The Ways of Then

“How much longer is it until we get there?”

“Oh I don’t know… Two… Three hours, perhaps?”

“Two to three hours?!?!?”

“Yep.”

“Do we have to do this?!?”

“I mean no, we don’t have to. But I wanted to.”

“But why?”

“I haven’t done it since I was a kid…”

“And now I see why!”

“Mom?”

“Yes, Kaden?”

“What was it like when you were a kid?”

“Ha ha… What makes you ask that?”

“Oh I don’t know. I’m just curious. It seems like you mention it a lot. You’ll say things like, ‘I haven’t done that since I was a kid…’ ‘I wish things were like they used to be…’ ‘Back in the old days…’, ‘I loved to do this or that when I was your age…’ You’ve said it in different ways, and I guess I just never thought to actually ask… What it was like.”

“Well.

I’d say things were… Simpler.”

“‘Simpler’ how?”

“Like, you see all of those stretches of land out there.. The pastures—well, they used to be called pastures, but the dirt—that go for miles? There used to be cows and horses out there.”

“So?”

“So? Ha ha. Well, once upon a time, it mattered. Cows, horses, pigs, chickens. All kinds of animals, and people out there attending to them. And attending to the things growing out the ground. The different crops and vegetables. And they’d get a pretty good workout while doing it! There just was a lot more… We were a lot more… in nature.”

“But you can see a lot of that online now?”

“Yeah, but… It isn’t the same. Especially, it was one thing when seeing it in person was optional. Now there is no option. The only option is to see it online. All of that would’ve been a beautiful, bright green…once upon a time.”

“But you don’t have all the mess, the taking care of them, smells and loud noises of animals anymore. That’s gotta be a good thing, right? And it isn’t like anyone’s actually needing to eat them anymore. So, what else? What else used to be ‘simpler’?”

“Well.. We used to walk places… a lot. In our neighborhoods, to the park, to the local grocery store… And when we didn’t or couldn’t walk, we’d drive or even ride our bikes! Or on a bus. It was nice. We got to be out and see things. Talk to people, ear the birds sing, watch different buildings go up, stop and smell the roses—”

“But you can just easily download a rose scent… Or transport to wherever there’s roses and smell those.”

“You can. It’s just… Back then, you got to see people in passing, enjoying a walk while you enjoyed yours. People out walking their dogs. Or in their cars, singing and dancing along with the radio or listening intently to a podcast or talk radio. And when a place was too far to drive, you could take a train or even a plane or a boat. You could visit far away places like that---”

“But you can still visit far-away places but even much faster now.”

“Oh I know, but it’s just… Different. It’s instant. Back then, it was…paced. Which gave you a different, greater appreciation for the things around you…and for time. More time to observe and reflect.”

“But don’t you like that the way things are now has saved you a lot of time?”

“It… has. We did get that.”

“I guess I don’t get what you lost, then…”

“I mean, we used to save up for and look forward to a big trip in another part of the country or across the world.. And just the excitement, even the anticipation…of flying… of going and exploring exotic places for the first time.. And then taking pictures, coming back, and showing your friends and family. And everyone being jealous and wanting to go, themselves.”

“But don’t you think it’s great everyone gets to experience that now? That money, distance, transportation, and even time are no longer barriers for anyone who wants to see other parts of the world?”

“I mean… Yes, it’s just… The experience…”

“You traded experience for convenience. Seems like a decent-enough trade-off!”

“I suppose.

And oh my God, then there was the food…”

“Food?”

“Yes. I know it’s a pretty foreign concept now, but for most of history, we had actual food. Real food. Thing of different shapes and sizes, colors and textures that you’d put in your mouth and chew for a while before it goes in your stomach. And you keep doing that until you get full.”

“That sounds so…weird.”

“It wasn’t. It was pretty wonderful, actually. And oh my gosh, so many foods. So many kinds! Fruits and vegetables, pastas, cheeses, breads… Hamburgers, pizza, steak… Sushi, fried chicken, even cupcakes and donuts!”

“You miss them?”

“I don’t miss just them. I miss… The variety. The different tastes and textures… The experience of sitting down and having a full meal. The mushiness of some buttery mashed potatoes… the crunchiness of some cereal or a bag of chips. The chewiness of deer meat. And yeah, not all of it was good for you, but a lot of it was… if you knew what to get. And still, whether it was good for you or not, it was all just so…”

“Good?”

“….Yeah. Good.

And also, it would often bring people together. We’d come together to eat together.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. We would sit with each other for breakfast, sometimes lunch, and often dinner. For holidays and other special occasions. Parties, festivals, sporting events, even funerals!”

“Funerals?”

“Yep. We used almost every occasion as an excuse—ha ha, I mean reason—to eat. To eat together. It was another way to bond with one another. To get to know about someone else as we all indulged in that same shared activity. Even trying out different restaurants was fun! And tasting new and different foods. Figuring out what you loved and what you hated. I hated Brussels sprouts. But I loved parsnips, which some other people hated—”

“’Parsnips’…?”

“Mmhmm!”

“What a weird word.”

“Yeah, I guess it is. But it was a thing. A great thing. And then you’d wash it all down with a nice, tall glass of lemonade, or Coca~Cola, or even water!”

“Water?”

“Mmhmm…”

“You would drink…water?”

“We sure did. It could be quite refreshing, too. For some people, that’s all they drank.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, and now you just… Pop a pill.

For everything.”

“I mean, it sounds like that was a really good change. It seems like you guys spent a lot of time, energy, and probably money on food! And obsessing over it!! No wonder I’ve heard so many people used to be fat.”

“I mean, we didn’t necessarily obsess—well, not everyone, anyway. We appreciated. Although… Fair enough, maybe not as much as we should have…”

“So, you wish you didn’t have to just pop a pill to eat and drink now?”

“I wish popping a pill weren’t just it. With one little tablet, you’re instantly perfectly nourished and full. No work that goes into it. No thought process or mindfulness. Just that one little, 2-second action, and that’s it.

You can’t bond over a pill.”

“But you can ‘bond’ doing other things, right?”

“Like being physically active and working out? The pill and Vitals monitor takes care of even that. We’re all totally fit. It’s virtually impossible to be overweight!”

“It’s so strange to me. You’re saying all of this like it’s a bad thing...”

“It isn’t bad, honey. Like I said, it’s just different.”

“Didn’t you guys used to have to sleep for, like, 10 hours every night—just to be properly rested?”

“Ha ha, well not exactly 10. The recommendation was for about eight to nine hours.”

“Eight to nine?!? That’s like a third of the day!!”

“It is. And still, I’ve sometimes found myself missing even that. Even though I rarely ever got enough of it. Most people didn’t.”

“But the Vitals monitor and pill instantly figure out how much rest you need and give it to you immediately, making the need for sleep obsolete. And that leaves you time and space to do so many other things!”

“I hear you, Kaden, but… There’s a place for rest. Slowing down. Taking it easy. And the world just stopping, even just pausing… for a moment. Things don’t need to go all the time.”

“But so much is able to get done in that extra time! Think of how many diseases have been cured, how much more technology has advanced—time freed up from how long it used to take you guys to eat, sleep, and travel!!”

“We also have a lot of extra things we don’t need now. A lot more clutter. Physically, mentally, and even when it comes to sound. Noise. Since almost no one sleeps or needs it, things are always…going…and just…

Loud.

Really loud.”

“It doesn’t seem too loud to me…”

“I’m sure it doesn’t. But if you’d known what it was like before…

I mean, people don’t even break to use the bathroom anymore…because no one has to use the bathroom anymore.”

“Yeah, fortunately, that would’ve never been a problem for me…”

“And I think about all the things it used to take time to learn, let alone master. Education, different languages, hobbies… even sports. Now, everyone is an Olympian-level athlete. Which is why there are no longer Olympian-level athletes. No longer The Olympics. Because, why bother if there’s always a 10-way tie?

Everyone is an amazing singer, if they want to be, and can instantly produce amazing tunes. Which is why they long ago got rid of music awards.

And everyone’s a teacher, doctor, lawyer, therapist, engineer, and priest.

Literally.”

“You mean it wasn’t always like that?”

“Ha ha, no. It wasn’t always like that. Before, everyone didn’t know… Everything.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely. There was a lot more variety in people’s intelligence and their knowledge about things. Which…although it could be a bit frustrating at times, it also made for things being a bit more interesting. And it gave everyone more to look forward to. To getting smarter. The process of getting smarter or teaching someone to become smarter. Helping them to have new ways of seeing things and better understandings of things.”

“So, you preferred it when everyone was dumber? And more ignorant? And relied on others to know things more?”

“Well, no, not necessarily preferred people being dumber, just… In a way, you don’t want nearly everyone walking around an astrophysicist…or an expert historian, you know what I mean?”

“No.”

“It’s just—"

“I mean, isn’t it good to be smart? Man, I can’t wait until I’m 16 in a few years so I can officially become as smart as everyone else!”

“I’m glad they at least did that right—delaying everyone becoming equally brilliant until at that age. Letting kids be more kids. All kids.

But I know some are fighting even that.””

“Mmmm I guess…”

“And it is helpful to be smart. But when nearly everyone is really smart…it kind of decreases the value of what it means to be smart. Also, there are certain things that no one really smart tends to want to do.”

“Things like what?”

“Well… like hard-labor kinds of jobs—farming, warehouse work, or cleaning toilets. Or caretaking.”

“But you have certain groups specially made to do those kinds of jobs now.”

“Also, if everyone knows everything, so much of conversation ends up a debate. Like I said, you really can’t teach anyone…because what’s there to teach? Everyone knows about the same. And still, everyone still somehow thinks they know better than the next. I mean, just look at you and your dad…”

“We don’t debate!

Well! We don’t!”

“Kaden, you’ve been trying to debate everything I’ve been telling you this whole conversation—

Even though you first asked for my experience as a kid.”

“That’s not debating. That’s just curiosity. And questioning some of the illogical-sounding things you’re saying.”

“Yeah, ha ha… Debating!”

“So, would you rather I just say nothing and let you talk, even if some of what you’re saying doesn’t make sense?”

“It’s okay to talk and to be curious. It’s just…”

“’It’s just’ what?”

“So, that’s another way things used to be different. People weren’t so ‘logical’… People felt more. They listened. And not just with their brains, but with their hear—

They had more empathy. And compassion. More emotion.”

“Why would you want emotion—especially over logic?”

“I mean, too much of either isn’t ideal, but a healthy balance of both? That seems pretty reasonable…”

“But why would you want any emotion? It makes you not see things clearly. It can make you dumb!”

“It can…when it’s too much and out of control. But again… in healthy doses, it’s… it’s helpful — needed, even. It’s part of being human.”

“So, are you sayig you think something’s wrong with me—because I don’t have much emotion? In fact, I’m about 97.027641675% logic versus only 1.972358325% emotion, just enough of an allowance to make me a tad bit more human.”

“No. No, I don’t think there’s something wrong with you.”

“But I don’t have much emotion. I mean, I don’t cry or get angry, I barely laugh, it takes an immense amount to surprise, let alone shock, me, and I don’t even get frustrated! And yet, it sounds like you think having it is better and even what’s most ‘right’! So, by deduced logic, that would strongly suggest you think that I am, in effect, wrong.”

“Honey, I think you’re exactly what you should be.”

“Mom?”

“Yes, honey?”

“The little part of me that is emotional… Do you wish I’d gotten more of it from you?”

“No. You have both me and your dad in you. And I wouldn’t change that for anything. We both gave you something.”

“But I don’t understand. If you think people are better off with a lot more emotion, how come you didn’t just marry and have kids with someone else like you? Then you would’ve had more balanced kids…”

“Well, first of all, like I said, I love you just the way you are. But also…

I fell in love with your father.”

“But he doesn’t have any emotion!”

“That isn’t true.”

“It is true. He’s literally technically incapable of possessing emotion. He isn’t built for it.”

“Well, he might’ve not been in his early life, before he met me. And probably is mostly that way with you. But somewhere along the way…

He learned.”

“You can learn to have more emotion?”

“It seems your dad did, yes.”

“Should I learn to have more emotion?”

“Honey, only if you want to. Your dad learned because he wanted to learn. And that was part of what made me fall in love with him. But understand it wasn’t the only part. His brain was also what won me over and especially how he used it to do so!”

“What do you mean?”

“Honey, your dad’s very clever…even for what he is. I think he did a lot of studying of several things, like charisma, confidence, romance…. Game.”

“Game?”

“Game.”

“What is that?”

“Ha ha… Make a note to look it up later.”

“Got it. Logged and queued for another time.”

“But yeah… Your dad’s pretty great!”

“Understood, but still… I’m sure there were many others out there who were more like you and also ‘pretty great’…and smart, charismatic, confident, romantic, and having… ‘Game.’”

“There were others… But there weren’t many.”

“Huh? There weren’t?”

“No. A lot of us were dying out in those days. Around my early-20s, when I met your dad, it was only about 30% of us left in the world.”

“And the other 70% were like dad?”

“Yeah, like dad…or like you.”

“Oh.”

“And the number’s gotten even lower since—especially those who have fought the new ways, wanted to remain more natural. I’m one of the lucky ones… who have embraced the new ways of things and are still here.

And there are others like me who have made it a point to only have kids with each other so our numbers don’t go down even more, but… That just never was my thing. I just wanted love and to love. And to live.

I was never an activist or hardcore pro-Human. But… now…”

“Now, you wish you would’ve been one of them…”

“No… because then, I wouldn’t have you.”

“Well then what were you going to say? ‘Now…’ what?”

“I just wish it never came to having to make that kind of decision. I wish we could just prioritize love and living without worrying about what it means for our civilization. Wish we could just be…without worrying about possibly contributing to the overall decline of literal humanity…”

“I see…”

“Mom?”

“Yes, honey?

“What do you think dad is doing right now?”

“Probably still charging. I told him to start yesterday. I wish he could’ve come.”

“I do, too. But I’m glad at least I was able to.”

“I’m glad you were, too.”