I went down to lour local Apple shop last Friday
evening to get a spare cable to pack for our trip. I had my earphones in
listening to music on my mp3 player as I walked up to the blue shirted smiling
young woman who stepped up to assist me.
As she came up I paused the music and took the
earphones off.
“Oh,” she
said looking at the brand, “they are
awesome earphones, they are just the best!”
“I had a set just like that, wore them, like, all
the time, they were so good.”
Then her face fell. “I don’t have them anymore they got totally crushed by a car. Worst day
of my life, losing those earphones! They were just, like, in smithereens! I was
totally devastated!”
“How did
that happen?” I asked, “were
they on the driveway or something?”
“Oh no,
they were in my back pocket,” She said, slapping the back of
her jeans.
“I got hit by a car from behind while I was crossing
a road. Sent me flying and gave me a massive bruise. Ended up in hospital,
couldn’t walk for a week.”
“That’s
simply terrible!” I gasped, “How are you doing?”
“Oh, not
so good,” she said with a sigh. “I really, really miss those headphones but I can’t afford to replace
them. It was so bad, getting them broken like that.”
I just stared at her in disbelieve. “But you could have got killed. That car
must have hit you really hard.
You’re very lucky that you are OK.”
“Yeah, it
was full-on, but [sigh], looking at those headphones – Gee, you’re lucky you’ve
still got your set.”
I walked out with the cable I needed thinking about
the value we put on things and the essentials we take for granted: quality of
music versus quality of life? Yet
here I was with the same headphones and gadgets and ‘stuff’ I would find hard
to give up.
I wonder where is the fine line between enjoying and
celebrating creation and invention and becoming addicted to it and dependent on
it?
Bertrand Russell once said: “It is the preoccupation with possessions,
more than anything else that prevents us from living freely and nobly.”
