Returning From Exile

THE SUMMER NATURE STUDY CAMP for teenagers clearly listed its rules. Rule number one: obey all rules. Rule number two: this applies to rule number one. Rule number three, the most important rule: no electronic devices, including smart phones, laptops, pagers, I pads, or I pods. The first two rules were bearable, the third was not. Almost immediately, the wailing and gnashing among the young. Symptoms of cold turkey withdrawal manifested, among parents and offspring alike. Anxiety swelled, thumbs twitched reflexively, prodding air. But gradually, amidst natural beauty and fresh air, the nightmare began to abate. One by one, students began to notice an entire world beyond the ends of their noses and screens, vast real world vistas farther off than a foot from their faces. The words "twitter" and "tweet" were understood to be applicable to song birds in real time and space. A love note was found on the ground, written on wood pulp paper, which carbon dating revealed to be of recent origin, written in an archaic language, said: "I love you too, forever." A team of scholars translated it into contemporary electro-American, as: "I lv U2 4 evr." More miraculously yet, the students began to learn to stand and even walk without benefit of a small metallic rectangle hovering in front of their heads. They began noticing an extremely bright, yellow circular object moving slowly across the sky and ascertained its function to be the shedding of light, without enlisting the aid of google or wickipedia. A sense of liberation permeated summer nature study camp. One student reported reading an ancient manuscript called a "book", printed on paper, for the first time in five years, and said she enjoyed it, and was considering trying it again at some remote future date. Nobody could remember how many thousands of true friends they had listed on their Facebook page, or cared about what all these close friends thought about the latest episode of "keeping UP With the Kardashians". Then, camp was over; it was time to go home, home to the normal world of flat screens. All participants reported attaching numerous electronic gadgets to chargers, but not before looking out the window, one last time.