"Intimate Relationships"

Usually after waking up in the mornings, I put on the TV just to be sure the world hasn't suddenly blown up or perhaps to just have human voices around me.

 

The default station on the TV is NY One and I am not always quick to change it unless there is something specifically I want to sit down and numb out to.

 

This morning there was a show about Broadway and a man was being interviewed with regard to his "one man show" about Apple founder and mastermind, Steve Jobs.

 

I was walking around and not paying close attention to names and details, but a few things caught my ear and now have me wondering.....

 

The interviewee talked about the masterful "designer" Steve Jobs was, but how the array of Apple products are actually produced in China where human rights are routinely trampled upon.

 

While not offering an actual solution to the dilemma of popular products used in America being produced through abuse of human rights elsewhere, the man said it was extremely important for people to simply be "aware."

 

My question is, what good is "awareness" if we are unable or unwilling to actually do something with that knowledge?

 

If we don't want to change anything, then doesn't the old adage, "Ignorance is bliss" actually apply?

 

I mean, why just get depressed about such "awareness" or feel guilty?  Such doesn't seem all that conducive to mental health.

 

Perhaps the man didn't want to ponder solutions too much (such as boycotting products that are produced through the abuse of others) because he admitted to being very closely connected to and reliant upon his I-Phone.

 

In fact, so reliant, that he actually claimed an "intimate relationship" with his I-phone and keeping it near his bed at night.

 

I wondered if the gentleman had a wife and kids at home and if so, what they thought of such intimate descriptive of what essentially is a gadget?

 

But, certainly the man is not alone and perhaps that is why his name is not important in this particular writing.

 

Its not about the man, per se, but rather the question of what exactly constitutes an "intimate relationship" these days?

 

Personally, I don't own a I-phone (or any Apple product for that matter) and don't want for any.

 

I do, however, own a computer and spend several hours on it each day.

 

But, I would never describe the use of or interaction with my computer as an "intimate relationship."

 

Its just a machine after all and if it suddenly broke down beyond repair, I would simply get another.

 

A few weeks ago, when grieving the missing geese in Central Park and thinking about the war waged against them by the USDA and the city of New York, I thought to myself, "I would rather the USDA have come into my home and stripped it of all material possessions than to kill the beautiful and meek geese in our parks."   That thought included my computer.

 

It is hard to imagine, as much as we may enjoy or even depend upon electronic or digital devices, feeling an "intimate" association with them.

 

And yet, everywhere one goes these days, people texting or talking on cell phones is a sight more common than cars at Times Square.

 

Sometimes, I have to yank my dogs back because someone is walking down the street texting on a cell phone and obviously not watching where they are going.

 

That is when I become annoyed and swear to myself, I will never be that person walking down a street and being so wrapped up in a gadget I fail to notice what is actually going on around me.

 

But, I think now I am actually some sort of anti-social or backwards freak in having this negative attitude towards cell phones and other popular electronic devices of the day.

 

Perhaps I simply have a "fear of intimacy and commitment?"

 

Well, apparently yes, if this is the kind of "intimacy" and connection.

 

I don't want to be enslaved or owned body and soul, by some electronic device or for that matter, even another human.

 

And yet, I think true intimacy is something to seek and aspire to.

 

The question is, what exactly is true intimacy?

 

Is it the blush and rush of first love?

 

Is it the passion of sex?

 

Is it the gentle and assuring brush of hand of one who is beloved?

 

Is it two senior citizens walking through a park hand in hand?

 

Is it the tail wagging of the family dog when you come home?

 

Is it the comical waddling of ducks or geese coming to greet you?

 

It could in fact be any of the above or all of the above.

 

The one thing I truly don't believe intimacy is, is a text message on a cell phone as physical and actual closeness is removed and distant.

 

And yet, who am I to criticize the musings or words of someone interviewed on a TV program?

 

Isn't it me, who by her own words, admits to turning on the TV first thing in the mornings to "hear human voices?"

 

The TV was surely manufactured in Japan or China and I have no idea of the conditions to the workers.

 

But, unlike the man interviewed, I don't particularly want to be "aware" of how the TV (or my computer) was produced unless I am willing to live without.

 

And with all the human loves of my life living on the other side of the country these days, existing without a TV or computer is something I am not prepared to do at this time.

 

Even fake intimacy is, I suppose, better than none.

 

I just wouldn't refer to my dependence upon computers or TV as intimate relationships.

 

I save that special phrase for my animals and the ducks and geese in our parks. -- PCA

 

 

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