Caught in the Net 2/4/2024

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

I attempted to use the same method for topic ideas that I used last week. It seems that my daughter and I are similar enough that her suggestions were ones I had already employed.  We’ll chalk that up to great minds thinking alike or something of the sort.  So, since her idea was one that I have already written about in the past, I am stuck in a bit of a state of cluelessness.  I wish I had some really intriguing story to tell you. I do like to tell a story, but I can’t think of any particularly worthwhile tale I have to tell. My husband has told me that he likes it when I tell stories in my blogs. I enjoy it too but, alas, one must start off with a story to tell before that works out very well.  Even now I am sitting here wracking my brain for something, anything.  If it comes to mind, I’ve either already written about it or don’t know that it would make something anything would want to read, I mean, Lord knows I can’t cover the low hanging morning mist another time or both you and I might both have to give up this blog altogether.

I’m at this moment surrounded by the all the usual suspects that I could use for literary fodder. I’m seeing videos and posts. I’m perusing memes and reels. They’re coming from all the usual websites that we often find ourselves browsing to pass time that we should usually be using more productively. I’m seeing a couple of trending ideas that are veining their way through the content. It could be that all the algorithms of the internet observing my habits are just making a pattern that they think I might find of interest so that I might linger even longer than the already ridiculous amount of time that I dedicate to them. Yes, I am admitting that I can, at times, be a habitual scroller and before I know it, I glance at the clock and hours have passed. These are hours that I won’t get back and that have profited me not much of anything.  I suppose I say that to attempt to lecture myself out of the habit.

But back to the trending themes that have come of mindless time wasting.  First it was a video showing scenes of a happy couple doing all sorts of activities. Talking over these images was a man telling of being at work and a coworker could tell something was bothering him. When the coworker asked him why he wasn’t his usual jovial self he explained that the night before he and his wife had gotten into a bad argument. He said tonight he would go home and hopefully they could get things straightened out. His coworker asked him who told him that.  The narrator was confused as to what he meant, and the coworker clarified that he wanted to know who told him that he was going to go home. This stunned the man and the coworker explained he wasn’t an expert or one to give advice but that going home to make up was not something he was guaranteed, and he should call his wife and make things right, right now.  The man was floored and urged whoever was watching the video that no matter the situation or the backstory that they should make things right and tell their loved ones that they love them because going home or doing it later wasn’t something that always happened.

I had heard this type of thing said many times.  I am pretty sure all of us have heard the time-honored saying “Tomorrow isn’t promised.” We all know. But do we ever really take it to heart?  Seems to me it usually takes some tragic circumstance before it ever really has its full gravity for us. For some reason though, and it was likely the sound of a grown man’s tears because that often gets me, this video had weight for me.  We need to make sure that the trivial things are settled and that those we love know it. It is a decision to love someone. It is not a fluffy feeling full of cupids and hearts. It is a conscious decision we make every day, and it is filled with choice after choice to act accordingly.  It is so important though to not take for granted.

Speaking of, the next video was of a lovely lady being asked to share something we wouldn’t expect about her. She talked about how she’s had 4 knee replacements and she’s only 50.  Her being 50 was almost as shocking as her knees since she didn’t look remotely that age. She talked about how her surgeries had taught her how important the simple things were, like being able to get around your home to do the most basic life functions.  She told how good it was just to be alive and moving.  I certainly can’t say I have ever been particularly grateful for the ability to walk to the bathroom.  But I suppose I should be.  It’s good to be reminded sometimes.

Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty of garbage and uselessness mingled within my online discoveries.  There were some delicious recipes adjacent to tiresome politics.  There were things which I will most certainly not repeat and will hope that I never see again strangely next to things I will save to remember in the future.  It is a weird world to explore, the internet.  Though I cannot recommend all its facets there are a few gems to be mined I suppose.  But when I sit the phone down or put the laptop away, hopefully after not too much wasted time, it will be the simple things that will actually make my time well spent and the sooner I can get that through my head the better. I’ll just have to remove the screen from my face first though.