3/21/25 - Friday Forget-Me-Nots by Jim Silcott

Photo Caption: Irish Step-Dancers from Dwyers Irish Dance!

Dear Our Lady of Peace Family,

I have a confession to make. I have become a luddite. It is not a new or even old religion. It is not a political party. It is a state of mind. 

The term “luddite has its origins in 19c England when industrial workers were afraid that modern mechanization would eliminate their jobs. Some engaged in criminal activity, raiding factories and destroying new equipment. I am a luddite in attitude. Increasingly I don’t understand new technology. I don’t have the patience to learn new technology. Therefore, I don’t like new technology. 

I started coming to this realization during spring break where I took advantage of the great weather to ride my bicycle. The number of E-bikes on trails has increased dramatically. I think it is great that more and more people are getting on bicycles through the advance in motorized assistance, but I don’t think I will ever get one. I would like to say that the purist in me pats myself on the shoulder for pedaling the old-fashioned way. The truth is that the prospect of riding an e-bike scares me. I have a perception, surely false but surely real for me that an E-bike lessens my control when riding. No matter how old or feeble I get, if I am going to ride it will be with pedal power only. 

Technological advances are passing me by. When I babysit the grandkids, I can’t operate their television sets without their assistance. I listen to music on a record player. My wife’s CRV is too complicated for me to drive easily. I prefer my stick-shift Honda Fit. I like the convenience of my smart phone, but I still haven’t tackled most of its capabilities. Talk to text? Forget about it. I use GPS but it has turned me into a non-thinker when I get behind the wheel. 

I prefer to ride my bicycle downtown rather than drive. Parking downtown now involves more technology than it took to send men to the moon. Even my free parking for Crew games involves ten minutes of computer time and I end up printing the pass on paper because I fear that once I get to the garage I won’t find it on my phone. 

Each morning at school I open my email and erase at least 100 garbage communications that are unneeded and unwanted. That doesn’t even include the ones that go automatically into spam. Almost every website that I need to use now involves a password. Then they send you a code on your phone. If I happen to use my phone for the website I haven’t learned how to toggle between the text with the code and the grand entrance to the site to which I plead entrance. 

I am actually regressing in my technological comfort. I find myself listening to my old records at home. I have dusted off my 1940’s Royal typewriter, the one I used in college for writing papers and even for lesson plans back when I was a young teacher. You can’t lose your writing in some weird cyber cloud if you type. And they still sell white-out. 

I miss chalkboards. Years ago, when you came home from teaching with fine white dust on your hands and sometimes your clothes you felt that you had accomplished something. Smart boards make me feel dumb. 

Here at school, I marvel at what the teachers and students are doing with technology to assist them in their education. I rely mainly on them to figure out what new things are coming down the pike which are helpful.

I will continue, as long as I am able, to offer any old-fashioned assistance I can render. You don’t need technology to smile, to advise, to admonish, to encourage, to think. I’m still pretty good at those things. 

Jim Silcott