#705 in the present

Last week, the father of a teenager who drowned on the South Korea ferry released a video of his son's final moments.  The recording was preserved on a cell phone that was found in the wreckage.  It showed the final 15 minutes of a group of teenagers on the ill-fated trip.  If you were the father, would you want to watch the movie?

There is little in this world, save for the flight path of Malaysian Air 370, that is not recorded in some fashion.  The proliferation of camera phones -- and the hundreds of apps that make sharing pictures a "snap" -- have moved our primary form of communication into the visual realm.

Instead of going "back to the future", instant replays in sports, the use of traffic cameras, nanny cams and dog monitors, coupled with surveillance cameras everywhere, allow us to go "back to the past" to live moments over and over again.  

I wonder if this is a good thing.  

I know there are some things that have happened in my life that I wouldn't want to watch again.  There are some moments that should remain private and cherished for what they were when they happened.  

Does our reliance on recording mechanisms dull our attention in the present?  Do we pay less attention to "live" because we know we will have the opportunity to see almost everything again later?  

Try to live your life like there was no "record" button.  Be present in the present and experience your life live.

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com

@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

Source:  Video shows students' plight on sinking ferry by Foster Klug and Hyung-Jin Kim for the Associated Press in the Telegraph Herald, May 2, 2014, p. 8A