Who's the Boss?
I took the car in to get serviced today. Arranging it was a logistical hassle; I had to go to school earlier than I wanted; Jen had to borrow our neighbor’s truck to get Mimi to soccer practice; it cost $639.50 just for preventative maintenance; plus, I had to sit in traffic for half an hour on the way home and I hate that, especially when I can see bikes whizzing by on the Burke-Gilman trail just a few yards away.
On Lake City Way, on the way from the dealership place to school, I passed dozens of business devoted to the sale, repair, and general care of automobiles. No other category of business was nearly as well represented, not food stores, clothing boutiques, even sex toy shops didn’t come close.
And so it occurred to me that—while we may think that automobiles are our servants—it may indeed be the case that we’re serving them. I want to point out that no one, as least as far as I know, has ever spent $639.50 doing preventive maintenance on me.
Human beings have this tendency, I think, to invent things that are intended to make our lives easier but end up making things more difficult for us. Money is probably the best example of this. Money was invented as a way to make exchanges of goods and services between people simpler. Now, though, most of us spend most of our time enslaved to some degree or another to the might dollar. What was meant to be our servant has become our master.
Language can probably be accused of this, too. Words may have originally been a vehicle for our thoughts; now, we’re fully beholden to words in order to think at all.
Speaking of vehicles, did I mention that I spent all this time, money, and psychic energy taking care of my car today? And did it even send me a thank-you card? What in ingrate!
On Lake City Way, on the way from the dealership place to school, I passed dozens of business devoted to the sale, repair, and general care of automobiles. No other category of business was nearly as well represented, not food stores, clothing boutiques, even sex toy shops didn’t come close.
And so it occurred to me that—while we may think that automobiles are our servants—it may indeed be the case that we’re serving them. I want to point out that no one, as least as far as I know, has ever spent $639.50 doing preventive maintenance on me.
Human beings have this tendency, I think, to invent things that are intended to make our lives easier but end up making things more difficult for us. Money is probably the best example of this. Money was invented as a way to make exchanges of goods and services between people simpler. Now, though, most of us spend most of our time enslaved to some degree or another to the might dollar. What was meant to be our servant has become our master.
Language can probably be accused of this, too. Words may have originally been a vehicle for our thoughts; now, we’re fully beholden to words in order to think at all.
Speaking of vehicles, did I mention that I spent all this time, money, and psychic energy taking care of my car today? And did it even send me a thank-you card? What in ingrate!
posted by Professor Dave at 7:44 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home