and went out back, sat down in my beach chair, and read. With the iPod softly going in my ears, I was sitting, enjoying the calmness of my backyard, reading a magazine.
And then is when the thought hit me: Why am I doing this? I could still be still be sitting in my room, and i could be reading the magazine online like i did the paper, and not have moved an inch.
So here is where I find myself now. Looking back on the situation, it was probably the most enjoyable thing I did all day. It was the fact that I wasn't all wrapped up in who was tweeting what, or how I could further customize my computer to make it more me. I was simply sitting, enjoying the moment.
The newspaper industry has really been hurt by the internet. More and more local papers are closing because they are loosing revenue from no one buying because they can get the information online. I am one of those people. I subscribe to my local paper's rss feed and get all the headlines on my laptop without even having to go to the website. It is simply more convenient to have it all in one place(internet), and when the news is instant(internet), it makes it ten times better.
And so I found myself sitting there, in my back yard, reading the hard copy of Wired, delivered to me by my local mailman, and I was happy. Let's face it. In today's day and age, sitting down to read either a newspaper or a magazine is old school compared to the new ways to get information. But what do you gain? Relaxation. Serenity. Maybe even a chance to slow down what's going on around you.
Living in the moment. That's what's old school. Whether it be taking the time to hand write thank you letters and mail them, or sitting down relaxing and reading the paper drinking coffee (if it's Duncan, all the more to you). The fact is, that's what people enjoy. So if living in the moment, being aware of your surroundings, and appreciating all that is happening in this world is considered old school, than shoot, old school is alive and kickin'!
