Underneath the tree are things, bright things, new things, things we have not had before, things that are better than those we had last year and not as good as we those will have next, more things than we have before and less than we will in the future, things with more power, brighter lights, things that are taller, stronger, faster.
These things will make us better, prettier, smarter better, thinner, more lovable, able to leap tall buildings. We will be better than we were before and not as good as we shall be. We know that life has improved because we make more things than we did before and that we are greater than other nations because we make more things than they do and will make more thing than anyone has even made before. We will make more things next year so we can buy more things so that we can be even better and be able to make and buy more things.
But I do not wish to be measured by things. I do not desire to be a mobile professional, armed with the latest things, plugged in, always on, available to anyone 24/7. I do not wish to be counted, balanced, weighed, estimated, packaged neatly, and moved along on the conveyor belt. I am not waiting for the next great thing. If life is always going to be better next year, there is no real today. If we always wait for the product that is more powerful, cheaper, better, then we never truly live. When we are measured by things, we are always found wanting.
We are not measured by things. We cannot be assessed in MHz, Megabytes, dots per inch, dollars and cents, miles per gallon, output per capita, sales per employee. There are no enough acronyms made or that can ever be made to describe us. And I believe that the only thing we need to do 24/7 is breathe and that the only true measure of us is ourselves.
