From the Desk of The DBeazy One-Man-Think-Tank

In a recent rendering from yours truly, I referenced an idea or theory in which I believe that we are a population of the blind. I expressed that as “modern-day” humans, we tend to get so absorbed in the pace of existence that sight becomes dimmed or even lost. I acknowledge that I am not immune to the same, and given the last month, I’d be hard-pressed to argue if accused.

Beginning mid-month, I marked the beginning of my 57^th year of this celestial ride. My October anniversary has never been regarded as any sort of banner day for me. I don’t know the reason, but I’m sure that after a session or two, a good psychologist could point me in the right direction. I suspect that a glimpse into this “id” might send a psychologist in for a few sessions on the couch of his own, but I digress. At any rate, my birthday was just the beginning. Work has kept me skint back of late. Then there is the annual wellness exam, which as years progress, brings more stress, even if it is only a scant whisper heard and extinguished as a result of positivity. None-the-less, the whisper is there.

The annual run through the proverbial gauntlet began four years ago as a result of changes in the benefits package from my employer. The first one came about in short notice as I was made aware of the requirement in the month of August and the deadline was the end of October. So I scheduled my appointment for the 26^th day of October 2017. It should be noted that in May of 2016, I smoked my last cigarette for health reasons, but for the 17 months leading up to my first wellness exam, I did nothing else to improve my health. To the contrary, I increased my intake of all foods, increased my intake of alcohol, and decreased in the area of physical activity. Needless to say, those first results were less than desirable. In subsequent years, I’ve made efforts, though lackluster at best, to improve results from year-to-year.

So from 2019 to 2020, some very specific health goals were established and met, leaving only two areas of concern. First, I decided it was time to see a dermatologist for a good once over, and secondly, the dreaded colonoscopy was 6 full years past due. I met both of these hurdles with marked trepidation and looking back now, I can attest that yes, I’ve been amongst the walking blind to which I referred to earlier.

I might add that in these last weeks, I’ve admittedly checked out due to this whole ordeal of the state of politics in this, the “greatest nation on the planet.”  Man, I know I’m supposed to care more, but _ _ _ _ (insert any four letters of your choosing.) I’ve not and will not allow this forum to become a place of political opinion and I will not start now. Suffice it to say that for me, the working man, the dreamer, the lover of family and friends, well, the noise is almost too much to handle.

To this point, I’ve expressed some of the reasons for the month-long absence of DBeazy from these pages. But to these somewhat understandable excuses, I feel you will understand. I feel you will forgive. But in addition to these, I will have to admit to something less forgivable. Or I should say at least from those out there who click frequently on the dbeazylife.com link in hopes of finding more frequent offerings there. I expect them to be impatient. I expect followers to hold my feet to the fire. But to this end, I’ll confess this deed in hopes that the same will not happen to anyone else.

Sometime in the last three weeks, I downloaded the TikTok app. Yes, I admit it. I downloaded it and four hours later, I looked at the time and said, “Shit, I’ve got to go my ass to bed. I have to work tomorrow.” I went into this with no preconceived notions, little knowledge of what it is all about, and let me tell you, there is no way to fully explain what TikTok is or what value it offers to humankind. True, there are some views that are informative, funny, or thought-provoking, but to Old DBEAZY, well, TIME is more important.

I don’t want to sound like a grumpy old man. I know of people older than me that spend hours every day on TikTok and other forms of social media. Again, I count myself amongst the guilty. I found myself living life vicariously through a series of 1-minute videos, all the while being robbed of valuable time that could have been spent sharing words and ideas of my own and applying them to the blank page that waits. The more I think about it all, though, the more paradoxical it sounds.

Years ago, back when the internet was just a toddler and the age of “instant” everything, was restricted still by processor speeds and baud rates, a late-night radio host by the name of Art Bell was King of the night.  Under the guise of entertainment, Art Bell enlightened millions of listeners to the existence of information not as readily available then as it is now.  In 1997, Art Bell published a book called “The Quickening.” The book is essentially a prophetic impression of future events, fueled by advancing technology and included everything from fiber optics to virtual reality, to a weakening social, moral, and spiritual fabric. It also covered topics like terrorism, illegal immigration, environmental issues, global warming, weather patterns, emerging virus, and UFOs.

Interestingly enough, or at least to me, is the fact that immediately, the book met with some bad reviews, touting it as a sensational work that used scare tactics to incite fear in the populous and that basically, it didn’t matter, as far as Art Bell was concerned, humankind is DONE! But as I revisit the book in 2020, I’m pretty sure Mr. Bell was right on point.

In my field, we’ve gone from computers that were the size of a Volkswagen Beetle to one that fits on a wrist band. Every facet of life is moving faster to the point that just keeping up is difficult. Look what we are doing in 2020 because of, or as a result of a global pandemic. One year ago, I would venture to say that less than 1% of the world’s population know of the existence of Zoom, let alone ever imagine that they’d be depending on it.

Where is the paradox you ask? While the current velocity of life demands that we should be redlining just to keep up, I look around and what do I see? I see an entire population sitting with our noses in our devices, passengers on this bullet train barreling blindly towards the end of days.

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