The World According to Dude

We all need to chill - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by Trebor Snillor
This Weekend
This is Labor Day weekend and I’ve managed to stay pretty occupied. Just refurnished my bedroom with contemporary-style furniture and am getting new linens to go with it. No trouble saying goodbye to the bulky furniture it replaces. Quite a few other things are going on with family and work as well..

Steve
My brother Steve is 61 – not a great deal older than me. He was recently hospitalized for heart palpitations and is having to now take a series of heart meds. His doctor has urged him to slow things down and reduce stress. I’ve barely digested the recent deaths of parents, aunts and uncles so I’m totally unprepared to deal with mortality in a sibling. The need for relaxation is an easy sell to me.

Zen, Epicurus and Dudeism
I’ve touched on this topic before – reflection, introspection and savoring the small details of life. We live in a fast-paced material world and it sometimes swallows us whole. We’re in a mad rush to really nowhere I might add.

Yesterday I drove on the Dallas Tollway to IKEA in Frisco. I drove at 65mph in the center lane – I was given dirty looks by drivers hurtling past me, left and right. A 30-something man in a new, red Tahoe was easily doing 80mph, weaving in and out to keep his “lead” in the fast lane. This was even on a curvy section of the Tollway. I couldn’t help wondering what his urgency was on a Sunday afternoon. Was it worth dying for? Once I reached IKEA, I was almost mowed down in the pedestrian crosswalk by a person impatient to shop. We have a need for immediate proximity and also immediate communication..

Comedian Patton Oswalt just wrote an essay for TIME magazine – it seems he logged off of Twitter and Facebook for 3 summer months. He did it for quality time with his daughter and to reestablish eye contact with friends and associates. He pointed out that the American middle class now has an iPhone or an Android acting as an arm appendage. We glue ourselves to a glass pane for instant communication, while driving our cars lead-footed and manically. Speed and immediacy beget more of the same. We seem to be caught in some type of technology vortex and have no ability to save ourselves from ourselves.

Chill
I’d like to channel the spirits of Epicurus and Dude. Here are my ideas about how to approach the Tollway, smart phones and other evils of the modern world..

- There are no hurries. Unless someone is giving birth or has a severed finger there is no need ever to drive like a maniac. Ever.
- Your cell phone should not even be on or within reach while driving. The call should be deferred until you park or pull aside. Even a hands-free phone causes distracted driving.
- You should occasionally have 1960’s day – you can’t use anything invented after 1969. That still leaves you lots of great things. It gives you an afternoon of theater or a good book. It gives you conversation and even still leaves you TV. It rips you away from computers, smart phones and gaming devices that turn you into a walking-dead, isolated idiot.
- You should savor the world about you – become a bit of a foodie, wine enthusiast or musical buff. Walk in the park are have a BBQ in the back yard. Figure a way to enjoy this beautiful world and the enhancements afforded by chefs, artists, musicians and actors. But do it all away from the glaring screen of an iPhone or an iPad.

My brother’s health issue was an eye opener and so was my trip to IKEA. Too many of us are in a big friggin’ hurry – myself included. It's time for us to chill and appreciate what low technology has to offer.

© 2014 Snillor Productions