Kristine and I were making one of our many frequent drives from Sussex County to the Delaware Hall of Records in Dover for the day. The trip took about an hour as we zipped along at a mile per minute. During that hour we heard many voices (via radio) from various points on the planet, and were subjected to hundreds (thousands?) of roadside advertisements and commercial messages. Later in the same day, we would repeat this high-stimuli experience, and sleep in the same bed we had slept in the previous night.

What a contrast! As I study the lives of thousands of people who lived just a relatively few generations earlier, I try imagining what they thought about, and how life on this planet may have appeared to them.

For them, a one way trip from Sussex County to Dover was a real journey. It would take all day. It would unfold at the soothing pace of nature. They would spend the night, or two or three, enjoying the warm hospitality of good friends or relatives.

During the journey, auditory stimuli would be limited(?) to the sounds of nature, and thoughtful conversation with companions and/or people they met along the way. Although they could not enjoy the auditory delights of Vivaldi or Mozart, what they avoided was certainly well worth the loss.

People then were not subjected every half hour to sensationalized bad news and dirt about people they didn't know. They were not subjected to a heavy and seemingly constant barrage of voices of barkers and hucksters trying to make a sale. And as hard as it is for us to imagine, they never heard the obnoxious rumblings of engines or the high-speed whine of motors.

What price have we paid for giving up long hours of uninterrupted quiet times to explore and examine our own thoughts, and those of our friends? Reading some of the writings of people from centuries ago makes me feel woefully inadequate, and makes me realize that the price may have been far too high.

Family Forest® - A People-Centered Approach to History®