THIS LITTLE TOWN

Exasperation was once again replaced by admiration. When was the last time I experienced something like that Ipod Shuffles, Wii Stations, billion dollar motion pictures and a partridge in a pear tree; I would take it all as a grain of salt. Yet here was Mr. Merrick rapt in one single moment of time. Little happenings became remarkable events in his mind. How did he experience little things with such intensity and patience?

I say this because my attention span is about thirty seconds long. Concentration demanded from every direction, I have a habit of subconsciously fidgeting and darting my eyes, as though suffering from a slight case of paranoia. I itch to multitask even when there is no need, evidenced by the ten tabs open in the Firefox search engine of my Dell laptop. My life is trapped inside computers. If ever the world were to collapse technologically, I fear that the real world—the natural one—would be rather alien to me.

How do you grow food? Where is it shipped from? What are the effects of different kinds of foods in the body? The technologically hypnotized me would say, “Who cares?” I have lost much of my connection to the natural world, a connection which farmers like Mr. Merrick, who have lived much simpler and productive lifestyles, have cultivated. Whether he realized it or not, Mr. Merrick was causing me to become more aware of this fact.