Don't Stop with Smelling the Roses - Experience Life!!

Last year in my book, I wrote a great deal about growing up in Concord and the sheer joy of experiencing the pleasures of living in a community such as this.

A walk through the city’s downtown was inevitably a social experience. You ran into people you knew, stopping to catch-up on all of the news. Even virtual strangers would nod, smile or say “hello.” There was an indefinable connection that enhanced the most simple of everyday tasks.

A part of me believed that certain aspects of those times were still a dominant part of the city’s landscape so it came as a bit of a shock, recently, when I started noticing that things are vastly different and not necessarily in the best of ways.

I’ve said it before and I’ll repeat it. Change and progress are very good things. If you are willing to recognize the value in those changes, life can continue to be an enriching experience.

I love having a computer. In so many ways it makes it easier to write, without blackening my fingers from carbon paper or cursing the slowness with which my Royal or Smith Corona would sometimes respond to a flurry of ideas in my head. I also feel a sense of ease when I travel a distance and know that, if needed, AAA is but a few digits away on my cell phone. In addition, should I encounter someone in trouble on my travels, I can call for help.

It’s been more than 40 years since I took driver's ed. My instructor was a wonderful teacher named Ed Serieka. He was patient, funny, knowledgeable and made learning to drive a great experience.

Frequently, during our classes, Ed would remind us that driving was a privilege and a responsibility that we all needed to take with a grave sense of seriousness. When we got behind the wheel we had not only our lives to think about but also those of our passengers as well as other vehicles we might encounter on the road or even pedestrians. “At all times you need to be focused on what you are doing, because your car can easily become a weapon.”

I never forgot his words or the look on his face as he said them. Gone was the jovial and amusing Mr. Serieka. In its place was a wise sage who knew what he was talking about and wanted to implant something in us that would remain an integral part of every drive we took in the future.

Recently, I have become more and more aware of how many hundreds of individuals are not keeping that in mind as they careen around the streets and roadways of our community.

On Thursday, I watched a car turn off of Fort Eddy Road onto Bridge Street, swerving between two or three lanes. Why? Because the driver was holding their phone in one hand while wildly gesturing with the other and making the turn using their elbows.

The other day, I was passed on by a car going more than 75 while the driver was using some form of electronic gadget and swaying back and forth as they passed me, at one point being less than four feet from my vehicle.

Ed advised us to not even change our 8-track tapes when we were driving and yet today, anything seems to go when you “hit the road.”

When I go for my daily walks through , I store away every memory of those walks from watching the grass get greener with each day, to noticing the buds popping up and watching other people as they wander through this special oasis in our city.

I also notice how few people seem to be enjoying the moment with me.

Mothers pushing their baby strollers are gabbing away on their cell phones and not appreciating how quickly those babies will grow up and be gone, leaving the mother without the memories of those walks and times shared.

Each day when I walked my mother’s dog through the neighborhood, I encounter other dog owners doing the same. The difference in more than half the cases is that, again, dog owners are not bonding with their “four-leggers” like they used to but rather gabbing away to someone on a cell phone and not noticing their dogs are popping all over someone’s lawn.

On Main Street at noontime during the week, it often resembles some science fiction movie as scores of individuals walk, oblivious to one another, yakking away on their cell phones. Gone are those unexpected and often wonderful encounters with people we may know and have not seen in ages.

A combination of much of this could turn deadly. It’s not unusual to see someone talking on a cell phone as they cross the street in the crosswalk, almost getting mowed down by a car driver by a motorist who is talking on their cell phone and coasts right through the crosswalk, ignoring the law about stopping for a pedestrian.

In the grocery store, which used to be another great place to see people (The A&P on Park Street was one of the best), is now noisy with a hundred conversations on cell phones.

I blush to think of how many times I have heard someone discussing, with the person on the other end of the phone, what hemorrhoid cream to use or whether they need more jock itch powder or what other personal hygiene product is the best.

While loading my cart with items, I have overheard - because they seem to almost want everyone to hear despite my best efforts to ignore it - people discussing abortions, adultery, a plan to secretly commit a parent and regrets over having a child. I have now begun going to the store at 7 a.m., thereby avoiding some of these situations.

More and more we are a society that seems to want to multi-task but in not savor and enjoy those “in the moment” times. What are we going to have to remember when we’re 80?

Of course there may be some who will be forced to reflect as they lie in intensive care recovering from an accident they caused or were a victim of because they just had to make that call.

Take a little time as spring unfolds her majesty and put that electronic gadget away for a few hours and not only smell those roses, but experience what we have in such abundance around us.