from Stanislaw Warda: Remedy

Remedy for addiction 

Does a piece of paper have a chance to win over technology, with its colorful pictures of beautiful women, videos of wild animals or video games? Anyone knows any addiction could be dangerous. People are used to  warnings about  alcohol, nicotine or narcotics. Unfortunately, people do not predict that the most dangerous addiction in our time will come not from those already known addictive sources but from the common small plastic object with an apple symbol  on it.

I am not sure if the inventors of this object were able to predict its consequences. Now, no one can imagine life without cellphones. Probably scientists do not even want to count the time that humans spend using cellphones because the result is obvious -24/7.  

I watched my young coworker typing a message very quickly.  He was typing with two hands, and I could not look away; he was doing this so fast. One day, in small conversation, I mentioned the word “fountain pen.” He did not know what that was, but immediately he rushed to Google it. Sad, I thought, perhaps the next generation would not know what a sheet of paper is - I hope not.

Does the piece of paper have any chance to win over technology? For sure not my paper. When I have to read my writing aloud, everybody around me wants to leave, and even my tutor thinks seriously about changing her profession. Nevertheless, a piece of paper still can win over  the most sophisticated technology.

Once, I accidentally listened to the letters of a French author to his beloved. At that time, I was vacuuming my room and there were a few people inside. When I started to listen to this letter, the world around me stopped existing. I did not listen to the chattering of my friends and sound of the vacuum cleaner. I still remember this feeling now. So, it is possible.

Although the world around us changes, it is possible because in human nature we need something unique. To create a beautiful page, the writer has to feel the same inspiration as the painter who creates a beautiful picture. There can be millions of cellphones of many kinds, but the Mona Lisa will be only one, and there will be always a huge line of people to see her.