A Letter To Modern Times

*I wrote this recently while on a blissful backpacking trip in the wilderness, away from the sounds, distractions, and cacophony of modernity. I hope you can relate…

Hey Modern Times, it’s me Dave.  Can I just call you “MT”, I’m a lousy typist.  Great.  Look, you’ve got a lot going for you.  Your list of achievements and technological wonders is pretty darn impressive. 

You’re good looking, a flashy dresser, and holy smokes are you fast.  You seem to do everything with the urgency of a hummingbird on cheap trucker speed.  I’ll be frank MT, it’s draining.

Surely you’ve noticed the rapid ascent of mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and self-help in recent times with us, your inhabitants.  Did ya ever stop to think about why that’s happening?  Can you even stop and think? 

Did you ever consider it might be a rebellion against you, a desperate bid to slow down and feel more connected to each other?  To something?

Botched

And then you unleash this pandemic.  Was this your attempt to put the brakes on MT?  Do a little self-reflection?  Maybe it was well intended but you really flubbed the execution.  Like a business retreat in the woods where everyone’s up until midnight hammering out reports on their laptops after a day on the high-ropes course. 

That’s not how it’s supposed to work MT.  

Look MT, you and I don’t exactly go way back.  You are modern after all.  You came on like a thunderstorm on a hot summer day and looked wondrous, beautiful, and even enticing from afar.  But as you got closer shit got real.  And now that you’re here, well…  I’m trying to level with you. 

So many of us have pursued the traditional path, embraced you, and come up against a ceiling.  Here’s the thing MT, it’s not making us happy.  We did all the things you told us to.  We went faster, accumulated more, worked harder.  We optimized. 

Many of us bled every moment dry with productivity, action.  Then to quell the resulting pain we embraced every one of your technological conveniences and numbed ourselves with consumption. 

Who wants to clean their own house?  Screw that… just work more and throw money at it, there’s 4 hours of Ozark queued up on Netflix.  Better check if there’s any Ambien left first…

What did all of this get us MT?  We found out there’s no there there.  We have record numbers of people with depression and anxiety.  Loneliness is an epidemic.  Suicide rates are at 70 year highs.  This was all before the pandemic MT. 

Like I said, you really screwed that pooch…  

On Notice

There’s no hiding it anymore MT, so many of us see the writing on the wall.  Like when Icarus saw a few drops of wax running down his arm and thought, “oh shit this isn’t good”.  We know something’s got to be done. 

Here’s the deal though, I guess this is our fault.  We made you.  We cheered you on as you tore through every part of our lives like a tasmanian devil on meth.  Our lustful quest for “more” is exhausting, and you delivered.  

I’m gonna be the bold kid that flips the cards and asks for a time-out in the corner.  Can I have that?  As Gandi said “There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.”  And he had his shit together, from what I’m told.  

Sure, I’m financially independent and semi-retired, why am I complaining?  Because I’m caught up in your ugly charms as much as the next schmo, and I’d just as soon be in the corner with a dunce cap on contemplating life to be honest. 

So yes, in the end you are a product of us.  We created you and I guess we can also change you.  I’d like to throw down the gauntlet and tell you this is your warning, that you’ve been put on notice.  But I’m not so sure. 

Like Frankenstein we’re having a hard time dealing with what we’ve fashioned, and no one seems to be in charge. 

Since we hatched you MT maybe this is really a letter to my fellow humans.  But I don’t want to be in charge, I found management a real drag.  While I’m in the corner MT can you at least get me a drink? 

I think a drink would do me good.