An analog story

Long before ChatGPT came into the picture, this student could perform and answer a prompt from his professor in analog style.

A college class was told they had to write a short story in as few words as possible. The instructions were the short story had to contain the following three things:

1. Religion

2. Sexuality

3. Mystery

Below was the only A+ paper in the entire class.

“Good God, I’m pregnant! I wonder who did it.”

If you read this column with your newspaper, you are analog and might find today’s material timely and relevant. If you read this column online, either with your smartphone or your iPad, you will never understand the joy and exhilaration of how good coffee tastes while reading newspapers.

I have had about three or more friends who passed this fascinating material on to me. This reminds me of the analog days of the famous “Chain Letters.” Asking them who the writer or creator of this material is an exercise in futility. Each would say, “I don’t know, but a friend passed this to me in our Chat Group;” now that’s digital. And using digital tools, I was able to track the source of where this material came from. It comes from a Hong Kong website called easyproperty.com.

Here is the material for your enjoyment and pleasure:

THE ELDERLY

We were born in the 40-50-60.

We grew up in the 50-60-70’s.

We studied in the 60-70-80.

We were dating in the 70-80-90’s.

We got married and discovered the world in the 70-80-90’s.

We venture into the 80-90.

We stabilize in the 2000s.

We got wiser in the 2010s.

And we are going firmly through 2020.

Turns out we’ve lived through EIGHT different decades.

TWO different centuries.

TWO different millennia.

We have gone from the telephone with an operator for long-distance calls to video calls anywhere in the world, from slides to YouTube, vinyl records to online music, handwritten letters to email and WhatsApp.

Vinyl is making a fashionable comeback these days.

From live matches on the radio to black and white TV and then to HDTV.

We went to the Video Club, and now we watch Netflix.

We got to know the first computers, punched cards, and diskettes, and now we have gigabytes and megabytes in hand on our cellphones or iPads.

We wear shorts throughout childhood and long pants, oxfords, bermuda shorts, etc.

We dodged infantile paralysis, meningitis, H1N1 flu, and now COVID-19.

We rode skates and tricycles, invented cars, bicycles, mopeds, gasoline or diesel cars, and now we ride hybrids or 100 percent electric.

Yes, we’ve been through a lot, but what a great life we’ve had!

They could describe us as “exennials:” people born in that world of the fifties, with an analog childhood and digital adulthood.

We’re kind of Yaheseen-it-all.

Our generation has lived through and witnessed more than any other in every dimension of life.

It is our generation that has adapted to “CHANGE.”

And so, we should offer a big round of applause to all the members of an extraordinary generation, which will be UNIQUE.

There is a supplement to this article. And I would like to thank Architect Jun Palafox for sending this.

TIME DOES NOT STOP

Life is a task that we bring ourselves to do at home.

When you look, it’s already six in the afternoon; when you look, it’s already Friday; when one looks, the month is over; when one looks, the year is over; when one looks... 50, 60, and 70 years have passed!

When you look, we no longer know where our friends are.

When you look, we lost the love of our life, and now, it’s too late to go back. Do not stop doing something you like due to lack of time. Do not stop having someone by your side because your children will soon not be yours, and you will have to do something with that remaining time where the only thing we will miss will be the space that can only be enjoyed with the usual friends. That time that, unfortunately, never returns. The day is today.

WE ARE NO LONGER AT AN AGE TO POSTPONE ANYTHING.

Hopefully, you have time to read and then share this message.

This material ends with an instruction:

Pass it on to your 10 best friends, and you’ll see how only some respond.

Well, I did not only respond; I am sharing this with many through this column. But I would like to conclude with just a reminder. This is not a “chain letter.” Do not buy stamps and letter envelopes when we are advised to pass them on. That will be analog. Just copy, cut, and paste this into your chat group. Now, that is the world we are in today.

(Francis Kong’s podcast “Inspiring Excellence” is now available on Spotify, Apple, Google, or other podcast streaming platforms.)

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[1]http://easyproperty.com.hk/article_content.php?author=PHK_WONDERFUL&id=110331