My World Has Shrunk Again
The kids in front of me looked puzzled as I described to them my childhood. The words that seemed to catch their attention the most we simple but very true. I said, “When I was a boy you were expected to be quiet on Sunday afternoon. It was a day of rest when you didn’t do anything. It was to be a day of doing nothing.”
In the later 1940s and through the 1950s it was a “Day of Rest” when everyone simply did that – rested. What a contrast from today when there is little difference from the other days of the week…in fact maybe with the Sunday off from work we turn it up a notch or two and work harder.
Change happens for sure.
As I was reminiscing of those old days I thought to of a time when I sat quietly in the old farm house, on one of those quiet Sunday afternoons, and read the ancient “Mechanic’s Illustrated” magazines. Vaguely I remember a “National Geographic” as well in some of those years. The photos and stories were from so far away from that small farm house a few miles west of Truax, Saskatchewan. The world was so big and so far away from me.
The silence was broken from time to time when the telephone rang. I can’t remember what my grandparent’s telephone “ring” was. “Three Longs, Two Shorts” maybe, or was it “Two Shorts and Three Longs”? Everyone on their telephone system had a distinct code. If you wanted to speak to a person or family you picked up the hand piece and held it off the hook while you turned a crank, Three Times then Two Times, with the turns each for longer or shorter ‘bursts’. For example the long could be one full rotation of the crank and the short was a half turn. The turning of the crank produced electrical bursts that were sent out down the telephone wire to all the farm houses and the houses in town.
What I just described was very modern compared to the earlier system that required you lifting the receiver handset and turn the crank around and around sending a long burst to “Central”. Central was located in some one’s house that was ‘Central’ to all in the community. The lady that agreed to do this task stayed in her house almost all the time. Short runs to the garden were possible but she needed to be available in case some one needed to call. This was especially true when someone was in trouble or hurt.
But both of these systems were so much faster that harnessing a horse and then riding a mile over to your nearest neighbor… or the more extreme of walking(running) the one mile to get help.
As I told the story to the kids sitting around me, I felt like a dinosaur. They were very quiet and they listened intently. They were also between the ages of 9 and 12 years of age. They were quiet as they tried to make sense of these stories that I told.
It was just then that my cell phone rang. It sits quietly on my hip all day long and stands ready at night for the emergency calls that might come. I reached for the cell and pushed the one small button. Immediately I was connected with the person on the other end of the line. His accent was heavily South Asian which was very much like my East Indian friend “Raj”. He was calling back with an answer to my earlier question on a Computer Internet help line.
I broke away from the kids for a moment and listened intently as “Oola” gave me the answer I needed. After he gave me the answer he asked me a question. It was odd but it showed his human side, and that he was more than just a human robot on the cell phone line. He asked, “How is your day going?” I told him it was very hot. I asked him where he was located… Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver…? I knew it was hot in those places as well as I had watched a weather channel report earlier. His reply shook me a little. “I am in India.” Oola said. Then I responded with a feeble sorting of my thoughts, “I guess it is hot there all the time isn’t it?” I don’t think he has thought of his country’s heat as an event – not the way that we do in Canada. The conversation went on for a while as we shared from our two different worlds. When I told him that I have always wanted to visit India… he replied, “You are most welcome!” sounding as if he would be willing to pick me up at the Airport in Mumbai.
As he spoke my thoughts sped back to ancient National Geographic magazine in that old farm house in Truax. The magazines were stored in the wall cupboard below the old crank telephone. There were pictures of guys like “Oola” in that one article I had looked through so many times.
My world has shrunk again.
With my annoying problems with the instant connection to the Internet… I had met “Oola” who had been a great help. He got me connected to the Internet that I needed so desperately that day. I needed to contact a person in Malaysia about an important possible meeting for him.
I left the kids to head back to my office. Just after I flipped into my email on my computer a small window opened with its distinct “jingle tone”. There was “Irene” who lives in Indonesia and she was just checking into to see how I was doing. With her connection through an instant Talk Program that allows anyone that connects with me when I am ‘On Line’, she dropped in to say “Hi Pastor Murray…” (For those that don’t understand it was like sitting under the telephone in the small farm house and having the “Three Longs and Two Shorts” startle you.)
Yesterday I was walking towards another young man. He was talking to himself with an angry look on his face. Then he moved his arms with great expression. As he passed by my left side I heard him say, “Listen Chin… I told you that I wanted that shipment from you this past week. You are the one that lives in Hong Kong! Now get it going! Husein is expecting that in India this next month! Come on guys….!”
I stopped and watched him poke his ear with his finger. There in his ear was a small black thing that looked like a larger sized hearing aid. It had a small “C” shape around the outside of his ear.
With that short exchange I had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and stared at the young man walking away from me. You couldn’t even borrow his cell phone as it was part of his body. He is in Peterborough, talking to Chin in Hong Kong, about goods he was expecting in India this next month.
I am a dinosaur and my world has shrunk big time.
But my BOSS has it all covered… in the Bible – in Isaiah 65:24 states… “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” (NIV) I think God knew that this world would change big time – an he is as up to date as anyone… Hmmmm…?
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
In the later 1940s and through the 1950s it was a “Day of Rest” when everyone simply did that – rested. What a contrast from today when there is little difference from the other days of the week…in fact maybe with the Sunday off from work we turn it up a notch or two and work harder.
Change happens for sure.
As I was reminiscing of those old days I thought to of a time when I sat quietly in the old farm house, on one of those quiet Sunday afternoons, and read the ancient “Mechanic’s Illustrated” magazines. Vaguely I remember a “National Geographic” as well in some of those years. The photos and stories were from so far away from that small farm house a few miles west of Truax, Saskatchewan. The world was so big and so far away from me.
The silence was broken from time to time when the telephone rang. I can’t remember what my grandparent’s telephone “ring” was. “Three Longs, Two Shorts” maybe, or was it “Two Shorts and Three Longs”? Everyone on their telephone system had a distinct code. If you wanted to speak to a person or family you picked up the hand piece and held it off the hook while you turned a crank, Three Times then Two Times, with the turns each for longer or shorter ‘bursts’. For example the long could be one full rotation of the crank and the short was a half turn. The turning of the crank produced electrical bursts that were sent out down the telephone wire to all the farm houses and the houses in town.
What I just described was very modern compared to the earlier system that required you lifting the receiver handset and turn the crank around and around sending a long burst to “Central”. Central was located in some one’s house that was ‘Central’ to all in the community. The lady that agreed to do this task stayed in her house almost all the time. Short runs to the garden were possible but she needed to be available in case some one needed to call. This was especially true when someone was in trouble or hurt.
But both of these systems were so much faster that harnessing a horse and then riding a mile over to your nearest neighbor… or the more extreme of walking(running) the one mile to get help.
As I told the story to the kids sitting around me, I felt like a dinosaur. They were very quiet and they listened intently. They were also between the ages of 9 and 12 years of age. They were quiet as they tried to make sense of these stories that I told.
It was just then that my cell phone rang. It sits quietly on my hip all day long and stands ready at night for the emergency calls that might come. I reached for the cell and pushed the one small button. Immediately I was connected with the person on the other end of the line. His accent was heavily South Asian which was very much like my East Indian friend “Raj”. He was calling back with an answer to my earlier question on a Computer Internet help line.
I broke away from the kids for a moment and listened intently as “Oola” gave me the answer I needed. After he gave me the answer he asked me a question. It was odd but it showed his human side, and that he was more than just a human robot on the cell phone line. He asked, “How is your day going?” I told him it was very hot. I asked him where he was located… Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver…? I knew it was hot in those places as well as I had watched a weather channel report earlier. His reply shook me a little. “I am in India.” Oola said. Then I responded with a feeble sorting of my thoughts, “I guess it is hot there all the time isn’t it?” I don’t think he has thought of his country’s heat as an event – not the way that we do in Canada. The conversation went on for a while as we shared from our two different worlds. When I told him that I have always wanted to visit India… he replied, “You are most welcome!” sounding as if he would be willing to pick me up at the Airport in Mumbai.
As he spoke my thoughts sped back to ancient National Geographic magazine in that old farm house in Truax. The magazines were stored in the wall cupboard below the old crank telephone. There were pictures of guys like “Oola” in that one article I had looked through so many times.
My world has shrunk again.
With my annoying problems with the instant connection to the Internet… I had met “Oola” who had been a great help. He got me connected to the Internet that I needed so desperately that day. I needed to contact a person in Malaysia about an important possible meeting for him.
I left the kids to head back to my office. Just after I flipped into my email on my computer a small window opened with its distinct “jingle tone”. There was “Irene” who lives in Indonesia and she was just checking into to see how I was doing. With her connection through an instant Talk Program that allows anyone that connects with me when I am ‘On Line’, she dropped in to say “Hi Pastor Murray…” (For those that don’t understand it was like sitting under the telephone in the small farm house and having the “Three Longs and Two Shorts” startle you.)
Yesterday I was walking towards another young man. He was talking to himself with an angry look on his face. Then he moved his arms with great expression. As he passed by my left side I heard him say, “Listen Chin… I told you that I wanted that shipment from you this past week. You are the one that lives in Hong Kong! Now get it going! Husein is expecting that in India this next month! Come on guys….!”
I stopped and watched him poke his ear with his finger. There in his ear was a small black thing that looked like a larger sized hearing aid. It had a small “C” shape around the outside of his ear.
With that short exchange I had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and stared at the young man walking away from me. You couldn’t even borrow his cell phone as it was part of his body. He is in Peterborough, talking to Chin in Hong Kong, about goods he was expecting in India this next month.
I am a dinosaur and my world has shrunk big time.
But my BOSS has it all covered… in the Bible – in Isaiah 65:24 states… “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” (NIV) I think God knew that this world would change big time – an he is as up to date as anyone… Hmmmm…?
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
posted by Murray Lincoln at
Saturday, August 11, 2007
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