Our Generation's Gettysburg Address
150 years ago today, Lincoln gave his legendary Gettysburg Address. I still owe thanks to my 3rd grade teacher, Mr. Sparks, who required us to memorize this monumental speech. Our class discussed the implications and the impact this short speech had on our nation during a most turbulent, formative moment in American history.
Lincoln ascribes meaningfulness and purposefulness to the lives lost in pursuit of equality and freedom, then charges his listeners to “highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain. That the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and that the government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
My feeble comments couldn’t begin to do this masterful rhetoric justice. His charge is empowering and inspiring.
When I think of the Civil War period of our nation, I think of this speech as symbolic of its time. I wonder what speech(es) people will identify as indicative/symbolic of our current era–our Zeitgeist.
The first thing that comes to mind is the WWDC 2007 keynote speech. I remember watching Steve Jobs as a 16 year old via live Quicktime stream on the family Mac Mini. After I converted to Apple and began following their products, I prided myself in my predictions of products Apple would eventually come out with. I had always thought that Apple should come out with a phone and on June 29th, 2007, they did. I remember even at 16 realizing that this was bigger than I could imagine–the implications of the speech I was watching would have global repercussions. Forever.
Today, it’s hard to imagine life pre-iPhone. I know I sound like a grumpy old man and you have to understand that I’ve been an iPhone user since the original, I was a part of the original jailbreak community (as a user, not developer!), I’m a dilettante iOS app developer, and I’m writing this blog post on a MacBook. I’m not “anti-Apple”.
I’m simply positing the significance of this keynote. Jobs’s delivery was brilliant (watch).
He set up an introduction for three things:
Widescreen iPod with touch controls
Revolutionary mobile phone
Breakthrough Internet Communications Device
He cycled through them until it became clear that these three things were all in the same device.
All in one. Jobs even threw in some humor, showing a picture of an old iPod with a rotary dial. It’s amazing watching this again now and looking at the smart phones that have become archaic and laughable by today’s standards (only 6 years ago).
Pragmatism. Convenience. Entertainment.
I was oozing with joy when I considered how wonderful this device would make my life–sincerely elated. I wouldn’t have guessed that it would have been a key factor in the zombie apocalypse. What do I mean?
I heard a man who was standing in line at a ticket booth yell to get the attention of his kids who were rather far, but were still in earshot. I was jarred–I couldn’t remember the last time I heard anybody yell that loud to get somebody’s attention. I would just have called or texted.
I sat behind a family on the Pirates of the Caribbean in Disneyland once–mom, dad, and a little girl who seemed to have been enjoying her first time on the ride. The little girl was excited and pointing at things and taking in the amazing world around her. Her mother was on Facebook.
I’m guilty of it too. My phone is a burden. I try to intentionally get time away from it, but I feel like I’m always putting a strain on my friendships when I ignore texts/calls/messages/emails/snapchats/tweets/instapics/vines/stupidthings. I despise texting–I’ve become known for my poor communication. It’s not uncommon for me to wait until I have 35+ texts before I sit down and bracket out time to answer people back. I simply can’t shift gears so quickly from whatever I’m doing to a conversation with different people immediately! I don’t get anything done like that! Yet this is a problem because I feel the burden of expectation as these texts linger and I frequently feel guilt and frustration–it becomes another series of tasks on my to-do list. Most of the time it’s people I like and want to talk to, too. Just not when I’m supposed to be eating lunch with somebody or reading a book for class or whatever.
This conversation came up toward the beginning of our time in IRIS this semester–very shrewd of the IRIS Team to address this early on. Dr. Thoennes explained how deficient our generation is of attentiveness and how crucial attentiveness is in the learning process. It seems like a no-brainer. But really, when you’re online during class, you are a “no-brainer”. Did that work just then? I was trying to insinuate that you are brainless during class if you’re not mentally present in whatever the subject matter is but instead on the internet somewhere… Did the quotation marks give it away?
Attentiveness is a rare commodity these days. It’s disheartening to be in a conversation with somebody and then see them whip out their phone. It shouts, “Whatever you have to say, this is more important right now–so keep talking, but… uh-huh….yeah…sorry, what did you say?”
I’m preaching to myself. The iPhone is a wonderful gift and a powerful tool. I can use it to build up others and to do great things or I can get lazy with it and just serve myself. I can let it devour the quiet spaces where I might normally–heaven forbid–have to just think about things. Or I can use it well. That’s a hard thing to figure out how to do. What does thoughtful use of technology look like? This ties in nicely with the book we just read for IRIS, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
The computer, Mike, was used as an integral part of the revolution. Was this a good use of technology? What could some implications be for our use of technology that is readily available to us? Don’t look at me to answer those questions. I’m trying to provoke thoughts from you. Is that allowed in blog posts? Yes. I believe it is.
