We were interviewing a writer whose work I admire
and he mentioned that someone told him
that we now have the technology
that can write articles for you, super fast
And he said Wait, no, what I enjoy is writing the article,
not holding it in my hand and saying “this is the thing that I did”
I have nothing against minced garlic in a jar
but what I really like is when I have the time
to chop the garlic myself
when I tell myself that it’s important
Important enough to take two minutes
to get out a knife my friend Mitsu gave me,
And the cutting board my brother made for me,
and peel the cloves and cut them into tiny pieces
It is two fingers on my wrist checking for a pulse
and one small, symbolic middle finger
to optimizing everything we possibly can
just because we can
Chopping the garlic is of course objectively harder
than using the minced stuff from the jar
but maybe part of me likes it because I think
it makes the story of the meal I cooked better
Of course, not everything good in life is difficult
there’s eating pizza, of course
and naps and and looking at sunsets
that happen without any effort from me
But everybody has their own list of things
that are, to them, Worth The Effort
Like making your own coffee or taking a photo
or raising a kid or remodeling a house
I guess what we’re all asking ourselves
nowadays, in our Brave New World
(and isn’t it just a Somewhat Braver, Newer
World than last year, and the year before that)
is which parts of being human
we want to fast-forward through
and which parts of being human
we want to keep doing with our selves
I have put skins on skis and skied uphill
right next to a perfectly functioning chairlift
And I have hiked to the top of a peak
that has a paved road all the way to its summit
Climbing using only my legs and feet
and climbing using the aid of a machine
well, most people would say,
those are two different experiences
Or are they two different mountains?
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