Meaning and Wonder

Tuesday, January 24, 2023 12:00 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

Something that makes my kids a little crazy is that I quite frequently point out what magical times we live in.

We do!! 

Think about the incredible things we can access and do today that humans couldn't do 200 years ago--100 years ago--50 years ago--20 years ago!!

It's incredible and will blow up your head a bit if you really get into it!


About 5 generations before me, some of my people walked across the continent to live in California. It took them months! Of WALK-ING!

Last month, I flew to California in about 6 hours (from NY--add the PWM leg and it was 7--maybe 7 and a half.) When I got there, the clock only read three hours later than when I left JFK.

How is that not magic?!!

Plus, while flying, I was able to listen to an audio book, watch a movie, send text messages to my family members on both sides of the continent, and catch up on the day's news using a device that fits easily in my hand and is more powerful than a room-sized computer from the year I was born.

What The Actual Heck?!

And none of that is super new--it's just normal everyday stuff for us in 2023, right? Think about how frustrating it is when any of those parts doesn't work the way we've come to expect.

Yeah, I get that.

And.

We're so surrounded by magic--not that we shouldn't give reasonable feedback to folks supporting the systems when they fail, because Oh boy, you better believe it... but--we also have the opportunity to remember to celebrate the wonder-full, the incredible, the magic of our times, and to remember the humans, programmed like ourselves to live in groups of about 150 people with no electrical stimulation (except the occasional lightning bolt, I imagine), who rarely traveled more than 20 miles from where they were born, who are involved in making magic, even if it doesn't always work perfectly.

What magic are you experiencing?

Check out this upcoming book by Monica C. Parker, The Power of Wonder. In stores on February 23, 2023. (No, I don't know Monica, but reading the initial release made me feel good :) )

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