We live in a rapidly changing world.
For almost six thousand years, if men wanted to travel somewhere on land they walked or rode a horse. That all changed in the last 100+ years as the automobile and jet plane transformed the way we travel. And there are even more changes happening today. Rapid ones.
Here are a few changes that will make some of the things we use today obsolete.
Public Pay Phones
In the days before cell phones were commonplace, phone booths were a staple for most cities and towns. But those days are long gone. Landlines are on the way out too!
Now, basically everyone has a cell phone and no one needs to pay to use a public phone. Instead, they use their cell phone to snap pictures of the now-obsolete public phones. Some places like New York City are trying to figure out new uses for public phone booths, so time will only tell what will come of these relics of the past.
Pennies
If you’re the kind of person who pinches their pennies, you’d better make a wish and hold on a little tighter. In the foreseeable future, those little copper pennies might only be available in our memories. Over the years, people might have noticed that pennies are getting more and more useless as people chose to pay for things with credit cards or good old-fashioned dollar bills.
If anyone wanted our two cents, we’d say that pennies are more cumbersome than anything, and producing the small coins cost a pretty penny. They actually require more resources to manufacture than the pennies are ultimately worth. So say goodbye to all of that copper change jingling around in your purse or pocket.
Keys
Lock the door and throw away the key. Or, maybe just throw away the key. Pretty soon, having gigantic key chains that we all have to find room for in our pockets will be a thing of the past. No more jingling, and no more frantically making sure we left the house and remembered our keys.
Just like workplaces have chips or use other technology to sign in each day, pretty soon homes will rely on similar functions, whether that be key fobs, fingerprints, or Bluetooth technology. In fact, some newer homes already have a Bluetooth option instead of those old-fashioned manual key things. There really IS an app for that!
Paper Bills
Sending bills by mail might not exactly fit the bill when it comes to the future of payment notifications. For the last few decades, electric companies, gas companies, banks, credit cards, and just about any other institution would send their bills through the mail. But times are already starting to change.
Some claim they are trying to ‘save the environment’ and others just admit that it’s more convenient. Some companies are giving customers the option to opt out of paper billing and instead pay bills online, through an app or another portal. Almost every month I receive a reminder from the utility company to let them know if I wish to receive digital bills instead of paper. I know the way that they say it, they are hinting heavily.
Shopping Malls
We’ve seen the sale signs, and we are not talking about clearance sales at department stores. Instead, we are seeing For Sale signs popping up everywhere across the country where huge, sprawling malls once stood. Now, these same malls are closing down as buildings that used to be the center of the shopping world are full of vacant stores.
Malls are becoming increasingly obsolete as online shopping is swiftly becoming the new norm. Why have to trudge all the way to the local shopping mall when we can all do the same thing without having to leave the comfort of our easy chair? It’s the American way!
Common Sense
A writer I respect—Mark Twain—was famous for saying – "We need to stop calling it common sense. This assumes that it is common and everyone has it. We need to start calling it un-common sense because so few people seem to have it." This was said over 100 years ago by a common man.
Today, common sense is in shorter and shorter supply. Some of the reasons are:
Personal agendas. Everyone has agendas. Some are noble while others are very self-serving or selfish. An agenda is nothing more than a life outlook or a mindset. But, this outlook, whether positive or negative will tend to have a significant role in how you behave, treat others or interpret life in general. It will often control all of your actions, choices, decisions and behaviors.
Poor perceptual understanding. Everyone sees life uniquely through a very personal mental filter. Something good for one person can be perceived as bad for the next person. It isn't about what is right or wrong or good or bad, but how each of us interprets the people and events in our life. Your personal filter will determine how you react or respond to life, people or circumstances.
A history of mistakes, failure or errors in judgment. No one is perfect (I’m proof of that). We all make mistakes or poor decisions from time to time. The problem happens in the present when we let memories have greater control over our present than what is really going on now. When you operate out of fear you will tend to critique your options, choices or circumstances in a pessimistic way. Thi overrides common sense.
A disproportionate concern for what others will think of you. Many people who fail to use common sense are often more concerned about how others; view, define or feel about them or their behaviors or decisions than the person has or feels about themselves.
Ego dysfunction. Ego (pride) wants to rule our lives. It doesn't like to look bad and it wants to play a major role in all of our choices, actions and decisions. When common sense and ego are at odds – ego will win most of the time, for the carnal man.
The spiritual man draws wisdom from the Bible, and it yields the uncommon fruit of righteousness in his life. This is the sense we all need. It guides our path like a lamp from heaven; it is the common sense of Heaven, uncommon in the enemy territory of earth. By God’s Word we have found peace in an unpeaceful world—and it is not of this world.
May it be common to each of us.
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“Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way” (Psalm 119:105).