Short-handled Broom

 

Hayter for November 19, 2023

Paradox of the Short-handled Broom

This morning I looked up the word “happy” just to determine if I was. Turns out the happy definition is an assortment of synonyms; words like content, cheerful, pleased, gleeful… All in all, some really cheesy words.  

One word not associated with “happy” is “merry”. That’s because “merry” is the joy reserved for Christmas. If you ever feel “happy” during Christmas, it means you’re doing it all wrong.

At the moment I feel content, pleased, and blessed. “Gleeful” would be pressing it. For me, the problem with happiness is the guilt that I associate with it. The cause of my guilt has to do with reading newspapers, watching the news, and noticing things going on. 

Yesterday, I was reading about some of the problems in third-world nations. The descriptions I read made me wonder if there are any fourth-world countries. Feeling a need to depress myself more than I already was, I looked it up. There is. The powers that be came up with categories for grouping nations based on their financial stability and mode of living. Those two characteristics tend to bind.  

The ranking of nations into one of the four categories was decided by a group of countries that were democratic, capitalistic, and economically stable. Each of the nations was classified as First World. All communist nations were considered Second World. They were overjoyed.

The difference between the Third World and Fourth World is about a dime’s worth. At last count, there were 47 Fourth World Nations, including Cambodia, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Yemen, and 43 others.

I did so much research on Third and Fourth World Nations that I turned somber, sour, and sad. I began thinking of Luke Redus, President of Compassion United in Conroe. What a great work that man has done and continues to do! Go online, and see what all he is accomplishing with the help and donations of others. In fact, there are dozens of helpful organizations in the County organized by people who actually DO, instead of merely staying depressed.

But, do you wanna know what’s weird about the needs of human beings? It is the “need” in certain areas of life that brings about improvements. I got that from Oscar Wilde. I ran across one of his quotes shortly after my previous research. Wilde wrote, “‘Discontent’ is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.”

In other words, all of the inventions that have come up in my lifetime were due to someone attempting to come up with stuff to make life easier. I don’t know what type of writing utensil you used when you were in the first grade, but it had to be better than what I had to use. We used a fat wooden black pencil with thick graphite and absolutely no eraser on the end. Do you know why there was no eraser? I don’t either! Perhaps back in 1906, a first grader choked to death on a pencil eraser.

Without an eraser, the only thing you can do is erase with spit. Today? I don’t know what first graders write with. It’s probably a keyboard.

The first automobiles built at the turn of the century were great. Fortunately, no one came out and announced, “Okay, Ford’s Model T is the best vehicle around, so there’s no need to improve on what we’ve got now. So, now let’s invent some airplanes. No! Some people were willing to improve on what Ford built. They came up with better vehicles, causing Henry Ford to improve on his model. Right now there are too many auto models to keep up with, each of which comes with weird gadgets.

You likely remember the story that brought attention to the Asian broom. For centuries many people in Asia and Africa were sweeping houses, porches, and yards using straw attached to short wooden sticks. The only way to sweep with a short-handled broom is to get on your knees or bend at the waist. Since women did most of the sweeping, they were the ones who ended up with a permanent stoop. The method is still used in some Third and Fourth World nations. The concept of “discontent” bringing about progress is not accepted in all societies.

First World Nations? We now have a self-propelled vacuum that steers itself. 

The advent of the typewriter was a major accomplishment for printers, book publishers, newspaper editors, teachers, students… When I was attending SFA, I had to type all of my reports and projects on a manual typewriter. My papers were covered in liquid paper… which was incidentally invented by the mother of Michael Nesmith, one of the members of the Monkees.

When I attended Sam Houston University for my Master’s degree, I was assigned umpteen research papers each semester. My darling wife typed each one of them on an IBM Selectric. She borrowed it from prison; the Walls Unit in Huntsville, TX. Actually, her boss let her take it home after work.

If he hadn’t, Kay would’ve probably stayed in prison day and night until I graduated. You have no idea what all I owe my lovely wife! She even edits my articles. At least she did up until now.

Most of the time-saving devices will become obsolete very shortly. Artificial Intelligence is a work in progress. In the not-too-distant future, many projects will be carried out by machines with minds of their own. Some are already smarter, and all are definitely faster than what we’ve been using.

Without question, AI will figure out things faster and work harder and cheaper than today’s workforce, thus, creating an unemployment rate that will shoot up faster than a cheetah on speed. I sense that the only way we will be able to afford products made through AI is to bring back the short-handled broom. – Between now and next week, I’ll look for some better news.  

 

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