Life, in our 21^st century world, is just weird.

          We live in the most technologically advanced society ever. I just bought a new desk lamp and it has been on now for one half hour. It is producing a bright light, but practically no heat. When I was growing up, or even ten or fifteen years ago, that would have been impossible. Where there is light, there is heat. My cell phone came with 50 apps. I only use the ‘calculator’ and that only for figuring my miles per gallon when I fill my car up. I have read that the typical cell phone has more computing power than the space craft that first took men to the moon. We can contact people anywhere in an instant and when we do, we can talk to them face to face. On snow days, children take their classes via the internet. Entertainment is extravagant. Special effects in movies and TV programs are beyond unbelievable, music can be made by computer rather than instruments, the camera work in sporting events is almost always perfect. It almost seems as though we cannot improve on anything, but we will, of course. When we do, what we have now will seem archaic.

          However, even with all of that, we are all, apparently, as dumb as a bag of rocks.

          I had to buy a car recently after my old car was destroyed in an accident. This car, not new but newer than the old one, has a back-up camera. Inside on the dash there is a video screen that lights up whenever I am in reverse and shows me what is behind me. It will also light up when I turn on my right turn signal to show me the usual blind spot on the right side of the car when I am turning. It also gives me multiple options for my radio and other things, none of which I use. But the back-up camera is pretty neat. If there was a child behind me, or a pet or a bike laying on its side, I would see it. My big problem with it at this point is that I have never had such a thing so I forget to check it to see if anything is there. I will catch on eventually. The thing that bothers me is that when I start the car, the screen lights up and words appear that inform me that the operation of the car is the driver’s responsibility and depending on the pictures on the screen will not insure safe operation. Really? What kind of person expects to drive a car by looking at the back-up camera? Why is that notice necessary? Has someone tried it and then sued the car maker when they crashed into something going backwards at 60 mph?

          I believe this all got started back in the 1980s when a lady went through the McDonalds’ drive-up and ordered a cup of coffee, and then promptly spilled it on herself, resulting in 2^nd degree burns. She sued McDonalds for 2 million dollars because they had not informed her that the coffee was hot. She won the judgment and now coffee cups at McDonalds and other drive-up places have the words, “Caution: Contents are hot!” or words to that effect. I remember when the lawsuit was announced I thought that it was a waste of time. When she won I remember one of our deacons saying that now everyone will sue over everything. Turns out he was right. A couple of years later I was in a department store looking at Halloween costumes, reminiscing about our son’s day. I was looking at the Superman costume and noticed a little tag that said, “Warning: Wearing this costume will not enable the wearer to fly.” I understand a little kid might jump off a porch thinking they can fly, would a parent really sue over such a thing? My friend Keith and I were about six years old when we put on life jackets and jumped out of a tree pretending to be skydivers. I went first and slammed into the ground chest first. We were at his house, so we went to his mother because I was crying. She smacked me in the back of the head and sent me home, where my mother smacked me in the back of the head, as well. No one even thought about suing the life jacket company and my parents never thought about suing Keith’s parents and I never, later in life, thought about suing anyone for getting smacked in the head.

          Somehow, we think that stronger and stronger gun laws will stop gun violence. We have laws against murder and attempted murder; aren’t those enough? If someone accidently shoots someone else, that is tragic. But if someone is killed in a traffic accident, isn’t that an accident, too? Do we eventually outlaw cars? At what point do we begin again to make people responsible for their own actions rather than trying to legislate everyone’s personal safety? And how can we hold gun makers or costume makers or life preserver makers or four-wheeler makers responsible for the tragedies of life and not say anything about the makers of video games that not only glorify random violence but does so with the most realistic graphics possible?

          I don’t like the assumption that we are all stupid. God gave us minds. Sometimes we have to experience bad things to make that mind work. It is called experience. It is a great teacher. It is God’s way of instruction. Not good enough, however, for society. Now we need to be protected from ourselves.

          As I said at the beginning; Life, in our 21^st century world, is just weird.