Two recent happenings bring my problem to the fore. Firstly, our washing machine had to be replaced. Secondly, I was present at a meeting outlining how our brain associates data.
Our laundry room sports a new fan-dangled digital washing machine with enough gadgets to awaken the dead. Gone are the days when you strolled down the corridor avec laundry bag in tow and got the job done, pronto. Those were carefree laundry days. However, our grandmothers boiled their white clothes in a copper boiler on a hot wood stove and removed stains on a knuckle breaking washboard – no Spray and Wash or Shout involved. Today we would call this intense labour. Clothing was dried indoors, often in the attic. Sheets were draped over chairs etc., in inclement weather but flapped in the breeze on clothes lines strung from the veranda to a tall pole as soon as spring had sprung.
Secondly, I found very intriguing a recent meeting about aging and how the brain makes associations, especially when a flash of numbers whirred past on the screen. These digits made no sense. Then, they reappeared: 1942, 1914, 1945, and 2001. Aha! 1942…Columbus, 1914…World War 1, 1945…World War 11, 2001… World Wide Computer Crash – that didn’t happen. May I add 2017 to that provocative list?
I would like to declare personally, 2017... the Year of the Digital Washing Machine. I realize that all around me there are greater issues such as refugees seeking asylum or robots performing tedious labour. In fact, a flying drone could be right outside my window.
In spite of all the alternatives, let’s be real. The digital age is here to stay. We are forced to get on board or perish. It isn’t an option. America Magazine states, “Women are living in an historical age.” May I add a year that is dangerously digital, “One more hurrah for 2017… the Year of the Digital Washing Machine”!
Eileen Foran, CSJ