What is this desire that seems to have taken root in my mind? I speak not of desire for love (or lust, for that matter), or for wealth, or even things.
What I desire is a less technology centered, less convenience driven, and far, far slower pace to life.
It's not that I'm a Neo-Luddite - I've stated this quite a few times in the past, but just to be clear, I love computers and the Internet and all that they have made possible. I love my smart phone, and I love my flat screen TV and the service provider that allows me to surf 500 channels.
The rejection of technology is not what I mean when I say less technology. What I mean with that statement is that I want to rely on technology less, for communication, for education, and especially for entertainment,
I want more face-to-face communication, more exploring, more adventuring, and much more interaction with other humans doing things like playing softball or fixing up an old barn.
And what I mean by less convenience is, I want to stop taking all the short cuts that the modern age affords me - I want to stop microwaving my meals, I want to stop using a remote control to change channels and open doors and turn off the lights, and I want to stop driving to a store that is only 6 blocks away.
As for the far slower pace of life, that is fairly self-explanatory.
Every time I drive along I-70 or I-80 through the Midwest and I speed past small town after small town, I wonder how great it must be to live in a place where traffic isn't backed up for hours every single morning and every single evening. I wonder what it must be like to be able to walk into a store and be greeted with a real welcome by a person who knows your name, and is actually grateful for your patronage.
Those thoughts fill my mind for hours as I drive through eastern Colorado, or Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, and just about every other state that is located in what is commonly referred to as the heartland of America.
It may seem as if I've gone off the deep end to some of my family and friends, but there burns in me a desire to live in a small town, one where people are easygoing, casual, and friendly to everyone. I want live in a town where people not only know one another, they actually care about one another.
And yes, I'm aware that means I'd be living in a place where everybody knows my business, but in this day and age, where Facebook and Twitter are de rigueur, what difference does that make?
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