Many of my musings (or maybe more accurately rantings) in this blog concern technology. My mother-in-law is visiting, and she has procured a flip cell phone (for cases of emergency.) Being ninety-yrs-old she finds the concept of mobile technology very daunting, but she is committed to learning to use "the darn thing." I was impressed with her dedication to process. She'd been practicing at home and brought a folder with written step-by-step instructions which she retrieved from her luggage, so we could practice.
Send and End were still anomalies which I decoded as call and hang up. We surfed through the menu trying to find contacts to practice calling, when finally she dialed 911 and SEND, because the instructions were written that way. After apologizing to the 911 operator, we decided to give ciber space a rest, but not without pledging to a call a day until she gets the hang of it. Her words struck a cord in me. "If I just wouldn't resist it."
How true at any age. Our fears of failure, looking stupid, or making a wrong call keep us from achieving our potential. No one learns to walk without falling, or hits a home run without swinging, or gets published without being rejected. Life is about struggle, a journey down a path of uncertain terrain that is bound to have loose rock, boulders, or sink holes and scat to maneuver. We just have to keep hiking, one boot in front of the other.
I'm getting there too. I want to thank all my friends and family who usher me along the path, or drag me by my hair, whatever it takes on any given day. Be sure and check out my interview on the Bayou Writers Group Blog. Keep posting, keep pitching, keep plugging along, you will get published.
Chris, my mom is also 90 and got her first cell phone a little more than a year ago. She mostly uses it for long distance calls to her brother. So I relate to your MIL's struggles. It's hard, and I'm grateful to have begun learning all this high-tech stuff at a much earlier age. Good advice about persistence. Good post in general.
ReplyDeleteHi Chris
ReplyDeleteMy kids dragged me kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. I finally got a cell phone (a Jitterbug, for the technologically challenged) and I'm even texting. My son said on his Facebook page that pigs were flying. It takes me a while to get through a text since it's not in my DNA to type something incorrectly. Good post and good advice.
Linda
P.S. LOVE your mother-in-law. She reminds me of my mom, who was 93 when she died. She was sharp as a tack, also.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteFor years, I viewed cell phones as a not bloody-necessary thing in my life. Until we began moving from one state to another, always changing phone #'s. What an annoyance and a bore. I finally forced myself into the 20th century cell phone system. I bought a perfectly good little cell phone that made phone calls, period. All set, don't need anything else. I thought.
What I want now is the latest phone with all the bells and whistles and an automatic upgrade the day the newest one arrives. Am I spoiled? Yes. Do I feel bad about it? No. Could I do without it? Certainly. But I'd really like to have it. :-)