I was thinking today about catchy tunes with ridiculous lyrics and “Twilight Zone by Golden Earring from 1982” came immediately to mind. It was a new wave hit for the band and the opening riff and spoken beginning are certainly memorable to this day. I was a freshman in college in 1982 and I remember listening to it cranked on headphones; no Bluetooth back then, you had to buy a headphone extension cord if you wanted to move around. The opening line is “Cause the sign at the end of the road it says Next stop, twilight zone”
For those of us who grew up with landlines (my grandparents had a party line) if you don’t know what those are, google them but don’t change the channel, this Bud’s for you as well (that is an 80’s tag line for Bud Light, not for lighting a bud)
The apocryphal English phrase “May you live in interesting Times”, supposedly a Chinese Curse likely comes from the speeches of Joseph Chamberlain (according to philologist Garson O’toole). Chamberlain remarked all the way back in 1898
“I think that you will all agree that we are living in most interesting times. I never remember myself a time in which our history was so full, in which day by day brought us new objects of interest, and, let me say also, new objects for anxiety.”
As I am fond of repeating, there is truly nothing new under the sun. Regardless of what new idea, technology, innovation, virtual reality that comes along, life is still conducted in the midst of 8+ billion individual people that science says (DNA) are absolutely and unequivocally unique.
125 years ago, a world leader made a correlation between new objects of interest and new objects of anxiety. If you think of the acceleration of the pace of change that has occurred in the last century it is no wonder that anxiety is an increasingly common modern malady.
We can’t stop the pace of change, we can’t stop the flow of technology, and we can’t possibly keep up with all of it. Chucking it and checking out are not reasonable options for most of us, so what’s a body to do?
I continue to find as I get older, that the old wisdom still speaks, if we will listen. Faith, Family, Friendship, Fellowship; touchstones and anchors all, that have the capacity to steady us in unsteady times. All four require proximity and interaction with at least some of those (sometimes annoying) 8+ billion people.
Remember to keep tech as a tool and not a master, use it to enhance the four F’s not as a substitute.
Follow the 10+% rule. Intentionally seek to make 10+% of your life outside your “Comfort Zone”, and just as intentionally appreciate your comfort zone, that way you can grow and not be overwhelmed.
I confess, I am sometimes jealous of the younger generation, with the tremendous technological power we have today, literally at our fingertips, that I won’t be able to use it the way they do, and then I remember that the complete works of St Augustine and the speeches of Abraham Lincoln are on my phone AND my tablet in my Kindle, and I smile.
Stay Curious my Friends
Blaine Schultz