First Posted: 11/5/2011
Our 3-year-old daughter cried Monday when a pet fish died.Our 4-year-old daughter freaked out Tuesday when Mom sent the tablet computer in for an update.Our 10-year-old daughter got angry when the Internet was down Wednesday because a cable update didn’t go so well.And me? I resorted to stealing wireless Internet from one of our neighbors to post a witty comment on Facebook about my child’s mistaken report on the patron saint of bacon.Only one of these reactions made any sense, and it’s safe to say it wasn’t any of the older people’s.We have a pretty technologically savvy household here, and I fear it’s blinding us to what’s important in life.A technologically challenging week proved it.My mobile phone has been acting crazy all week. It works great, as long as you don’t try to use it. Then, its battery diminishes quite quickly. I can talk on it for about two minutes before it demands recharging, which is ideal for a man who thinks all conversations should be done in two minutes. Still, I ordered a battery and figured out by Thursday I should carry a charger with me at all times until I get the new battery. I love cordless technology.Then my wife received the packaging to send her tablet computer back to the manufacturer for updates. It will come back with more bells and whistles, and it’s worth taking it out of service for a bit. Still, our children became attached to it and its games, including Angry Birds and some talking giraffe thing.Wednesday was the day that toppled us, though. We were in line for an Internet speed upgrade that included some new services for our TVs. The courteous installer did what he could, but some glitch at headquarters kept him from activating anything. He thought our existing services should work until he returned Thursday.He was wrong. There was no www anything, no email, no Internet. The cable stopped working on most of the TVs.That combination left me desperate for a connection. I snuck into a bedroom and, to my surprise, found one neighbor has an unsecured wireless connection so I could play on Facebook. (Sorry about that, Andy. You should use a password.)I know there are starving children in Africa, a melting polar icecap and many people out of work. My family’s problems this week are incredibly trivial.And that’s what this experience taught us. It’s just technology. It’s not life.Yet we planned to nonchalantly flush that dead fish down the toilet Monday night, until our 3-year-old reminded us what’s important. She wanted to pray for that fish. She hoped she’d see it in heaven some day, she told me.Sure, it’s just a pet fish. Still, it’s a living thing that deserves more of our affection than these phones, computers and TVs do. The sooner we realize the value of all forms of life, the more fulfilling our lives will be.
