The world
moves and drags us along with it; willingly or unwillingly, we eventually move
along with it.
My Dad
worked out of town for the most part of my growing years and I recall with glee
how alongside my mum and siblings I looked forward to visiting Mr Balogun's
house down our street. The purpose of the visit most time was singular:
communicating with my Dad on telephone. Mr Balogun happened to be the only one
with a telephone in my residential circumference.
Fast forward
to today, I laugh each time I have to pass through Mr Balogun's house. Nothing
funny really. Just that the same gadget we all came to his house to use, my
youngest sister got hers when she was about 13 years old. Include to this the
fact that Mr Balogun's house at the time was a Mecca of sort, as people always
thronged in to make use of his telephone.
There was a
time I has to visit a cybercafe to send and receive email messages from friends
and lives ones far away. Sometimes, having to navigate some long distances to
make use of the fastest internet services around my vicinity. Today, I don't
even have to log into a computer to send and receive emails.
The world is
moving fast and it is moving into our palms. New devices are designed daily to
fit into our palms. On the go. In the process, there are quite a lot of things
we eventually never get to use either by choice or by force.
And so I ask
some questions. Simple routines that were normal when I was in my formative
years. How often do I make use of certain things.
When was the
last time I made use of a paper dictionary?
When was the
last time I wrote a letter to a friend or loved one?
When was the
last time I used a chalk to write on a blackboard?
Think about
it and add to the list.
In the very
near future some of the things we were associated with will eventually become
extinct. Think about a dinosaur and how scientists have tried to prove to us
that they once were inhabitants of the earth we live in; that’s the exact face
our kids may give us when we relate some of our experiences to them.
Who knows,
maybe in the future we could be talking about a ‘Green Pawpaw’ phone that
established live virtual communication.
Lol.