SABBATICAL NOTES. 11 JAN 2014 N5

SABBATICAL NOTES. 11 JAN 2014 N5 

THIS DRIVE TO link up arms with others must a be a primeval need. 

And for all we care, social media in all their myriad permutations, reincarnations, transformations, and reinventions, good or bad, have filled that void in us even if we grant that we need to leave these gadgets that stand in the way of talking together when we in each other's presence. 

One thing we have agreed as a basic rule in our family gatherings, yes, that weekend outing to figure out which has the best sushi in town--yes, there is that obsession of the children now on anything sushi-fied!--is to drop those gadgets that mean only one thing: we do not talk to each other, that we do not communicate about the taste of sushi, and that we do not appreciate each other's presence.

But that is not the point of the story: the point is that those gadgets that have become indispensable can tell us where to go when we are on the road and we decided to be lost.

The GPS thing is not GPS for nothing, and it tells us where the compass of our lives is.

In these mountainous portions of the Oahu, we need to figure out where the sea is, and where, of all things, is east that really means east.

Part of the compass of our lives is this American thing we call accumulation.

Or conspicuous consumption as one ethicist has phrased.

And so today, we decided to Mapquest the Salvation Army place and give off what we do not need in the hope that others will find these things of use to them.

I only hope this is living simply. Which is quite hard in our lives marked by this thing we call conspicuous consumption that includes, among others, the ritual throwing of food from the refrigerator, which, I believe, has become a Hawaii thing.

Ah, we do this, and there are so many people starving, making do with the 'pagpag' everywhere, America included. America is starving too, and we are throwing food, in the same way that the Philippines is starving, and there, they are throwing food.

The good thing at these sushi places is that you eat only what you can finish.

No take-home, please, from the small platters that simulate the color of the Hawaiian rainbow to mean the cost of the food served.

Hon, HI/11 Jan 2014