Life in the 21st century, at least in most areas (cities, to be more accurate), is a never ending strife for survival.
Don’t get me wrong, most of us working and living in the concrete jungles of South Africa don’t have it nearly as tough as most people on this planet.
We have no war, we seldom have bomb threats, not an exceptionally high rate of diseases and no natural disasters, excluding the drought of course.
And yet, there is something soul crushing about spending a third of our day between four walls, staring at screens, then spending another third of the day staring at other screens, then trying to fall asleep, while staring at yet another, smaller screen, after which we start the whole cycle over again.
For some reason I get the idea this generation will have lived less than any before us, even though we might become older than them all.
Believe me, I’m not criticising with an arrogant and condescending smirk on my face, staying celibate, as it were, from the enticing claws of technology.
No, I also find myself ingrained in this world where it has become excusable to stare down at a little box of glass, plastic and silicone, rather than up at the faces of the people in front of us.
Beside my clichéd rant about technology and its social genocide, I’ll pile on by asking whether we really live life to the full while roaming these streets, alleys and long hallways.
Is the old adage true? Does money not buy happiness? I’ll be blunt and say, in the way most of us live today, yes, it does.
In a world with an ever-receding tree line (among other things), it is obvious mental stimulation must come from man-made objects and activities, which (almost exclusively) cost money.
On the less cynical side of things, obviously there is love, which does not cost green or silver.
Love from friends, family and a romantic partner is among the few things that only asks for love in return.
Love and the small, more abstract pleasures in life, such as enjoying a cool breeze on a hot summer day, or looking at the stars at night, help keep us sane in this infinite game of empty Russian Roulette.
But should we settle for a life of being half-happy, loving and caring for people around us on the one hand, but being numbed by cyclic suburban life on the other?
It seems as though life would be much easier, simpler and more enjoyable if we somehow returned to at least a few old ways.
I enjoy the pleasures of urban life as much as the next person and won’t become a sudden self-sustainable whiz, but a reduction of virtual (truly ineffectual) social media accounts will be my first order of the day.
A long holiday enjoying the Garden Route of our beautiful country (outside the city walls), will be next.
Well, that’s my sermon for the week, I see now I went off in a bit of a long arc there, but feel it is important for humans to become human again, by feeling, living, thinking and… looking up.
